Increase in area wildlife reports, attacks coincide

09:26 AM MST on Tuesday, July 27, 2004

By Scott Simonson / Arizona Daily Star

An apparent increase in bobcat activity on Tucson's edges may be responsible for the deaths of two small dogs on the Northwest Side last weekend, according to local wildlife experts.

Two dogs in separate neighborhoods were reported taken from their yards by wildlife, said Hans Koenig, a field supervisor for the Arizona Game and Fish Department.

The attacks coincide with a sharp increase in reports of bobcat activity this year, said Marc Hammond, co-owner of Animal Experts Rescue & Trapping Service.

Hammond said he is receiving 25 to 30 bobcat complaints per week, about twice as many as the same time a year ago.

David Purwin, owner of Desert Wildlife Services, said his wild-animal removal business also has received an increase in bobcat calls this summer.

"This is definitely a hot time for them," Purwin said. "You've got the mothers with the young, and they're definitely getting into trouble."

The owner of one of the dogs taken said he is convinced a mountain lion attacked, based upon the size of tracks the animal left.

John Cimino, 52, said that a mountain lion took Tia, his 3-year-old bichon frisé, from his yard Saturday morning.

Game and Fish records indicate that in the past six weeks it has received two other reported mountain lion sightings within two miles of Cimino's home, located northwest of the intersection of La Cañada Drive and Magee Road. One of those reports is classified as "credible."

Cimino's dog became the second taken by wildlife in a week. Both dogs were estimated to weigh 10 pounds or less, Koenig said. A terrier was reported taken in Rancho Vistoso on July 20.

Game and Fish has found no evidence that mountain lions were involved, Koenig said. No lions were spotted in either instance, he said.

Bobcats seem to be the likely culprits, he said, and mountain lions would be a long shot.

Anecdotal evidence, Koenig said, suggests bobcat incidents have increased locally.

"Talking to people, it seems like we've never had so many bobcats in town," Koenig said, "or at least so many bobcat calls."

Cimino said Tia and his family's other dog, a 75-pound German shorthaired pointer, were in the yard Saturday when Liana Cimino, John's wife, heard the pointer "going crazy."

The Ciminos found blood on their 4-foot fence.

"When I first heard about it I thought it was probably not a lion," John Cimino said. "Then I saw the size of the track."

The paw prints were considerably larger than his pointer's paws, Cimino said.

By the time Game and Fish visited his yard Monday, Cimino said, rain had washed away the prints. Bobcat tracks have also been found nearby, he said.

Game and Fish does not keep comprehensive statistics on bobcat sightings, but it has received at least two other reports of attacks on dogs in the Tucson area since June 15.

One attack was reported in Marana; the other was on the East Side. In both cases, the dogs survived, and witnesses were not certain whether the attacks came from a lion or a bobcat.

Two additional reports in the past six weeks suggested that a lion or bobcat may have been stalking a dog in its yard.

In those and other descriptions of lion sightings, distinguishing bobcats from lions presented a common source of confusion.

The agency has received 18 reported mountain lion sightings in the Tucson area since June 15. Nine of those sightings have been classified as "credible," although that doesn't mean the animal involved was a lion.

Hammond said that unlike bobcats, mountain lions prefer to avoid people.

"They're shy and just as soon stay away from us, but bobcats are different," Hammond said. "They don't mind living with humans."

Many bobcat calls come from newer subdivisions, Hammond said. Unlike some animals, bobcats don't always leave familiar territory just because people move in.

Elissa Ostergaard, urban wildlife biologist with Game and Fish, said bobcats aren't dangerous to humans.

"We don't consider them a human safety risk," Ostergaard said. "They just don't attack people, except in the rare instance they have rabies."

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©The Arizona Daily Star, 2004