LONGVIEW, Texas — Coming across wild animals in East Texas is a common sight. From coyotes to feral hogs, all sorts of animals can be found in the piney woods. But in the 18 years Dewey LeGrand has lived in the Spring Hill area of Longview, he's never seen a bobcat appear on his cameras.
"Every now and then I'll get a picture of a deer in the front yard or a raccoon or something like that," he said. "But this is the first time I've ever got a bobcat."
Legrand says his wife had just come back inside only twenty minutes beforehand from walking their dog. That's when he got a notification from his phone.
"I had a picture and I looked at it and it was that Bobcat," he said. "It kind of caught me off guard because it's a fairly good-sized one."
While there's not a big population of bobcats in East Texas, Texas A&M AgriLife Agent for Gregg County Shaniqua Davis said they're more common than most people think.
"You're gonna see probably one or two a year here in East Texas," she said.
LeGrand and his neighbors aren't too concerned about the bobcat itself but they are worried about their pets.
"I know they will snatch a pet," he said. "And that's the main thing that concerned me was, was my pet because I have a 17-year-old Yorkie and most of my neighbors have small dogs, Chihuahuas and cats.
If you do run into a bobcat, Davis has some advice.
"I would say it would be best to go inside and let it go back to where its habitat home was," she said. "But don't go towards it, don't try to entice it with trying to leave feed out, water out."