The bobcat population is rising in Ohio, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. The growing bobcat population marks a reintroduction after the species was previously completely driven out of the state, following the destruction of forests and overhunting.
In 2024 alone, there were 777 confirmed sightings of bobcats out of a total of 1,465 reported sightings, marking an increase from only 6 sightings in 2001, according to a 2024 Furbearer Monitoring Report from ODNR.
The species was previously extirpated from the state in the 1850s. Rapid deforestation efforts from mining and hunting in Ohio caused almost all forests in the state to be eroded, according to the director of the Master's Program in Biodiversity Data Analytics at Columbia University, Dr. Viorel Popescu, a former associate professor at Ohio University who has studied bobcats for years.
Deforestation, coupled with a lack of regulation on animal harvesting, forced the entire bobcat population to become endangered, Popescu said.
The recent reintroduction occurred due to the state government’s extensive reforesting efforts. Efforts began with the formation of the state forest system in 1916. Since then, forest cover has risen from 10% in the early 1900s to almost 30% in 2024.
Reforesting efforts have reintroduced the habitats bobcats require to live, allowing their migration back into the state. The reintroduction of bobcats was completely natural, free of any government intervention, due to their prey being in Ohio forests.
The phenomenon is believed to have begun around the early 2000s, when sightings of the bobcats reemerged. According to Katie Dennison, a Wildlife Biologist at the Ohio Division of Wildlife, the bobcats migrated from neighboring states such as Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky.
Ohio delisted the bobcat population as endangered in 2012 after 184 confirmed bobcat sightings were recorded that year.
“We have an online sightings page where you can go online and import your sightings,” Dennison said. “You can report the exact location if you have a picture, you can upload it and we use that to track confirmed sightings.”
The other main methods the Division of Wildlife uses to obtain sightings are from roadkill, incidental trapping, conflict reports and observations by experts.
From 2017 to 2022, Popescu led research on bobcats, funded by the Ohio Division of Wildlife. Popescu’s research was aimed at analyzing current population trends and threats to the bobcat population, convening ideas on how to move forward with management decisions. The Ohio Division of Wildlife then incorporated Popescu’s research into a larger Ohio Bobcat Management Plan.
One of Popescu's main points in his research was to determine where on roadways bobcats are most likely killed, and where bobcats are killed demographically most.
“What we did is use citizen science data to come up with maps for habitat stability in Ohio, and habitat connectivity,” Popescu said. “We used roadkill data to evaluate the hotspots for roadkill in Ohio, and then we coupled that with the collection of dead bobcats the Division of Wildlife conducted in 2020 or 2019, where we learned more about who gets killed on roads. We looked at their sex, age and the demographic parameters of those bobcats.”
The findings concluded roadkill was the most common source of mortality for bobcats, and 6% to 18% of the species population is expected to be killed on roads annually. Using these findings, the Ohio Bobcat Management Plan recommends the Division of Wildlife continue monitoring bobcats through sightings, roadkill and the annual bowhunter survey.
While bobcats began their reintroduction in the Southeast region of Ohio and this area remains the most habitable for the feline, they have been sighted in 86 of 88 Ohio counties, according to the 2024 Furbearer Monitoring Report.
The Ohio Bobcat Management Plan claims bobcats are very isolated, typically wanting little interaction with humans or other animals. The report also said bobcats are carnivores, eating mainly hares, deer, rodents and mesocarnivores.
Popescu expressed his fascination with the bobcat’s return.
“It is a very good conservation success story,” Popescu said. “And that kind of shows you how resilient ecosystems really are, because the forest that came back has nothing to do with the forest that was there before… but still that did not really matter to Bobcats, they still repopulated those places because their prey was there as well.”
