A bobcat violently attacked a 16-year-old Siamese cat on the porch of a Livermore home.
A bobcat might be on the prowl in Livermore, according to a cat owner that witnessed a harrowing ordeal Wednesday night, as reported by KTVU.
According to Patrick Martin, a Livermore resident living on Old Oak Road, he saw a bobcat violently attacking his 16-year-old Siamese cat Sophie on their porch.
"I could see the tufts and the ears and the back legs, slight little tail," Martin told KTVU in an interview. "Telltale signs of bobcat."
Even though the bobcat eventually Sophie go, the elderly feline was taken to the hospital and put to sleep due to the extent of her injuries.
"I'm very sad," said Martin. "It's very disheartening. She's a very friendly cat. She would come walk down when people walked by even with dogs."
After the incident, Martin notified his neighbors on Nextdoor, where others shared photos of further sightings of a bobcat around the area.
One video showed not one, but two bobcats prowling just a third of a mile away from Martin’s residence.
Normal bobcat fare usually includes small rodents, but they can occasionally target domesticated pets.
"They do reside in open rural areas but they usually find places with a lot of cover because they don't want to be seen by people," Ken Paglia, an information officer with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife told KTVU in an interview.
According to Paglia, the harsher conditions brought on by the California drought may have caused the bobcat to deviate from typical patterns.
"In drought years, just the food resources for wildlife are a little more diminished," said Paglia.
The bobcat that attacked Sophie has returned a few more times since, and Martin has kept their other small pets inside in the meantime.
"They will stay around, keep coming back," said Martin. "That's what our concern is. The cat will keep making the rounds until it runs out of food sources."
Local police have been called to the area but have yet to find the wild cat.
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