Connecticut Bobcat Project – Simsbury Activity

This December, researchers from the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) and UConn will begin trapping bobcats on Town open space as part of the CT Bobcat Project.  This project requires the researchers to humanely capture bobcats for the purpose of attaching radio collars in order to learn about their movements, resource usage, denning behavior, foraging behavior, and interactions.

In the final season of this project, the researchers are trapping in Hartford, West Hartford, Bloomfield, Windsor, Avon, Canton, Farmington, and Simsbury.  Trapping began in West Hartford, Hartford, Bloomfield and Windsor in November. The Town has been notified that trapping in Simsbury is likely to begin a little later into December.     

This project, including the activity that will occur in Simsbury, was featured in a recent Hartford Courant article. 

All traps will be monitored daily. Non-target animals (anything other than a bobcat) will be released on site within hours of being captured. Any bobcat captured will be anesthetized, measured, radio-collared, and released on site once recovered from drugging.  All of the tracking collars are programmed to automatically detach from the animals, and they are later recovered by DEEP staff.