Hello, neighbor

Janice Hess, a resident of Newport Beach’s Dover Shores neighborhood, snapped this picture of a bobcat roaming near her house on Holiday Road on Tuesday afternoon. The bobcat is presumed to be a pregnant one known as “Babe,” which has been seen in the neighborhood in recent days.

Hess took several photos of the animal after she and her 6- and 7-year-old children spotted the wild cat sitting on their fence as they were leaving the house around 4:30 p.m. Hess said she used a Nikon B40X SLR camera with a zoom lens to photograph the bobcat, as it strolled down her driveway and crossed the street to a neighbor’s yard.

On Wednesday, a dog was reported to have chased “Babe” up a tree behind a house one door down from Hess’s residence.

“I wasn’t afraid of her because I had read a report saying that she wouldn’t attack you,” said Hess, adding, however, that she did fret a bit for the safety of the family’s cat and chihuahua.

-- Imran Vittachi