The bobcat (Lynx rufus) is a fierce, medium sized feline predator. The cats, which can weigh up to about 30 pounds, were once persecuted. An end to most persecution has allowed the cats to rebound in numbers with significant benefits. According to US News a rebounding bobcat population is good news for the environment and for humans too.
The benefit comes from the prodigious appetite and varied diet of the cats. Bobcats are found from southern Canada into northern Mexico. They now inhabit most of the United States with the definite exclusion of Alaska and Hawaii. It is thought they number over one million individuals. They eat everything from insects to (sometimes) deer. Their consumption of rodents and other small animals is key to both their role as environmental guardian and protectors of human health.
The reason is simple: Every rat and mouse and rabbit they eat removes a host for a number of serious transmissible diseases. It also disrupts the vector chain of fleas and ticks and parasites
As the website put it:
“Bobcats play a surprising role in reducing disease transmission. As “poor hosts” for many pathogens, including the bacteria that cause Lyme disease, they help disrupt the cycle of infection. Ticks that feed on bobcats are far less likely to carry Lyme-causing bacteria than ticks that feed on rodents like white-footed mice. This phenomenon, called the dilution effect, illustrates how predators like bobcats keep ecosystems balanced by limiting the number of disease-carrying hosts. When predator diversity is high, disease risks for humans and other animals decrease significantly.”
A rebounding bobcat population still faces serious risks. One is traffic. In California alone the death and damage toll from vehicle collisions with animals runs into the hundreds of millions of dollars a year. The toll is high enough that Caltrans has taken note. The state transportation agency is actively working to find ways to prevent such collisions. Another major problem is overuse of pesticides. The National Park Service (NPS) studies the 400 or so bobcats in the Santa Monica Mountains and finds that pesticides are a severe threat.