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2028. Carroll hopes the information will help conservation groups and land trusts better understand how to preserve the bobcat’ s habitat, contribute to the DEM’ s overall wildlife management plan, and educate landowners to reduce possible conflicts.
Hickling peered into the first cage, hoping against racoons, which chew the metal cage wires and generally make a mess.“ Bobcat!” he texted Carroll. He checked the second cage a short distance away.“ OMG. We got another cat!” The team quickly assembled its gear and headed to Charlestown, where it would anesthetize, weigh and swab the animals for diseases, take blood samples, and fit them with GPS collars to track their movements for fourteen months before the collars fall off. The bobcats are monitored for body temperature, heart and respiration rates as the scientists establish their baseline biological profiles, to ensure that the animals are tolerating the anesthesia well. Then they administer a reversal drug, and the cat is transferred to a large dog carrier to recover.
By 10 a. m. the female was upright, and the draped cage began to thump with impatience. Bobcats six and seven— a female they nicknamed Plover and a small male dubbed Eider— were perhaps a mating couple. In time, the collars would tell. Caroll and Hickling would have liked to keep her a little longer to ensure that the cat was fully alert, but they didn’ t want to confine the male in the second cage much longer.
Hickling lifted the tarp and opened the carrier door. The cat bound out in a flash of brown and dashed this way and that, behind a scrim of spindly pines, as though she wasn’ t sure what to do with her freedom. Caroll and Hickling stood tall and waved their arms overhead to shepherd her away from the road. Plover finally turned tail.“ Good girl!” Carroll cried. Then she disappeared into the woods. 🆁
APR 9 – May 10, 2026
TrinityRep. com / PrimaryTrust
Ellen Liberman is an award-winning journalist and columnist who has commented on politics and reported on government affairs for more than four decades.
54 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY I APRIL 2026