It is said that dogs and cats don’t get along, and, according to
one local man’s story, that apparently includes bobcats.

Bradford resident Justin Stuck and his dog, Buddy, had an
encounter with a bobcat Friday or Saturday night at an Allegheny
National Forest campsite in the Marshburg area, according to
Stuck.

Stuck met the feral feline while camping in between work shifts
in the forest.

“I work on an oil lease at Allegheny National Forest out in
Marshburg,” he said. “They have the campsites right on the main
forestry road; I just hop on the four-wheeler and go right to
work.”

Buddy, a male labrador, is still a puppy, closing in on his
first birthday.

“I would say my dog weighs about 40 pounds; he’s medium sized,”
Stuck said.

Stuck was busy cooking and did not notice the bobcat sneaking up
on his pet.

“I figured my dog was messing with another porcupine,” Stuck
said.

“(The campsite) is like a big moat area, and then you have your
treeline. It was maybe five, 10 feet off in the woods. That’s how
close he was to us.

“I was cooking, so maybe the bobcat was drawn in by that,” he
said.

According to Stuck, the feline didn’t stick around for the dog
or its owner to counterattack.

“By the time I got over there, it ran away.”

Buddy’s attacker was, in Stuck’s words, “between 10 and 15
pounds.”

Buddy was left with a large gouge in his forehead and a puncture
wound under his eye.

“He’s fine, but he’s got a big, goofy-looking scab there,” Stuck
said.

Stuck said his ordeal was just a short distance from the recent
bobcat attack reported by Warren resident Joe Hennessy.

“We see them quite a bit,” at the campsite, Stuck said.

Hennessy reported being ambushed by a bobcat the morning of May
10 between Warren and Chapman State Park. He suffered two puncture
wounds in the back of his head and a scratch near his temple.

Hennessy also indicated he had seen bobcats in the area
before.

According to the Pennsylvania Game Commission Web site, due to
its elusive nature, the state’s only feline predator is rarely seen
by humans. One possible reason is that the bobcat is mainly
nocturnal.

The Web site lists a typical bobcat at measuring three feet long
and weighing 15 to 20 pounds, although some may be as heavy as 35
pounds. While lacking in size, the animal is considered a fierce
fighter.

Despite a rising population of bobcats in the state, reports of
rabid ones are few and far between, according to the Web site.