There's a four-legged guest calling a water treatment facility home in west Georgia.
She's been there about a year. She doesn't seem scared of people. And this "she" is bobcat.
"When we first saw it last summer, we were outside and it walked between us and a plant," Bethany Simmons, a lab analyst at the Carrollton Water Treatment Plant, told the AJC. "We didn't think we'd ever see it again."
But the bobcat has been seen again. And with the help of a trail camera, now there's proof of the animal in the form of a photograph taken in daylight.
Though most people's image of a bobcat conjures up something along the lines of a cougar, Simmons said the Carrollton bobcat looks more like an overgrown house cat, weighing about 12 pounds. Simmons and her co-workers suspect the animal has a den nearby.
"We just happen to be in her way," Simmons said.
Even in the suburbs of metro Atlanta, residents may encounter bobcats, which are native to Georgia, according to a wildlife biologist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
"Bobcats normally are very secretive animals, so people tend not to see them," David Gregory with the DNR said. "They have really taken on living in some very developed areas."
"Bobcasts, like many other species, are evolving to survive," Gregory said. "They're becoming accustomed to sights, sounds and smells of people."
Sometimes, people hear a bobcat without ever seeing one, Gregory said. He said his office near Rome gets several calls a month from people who hear what sounds like a horrific scream.
It's not human, Gregory said; it's a bobcat.
"It's amazing the wildlife that's in our backyard," Gregory said.
Though there's a risk with any wild animal, Gregory said there's no reason to be on guard for bobcats. He's not aware of any recent attacks on humans.
Simmons said the workers at the water plant aren't frightened. With the plant situated on the Tallapoosa River, wildlife sightings are common.
Bobcats, not so much.
"We see all kinds of things here," Simmons said. "She's not hurting anybody."
For more information on bobcats, visit the DNR website.
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