Posted this on Facebook but thought I'd put it here too, just for posterity...since no one reads it lol...

FUN WITH WILDLIFE!!!

This morning the dog woke us earlier than normal to go for his walk (or so I thought) and while I was moving around I saw an animal in our yard that at first I took to be a stray dog, which was odd because I always make sure that both side gates are closed. This thing proceeded to jump on top of the dog house that's out there (that our dog doesn't use), which is about a good three feet high...looked over both the back fence and into the neighbor's yard, paused, moved quickly to the side of the house and...disappeared.

After some extensive research (um, OK five or ten minues on google) it seems that the most likely candidate would be...a bobcat, which is the only native big cat still found in SC, and fits the size and coloring of what I saw (about two feet high at the shoulder, medium brown, splotchy/spotted coat), along with the fact that they've been known to not shy away from human-populated areas as long as there's sufficient habitat (we're basically surrounded by woods wherever roads and houses and stores are not present). AND Mt. Pleasant has a notorious mole problem, our yard being no exception, so it's prime hunting ground. Yay for being part of the ecosystem...

Oh, and as soon as I saw the other animal, our dog stopped making any noise. At all. Not a bark, a whimper, nothing. And sat behind me looking out the window.

Punk.

TL