‘World-renowned’ bobcats are dying on SC island. Unexpected cause found in new report

An island population of “world-renowned” bobcats is mysteriously dying on one of South Carolina’s popular islands, and experts believe they have finally found the cause.

A rodent pest control poison is killing the big cats, and town officials have asked everyone on Kiawah Island to stop using it immediately.

More than two-thirds of the island’s bobcats have died in the past two years, including seven this year, the Town of Kiawah Island reported this week. The island is about 25 miles southwest of Charleston.

Among the dead: a mother and her four kittens found June 10, officials said in an email.

“Biologists estimate Kiawah has 10 or fewer bobcats on the island at this time, down from a historic population of 30-35,” the town reported Monday on Facebook. “Kiawah’s bobcat population may never recover unless action is taken now.”

The deaths are a blow to an island community that has nurtured the bobcat population into a popular attraction. Island officials say Kiawah is known for having one of the “densest bobcat populations in the world.”

A YouTube video created by the nonprofit Kiawah Conservancy shows the typically shy cats are comfortable enough on the island to climb trees between homes and play on hiking trails in broad daylight.

Kiawah officials say a toxicology report completed last week showed “four rodenticides were present at significant levels” in a bobcat found dead on May 19. One of the chemicals — known as second-generation anticoagulants (SGAs) — can be lethal after being consumed once, and is known to harm both birds and mammals, according to the Safe Rodent Control Resource Center.

Town officials announced this week that their best option is to convince all “residents, businesses, and pest management providers to eliminate SGAs rodenticides on Kiawah.”

“We are going to need community-wide participation to mitigate the issue and save our bobcat population,” town officials said in a release.

More than 100 residents and pest control agencies have already agreed to the ban, according to a website devoted to “Kiawah’s Bobcat Guardians.”

South Carolina is home to southern bobcats, which stand about 22 inches tall at the shoulders and weigh 25 pounds, according to S.C. Department of Natural Resources. They typically live 15 years and feed on rodents, the department says.