Local man spots wild bobcat in own backyard

OAKHAM, Mass. (WHDH) -- An amateur photographer spotted a bobcat and was able to capture video of the animal in his own backyard.

It was a serene sighting, but the fact it was a bobcat did catch the homeowner off guard.

“You could not have asked for a better scene if you tried,” said John Demauro.

Demauro was getting ready to enjoy a quiet winter's morning at his home in Oakham when he noticed something strange in his backyard.

“Saw what I thought was a neighbor’s cat sitting under the bird feeder cause that's happened a bunch of times, but it turned and looked at me and I said, no, I don't think that's the neighbor’s cat that looks kind of unusual,” said Demauro.

Wild sightings are nothing new in the wooded community outside of Worcester, but a bobcat is a different story.

“Out here we've had a moose and a bear in the yard at one point. But, it’s the first time we've seen a bobcat,” said Demauro.

It's not the first time we've seen bobcats in this part of the state.

Just last month, Roger Mundell Jr. and his nephew made headlines when they got attacked by a rabid bobcat in his Brookfield garage, a fact that flashed through Demauro's head.

“I had never saw a bobcat in person and from the attack I just kind of envisioned something the size of a cougar attacking these people,” said Demauro.

But what he found was much different, so he took the time to enjoy it.

“Probably for the next half hour I took way too many pictures and it just sat there. Just after I switched to video mode, it sat up and did what you see on the video as if it was posing for the picture,” said Demauro.

Even though Demauro said he didn't feel threatened by the bobcat, he didn't chance it either. He stayed inside his house the entire time until the bobcat wandered back into the woods.