(The Center Square) – Bobcats get a bad rap, said Jennifer Kuroda, president of the Illinois Bobcat Foundation.
Taxidermists pose them to look menacing: Teeth bared and poised to attack. Bobcats are small creatures – the average adult weighs 19 pounds. Bobcats are very shy and extremely unlikely to attack humans, Kuroda said.
Forty years ago, the wild bobcat population in Illinois was nearly wiped out. To reestablish the species, the hunting and trapping of bobcats was banned. Over many years, the Illinois bobcat population has recovered. There are now thought to be 5,000 to 6,000 bobcats across the state–most of them in southern Illinois, where the Shawnee National Forest is prime habitat for the small cats.