RICHMOND, Texas – Throughout the Houston area it's not uncommon for man and beast to come into contact but some animals are more elusive than others. Like a bobcat that's been spotted several times this week in Steven Hernandez's backyard inside a Richmond subdivision.
"He kept walking back and forth, even took a seat," says Hernandez. "Just looking around for something."
Hernandez snapped the pictures on his camera Thursday morning. The large, healthy-looking cat -- estimated to be close to 50 pounds -- returned for a third day in a row. Hernandez contacted Channel 2 in the hopes of alerting his neighborhood.
"What I'm worried about is just, what if any other people have lost animals," asks Hernandez. "They don't even know because they don't know he's wandering around."
Animal and pest control expert Claude Griffin -- who's trapped bobcats in the past -- says the Hernandez backyard -- with a bird feeder and easy access to a bayou and the Brazos river -- is a prime target for a cunning creature like this bobcat.
"This has all the little things that he needs to have a home," says Griffin, referring to the backyard. "He's got shelter, he's got water, he's got food. He's got people that work every single day and that aren't back here."
Law enforcement officers -- who say they rarely get calls about bobcats -- advise all residents to make their homes as unattractive as possible for any wild animal.
"Don't leave your animal's food out at night," says Lt. Wayne Hastedt of the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office. "If you do come in contact with them, either call the Sheriff's Department or call the game warden."
Griffin also discussed -- since the bobcat looked healthy, even well-groomed and isn't afraid to come near homes -- the possibility that the animal could have been someone's pet that was recently released into the wild. Griffin says is his experience that is not an uncommon practice in the Houston area.
