Was It a Bobcat or Lynx Spotted in This Curious Dover, NH, Location?

Middle Road in Dover, New Hampshire, is a nice residential area, free of busy traffic, billboards, retail stores, and gas stations.  It's rural except for a couple of businesses here and there, like our Townsquare Media radio stations, established long before the rest of the neighborhood.

So, imagine our surprise when a co-worker was leaving for the day and spotted a large, cat-like animal roaming our back parking lot.  The photo says it all.

The employees, still in the building, received an email to watch out for this wild animal in our back lot.  That's when the scurrying began, with all of us running to the windows to catch a glimpse.  We see wildlife from our windows all the time, like turkeys, deer, rabbits, etc., but we've never seen this.

At first it was called a bobcat, but then someone suggested a lynx.  Both have been spotted in New Hampshire.  In fact, due to the decrease in bobcat population the New Hampshire Fish & Game ceased the hunting of bobcats, a law which has been enforced since 1989.  It is legal to "harvest" bobcats in neighboring Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont.

In New Hampshire, the lynx is protected in Coos County and part of Grafton County, but there is wildlife management in place in Southern New Hampshire for trapping lynx.

The best comment was the theory by a co-worker, who quipped, "The spotted cat showed up because it's the first day I wore my leopard sweater for the season!"

Whatever the reason, we have a new friend on our property who will likely stay away from us humans, anyway.  However, it is a wild animal, so caution is always warranted.