UI The Daily Iowan
10-11-07
Iowa bobcats rebounding
Carla Keppler
The Daily Iowan
Bobcats beware.
This fall marks southern Iowa's first bobcat hunting season, four years after
researchers began studying the recolonization of the furry beast.
The hunting season, which will begin Nov. 3, typically lasts through Jan. 31, but
this year's is expected to last only two or three weeks because of "ultra
conservative quotas" put in place.
In its third and final year of tracking newly recolonized bobcats in Iowa, the Iowa
Department of Natural Resources has followed nearly 100 animals. The agency
says hunting is now permitted to manage the population.
Iowa State University and the Iowa Natural Resources began tracking bobcats
across the state in 2003 as part of an ecology study. Researchers aimed to
understand density and distribution of bobcats in Iowa, gain knowledge of habitat
choice and range, determine mortality and survival rates, and analyze the genetic
makeup of the animals.
"We're creating a baseline for what we know about bobcats in Iowa," said
Stephanie Tucker, a research associate involved in the project. "The results
from this project go into the management plan that might be in effect for the next
50 years."
Tucker said the investigation rooted from the state Natural Resources' desire to
manage the state's elevated bobcat population.
Iowa listed bobcats as endangered in 1977 but currently categorizes them as
protected due to their larger population in the state since the '90s.
"We're now to the point where they're in density similar to the states around us,"
Tucker said.
Fitted with individual radio-collars, bobcats in the south-central portion of the
state are monitored using signals sent from collars to antennas attached atop
researchers' pickup trucks.
Tucker said researchers currently track around 50 animals in an area covering
nearly 4,400 square miles to understand how the animals behave in their
environments. The project relies on the general public to capture bobcats for
analysis.
The initial phase of the project looked primarily at population dynamics and
habitat analysis to determine the rate of population growth and behavior patterns.
"I think we would all agree that one big success is the amazing sample size we
got," Tucker said.
Natural Resources biologist Todd Gosselink said the second phase of the study
focuses on genetics, investigating whether cats are self-sustaining or linked with
populations in other states. He said this research is intended to manage the
bobcat population on a Midwestern scale.
"Obviously, bobcats don't look at state borders to separate themselves," he said.
The first three years of the project cost $250,000, said Gosselink, who expects
the next three years to cost the same.
E-mail DI reporter Carla Keppler at:
carla-keppler@uiowa.edu