CUMBERLAND CO.—This picture, said to have been taken in Cumberland County, is of what appears to be a bobcat.
The photo is appearing all over Facebook and was tracked back by our staff to a gal by the name of Bethany (Ruffner) Sweitzner, whom we’ve attempted to contact via Facebook. She attributes the photo to a Matt Miller, but we can’t seem to track him down. The cat appears to have been struck by a vehicle and lying by the side of the road, described by Sweitzner as “east of Stutesmans” (we’re uncertain of that location) south of Casey.
The poor Roberta-cat is obviously female; we feel really bad about any baby bobbies that might be now orphaned…hopefully they’re big enough to take care of themselves. Of course, Illinois Department of Natural Resources would have us believe that we’re not looking at a bobcat, despite multiple game cams in the area capturing them nonstop on stills and vid (IDNR denies that there are any in downstate Illinois, as well as denying the existence in southern Illinois of larger cats—cougars—even though they’ve been seen, in every color imaginable, in every county in our coverage area….with most of the staff here having seen one at one time or another.)
We’re still working on the authenticity of the photo, and when we get it, we’ll bring it to you…but for now, we thought you’d be interested in seeing it.