When you live next to nature, you never know what you're going to see. An Oneida woman has seen a lot in her yard, including an unexpected bobcat.

Beth Kelly lives in historical area of Oneida near the former Erie Canal feeder. She's been there for 30 years and has seen a lot of animals. "We’ve had numerous deer, foxes, raccoons, skunks, squirrels and some snakes, which scare me," admits Kelly.

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Monday afternoon Kelly had a new visitor. "I was in my kitchen when I saw an animal walking into the yard. At first, I thought it was a cat but it was too large."

Photo Credit - Beth Kelly
Photo Credit - Beth Kelly
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The animal walked across the lawn and sat down in Kelly's garden. "It just looked at me and sat there. After a couple of minutes, it got up and I could see it was not a cat. When I saw its face, tail and size, I knew it was a bobcat, something I've never seen in my yard before."

The animal finally wandered around the back of Kelly's fence and into her neighbor's yard. After it left she took pictures of the paw prints in the snow, even using a 8.5 inch red spatula for reference.

Photo Credit - Beth Kelly
Photo Credit - Beth Kelly
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Bobcats are not rare in New York. But they are often found in the Adirondack, Catskill and Taconic regions. "They usually are not present where there are continuous human population centers; however, they can use patches of habitat if the patches are not completely isolated by urban development," according to the New York DEC.

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