COLUMBUS, Ind. (AP) -- Wildlife biologists says southern Indiana’s bobcat population has been growing quickly in recent years, leading to more encounters between the animals and humans.

Kathy Hershey of Utopia Wildlife Rehabilitators near Hope in Bartholomew County says backyard sightings of bobcats are becoming common at homes in wooded areas that are part of their habitat.

The state Department of Natural Resources says bobcat sightings had disappeared in Indiana in the early 1990s before the animal re-established itself. Sightings happen most often in the state’s southern third.

DNR biologist Scott Johnson says bobcats, which can weigh up to 30 pounds, mostly eat rodents and pose no danger to humans.