Newtown’s Elusive Bobcat Is Caught On Film

By Steve Bigham

On the morning of Wednesday, August 23, Newtown residents Ted and Sigrid Hewitt photographed what is believed to be a rather large bobcat in their backyard. The photo is the first hard evidence to indicate that the wild animal does exist in Newtown.

For more than a year, residents have reported seeing bobcats prowling their way around town. Earlier this summer, Carlin Zeno saw a bobcat walking across his backyard on Boggs Hill Road. Lynn Johnson spotted a large cat along her driveway on Currituck Road in August of 1999. And two weeks ago, Tammy Marks reportedly spotted a bobcat near her home on Sugar Hill Road. But it wasn’t until last week that the elusive animal was finally caught on film.

Mr and Mrs Hewitt, both retired, were enjoying their morning coffee at their home on Sweet Meadow Road when they suddenly noticed a look of terror on the face of their beloved cat, Madeline.

“She had a ghastly expression on her face, as if she has seen a ghost, so we went out on the porch to see what was bothering her,” Mrs Hewitt recalled this week.

There, sitting on a rock about 75 feet away, was an extremely large feline.

“The amazing thing was the way he looked at us. It gave us a really cool look,” Mrs Hewitt said. “Most wild animals will run away, but this one stayed right there. The first thing we did was bring in the cat.”

The Hewitts also secured Phoebe, their tiny dachshund, who would be little more than a snack to a hungry bobcat.

“If it wasn’t a bobcat it was the largest cat I’ve ever seen,” said Mr Hewitt, a retired geologist, who has traveled the globe as a specialist in petroleum exploration.

The Hewitts say the cat was the size of a dog and had a big, firm body and big pointed ears. The Hewitts snapped three photos and crossed their fingers that they would come out. On Monday, the photos returned from CVS where they had gone to get them developed.

This week, the photos were shown to Peter Picone, an urban wildlife biologist with the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

“From what it looks like, my opinion is it’s a bobcat. The color looks like a bobcat,” he said Tuesday. “You can see the short tail, which is another good indicator that it is a bobcat.”

According to Mr Picone, bobcats are prevalent in the Northwest Corner of Connecticut, but can be found in forested areas such as Newtown from time to time. However, a sighting is rare since bobcats are generally reclusive animals that generally do not mix well with human development.

As for Madeline and Phoebe, the wildlife specialist said they need not worry. Bobcats tend to feed on smaller animals such as woodchucks, rabbits, birds, mice, and an occasional fawn.

“They’re not like coyotes, which can be aggressive toward dogs,” Mr Picone said.

The Hewitts, who retired to the “country” five years ago from Darien, say they see a great deal of wildlife in their backyard, which borders the town-owned Paul Cullens Forest Preserve.

“In the winter we see coyotes loping along in the valley,” Mrs Hewitt said.