SOUTH TEXAS - – The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office sent out an alert Tuesday about a “large” cat sighting in northwest Bexar County.
BCSO said the feline was seen in a greenbelt near the 10400 block of Foxen Way, a neighborhood off Highway 16 north of Helotes.
That is the general area where residents reported to KSAT back in May that they saw several large cats.
So, we pulled information from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to learn about the big cats native to South Texas.
Bobcats
- A bobcat is a lynx cat that has ears with black tips, distinctive black bars on its forelegs and a black-tipped, stubby (or “bobbed”) tail — hence the name bobcat.
- Its average length is about 3 feet, 6 inches.
- Its weight is 12-20 pounds, but can be up to 36 pounds.
- Their diet consists mainly of small mammals and birds, but they can prey on domestic sheep, goats and poultry.
Mountain lion (Puma, Cougar)
- The mountain lion is a big, unspotted cat.
- Males can be as long as 8 feet, 6 inches, and females, 6 feet, 7 1/2 inches. Males can weigh an average of 184 pounds, and females, 118 pounds
- They range over much of the Trans-Pecos of West Texas, the southern two-thirds of the Hill Country in Central Texas, and a large portion of the South Texas brushlands, as well as in limited areas in North Central Texas.
- The cat is most common in remote, thinly populated ranchlands but may be encountered almost anywhere.
- Shy by nature, and largely nocturnal by habit, the mountain lion is seldom seen.
- Their diet consists almost entirely of animals, but like the domestic cat, it occasionally eats grasses and other vegetable matter. Deer and javelina are major food items; however, lions have been known to take elk and bighorn sheep as well as a variety of smaller animals.
- Contrary to popular opinion, mountain lions rarely use caves as dens. They prefer cliff crevices, overhanging ledges or enlarged badger burrows instead.
- Except for a short breeding period of up to two weeks’ duration, they lead a solitary existence.
Ocelots
- The Ocelot is endangered and while it used to roam South Texas, it’s likely you won’t see one in the wild.
- Now restricted to several isolated patches of suitable habitat in three or four counties of the Rio Grande Plains, the ocelot once ranged over the entire southern part of the state, with occasional records from North and Central Texas.
- It’s thought to be the most beautiful Texas cat and it is unique in that no two ocelot pelts are alike.
- Adult males can be up to 3 feet, 10 inches long; females up to 3 feet. Their weight is 20-35 pounds.
- Their diet contains birds, including domestic poultry, which are captured on their roosts. Rabbits, wood rats, mice, snakes and other reptiles are also in their diet.
- Its population in Texas is chiefly threatened by habitat loss resulting from the conversion of naturally vegetated areas to agricultural land in South Texas and the Rio Grande Valley.
Jaguarundi
- They used to roam extreme southern Texas in Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr and Willacy counties, but wild populations of jaguarundi are no longer believed to be in Texas.
- Numerous sightings of this species are reported each year, but they are difficult to verify because of their similarity to wild house cats.
- The jaguarundi is a little larger than the domestic cat. It has two color phases: one grayish and the other reddish.
- The length of males is about 3 feet, 6 inches, of which the tail is more than half.
- They reportedly eat rats, mice, birds and rabbits. Of all the cats, this one excels in its ability to spring and jump, considering its size.
- The clearing of brushlands in the Rio Grande Valley threatens to destroy habitat in Texas.
If residents see large cats in their neighborhood, they are asked not to approach the animal and instead call the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office. Their phone number is 210-335-6000.
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