A researcher who’s learning some surprising discoveries about lynx and bobcats in the province is asking for any photos of either cat for his study.
TJ Gooliaff, a biology grad student at UBC in the Okanagan, in partnership with the Ministry of Environment, is mapping the distribution of each species, with the belief that bobcats and lynx have shifted their range because of climate change.
“Lynx have been detected throughout the province, typically at high elevations as expected,” said Gooliaff.
“However, there have been some surprises – bobcats have been detected much farther north than I expected, even in the Cariboo and Omineca regions,” he said, adding he has received more than 3,000 photos from across the province.
He is asking for photos of either cat photographed on trail cameras, or conventional cameras around the province and from all time periods.
The photos do not have to be great photography – they just have to show a bobcat or a lynx, or even just a part of one.
Photos can be blurry or dark and don’t even have to clearly show which cat species is present.
Photos will not be published or shared without permission, and photographers will retain ownership of their photos.
The results of this study will be shared with all those who are interested. Please send photos, along with their dates and locations, to tj.gooliaff@ubc.ca.
