Bobcat kitten too nice? Volunteers think so

A baby bobcat was rescued from a Northern California fire and was nursed back to health. / U.S. Forest Service/CBS Sacramento

A Northern California animal rescue group is trying to help an orphaned bobcat kitten with a problem: She's too nice.

The kitten was just a few weeks old when she was found last August by fire crews battling a 75,000-acre fire in the Plumas National Forest, CBS Sacramento reported. She seemed to be confused and dazed, wondering around in circles. Her paws were burned.

"I couldn't just leave her there," said Tad Hair, the Mad River Hand Crew superintendent who spotted the kitten.

Named Chips, the bobcat was taken to the Sierra Wildlife Rescue in Placerville last month and nursed back to health. She would often follow her rescuers and nuzzle their boots.

Now, The Sacramento Bee reports volunteers there are trying to toughen her up to release her back into the wild next spring.

Volunteer Jill Tripoli says she's been introduced to two male bobcats who hiss and bare their claws at humans. And she now has to chase down her own mice for meals.

"If you have a friendly bobcat in the wild, that's not going to work," Tripoli told the paper. She said she is going to give Chips a squirt from a water bottle if she does anything as much as nuzzle a human.

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[sca08]

To put this kitten back into the wild is barbaric and cruel,it will not survive,she has shown her love for humans ,why can we show her ours in return,with all the tax dollars we pay ,the state cant find a nice place for her to live,what does it cost to build a small house for her and feed her,but I forgot California rather give its tax payer dollars to murderers in jails for appeals

[countrycousin902]

I could take the bob cat and get it ready for the return to the wild here in fla,it takes a lot of patience but can be done with out distress to the bob cat.

[Enough2011]

I don't think he belongs in the wild or anywhere that will put him in danger. He is people oriented sounds like. Find him a safer home. And....let us know what happens to him.

[ugleyme]

My bobcat is 7 now and gets along just fine on the farm. By nature he is skittish and splits when any strange car arrives. I don't know if he could survive alone, catches squirrels now and then but quite dependent on me for food. Eats like a cow. He still loves a good rubdown and purrs just like a kit. Doesn't like dogs though.

[micmac666]

Tippi Hedron's Shambala Preserve is famous for adopting big cats that have been born into captivity and therefore would not survive in the wild. Whether this animal would qualify is unknown but Ms. Hedron is probably aware of its existence.

[micmac666]

Typo: "Hedren". 'Sorry.

[RetiredArmy_Nurse]

Yep, it's too late to release it into the wild. Attempts at this often end up in tragedy. She's used to and likes people. Find someone who can give her a good home to live out her life as what she had become, a tame bobcat. People saved her once, we are now responsible for her, so save her again. To release her would make her a target to a blood thirsty hunter, even if she were capable of fending for herself otherwise.

[otterbabe]

Yes, a hunter will shoot this animal - why humans are so peverse is a matter of question both religion, phylosophy and of course human peversity but without a good answer.


These animals are OK in many enviornments, and seem to live complete lives in both the 'ideal wild' or even in the best of what we might call captivitiy. Oh that we could all live in the wild -- which is no more.

[debra517]

why not a zoo? If the kitten has bonded with humans it may never be tough enough for the wild.

[flexsf]

Keep the abusive volunteers away. The bobcat needs to be accepted as is, not "toughened up".