Woman films rare encounter with bobcat trapped in neighbor's yard

Oct. 13 (UPI) -- A Nova Scotia woman recorded a rare up-close encounter with a bobcat that wandered into her neighbor's yard and had trouble leaving.

Kenny St. Pierre said she was mowing the lawn Wednesday at her Indian Harbor home when she spotted an unusual animal behind her neighbor's fence.

"I saw something running back and forth pretty aggressively," she told CTV News. "At first I thought it was a cat."

St. Pierre said a second glance revealed the feline was actually a bobcat trapped inside the fence.

"At that point I knew it was stuck and scared," she said.

St. Pierre and Jennie Whitton, who came outside to investigate when she heard dogs barking, opened a gate to allow the animal to exit, but it fled under the home's deck.

Whitton used a hose to give the feline a little extra incentive and the bobcat was soon running back into the woods.

The Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources said bobcats are elusive and rarely seen by humans, especially during daylight hours.

Sightings have increased, however, from 30 in 2011 to 120 this year.

Michael Boudreau, human-wildlife conflict biologist with the department, said most bobcat sightings in the province take place in February and March. He said they are rarely seen during the day.

"They don't typically like to be around people, so when there's a lot of activity they'll kind of stay in the shadows or use low activity to go and use that same area," he told Global News.