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Adult male Bobcat plays games at the Witter Wildlife Refuge.
Photo by Author
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Words For Wildlife
by State licensed Wildlife Rehabilitator, James Orr
BOBCAT CHESS
About two months ago a comatose male bobcat joined the ranks of the Witter Wildlife patients. He had been picked up at the side of the road, assumed dead and was on his way to a taxidermist when he decided to open his eyes and change the mind of the driver as to where he was to be dropped off. He ended up with me and even in his dazed semi conscious state he was quite intimidating to say the least. At that time he weighed about 30 pounds and had trouble moving or keeping his eyes open.
He has since fully recovered and has been ready to return to the wild for several weeks. The problem is getting a very large, powerful, wild cat from his large outdoor pen into a small travel cage for transport.
As a wildlife rehabilitator I am supposed to release the animals in the same area they were rescued so that they can rejoin their mate and be in established territory. Obviously it is easier on the animal to come home to friends and family after a hospital stay than it is to have to start fighting strangers for a piece of the action in an unfamiliar area.
What was a 30 pound disoriented barely conscious kitty cat is now a 40 pound lightning fast, super intuitive, very powerful and cleaver shredding machine. When I originally picked him up two months ago my Kevlar gloves and arm guards seemed more than enough protection to manhandle him. My super gloves seem to have diminished greatly in size and value since he regained the full use of his weapons of mass destruction. Nothing short of a tank or robocop seems worthy of entering his pen now.
I decided to use my superior intelligence to trick him into the travel cage. That was two weeks ago and he still occupies the big cage refusing to vacate.
The original plan was so simple. Everyday I have placed his food on a feeding platform in the pen. He has become very use to the process and myself often coming out to retrieve his meal before I even leave the pen. I had planned to simple set the travel cage on the feeding platform, place his meal inside, and close the door when he entered. Unfortunately he has grown so much while in my care the travel cage I intended to use is too small for him. The next size cage is too big to fit through the welded steel door to his pen. The game is a foot.
I set the travel cage just outside the door to the pen, closed off any escape areas and rigged a rope to the door so that I could close the travel cage from my hiding place inside the cabin next to his pen. I tested the rope, the door closed perfectly. I put his chicken in the back of the travel cage and quickly retreated to my hiding spot with the rope. The flaw in this genius plan was the fact the bobcat had watched me set up and test the trap. As I peered out the cabin window he walked right up to the travel cage but stopped short and looked at me watching him from the window. It was obvious he was not about to enter while I was watching. I leaned out of his view just enough that he could not see me but I could still see his rear end and short tail. This way I knew when to yank the rope when his tailed passed out of sight into the travel cage. Great plan, he stepped into the cage, I yanked the rope, the door swung shut, I though it was over.
I ran out expecting to see a stupid cat in a cage but instead found him up on his feeding platform eating the piece of chicken that use to be in the travel cage. The door to the travel cage was almost closed, but a large rock had prevented it from closing enough to trap him. The rock was not there when I tested the trap. He smacked his lips as he finished dinner and climbed into his shelter to take a nap. I wiped the stupid look off my face, cancelled my victory dance, and rethought my plan.
The next day I made sure that there was not a rock within ten feet of the door, I tested it twice, braced everything so that even a hard yank would not disturb the perfect setup and resumed my hiding place in the cabin with my trusty trigger rope.
The bobcat refused to leave his sleeping shelter. I would slowly peek up over the window sill to spy on him and he would be sitting in the doorway staring a hole right through me. I would crouch down behind the window, crawl to a new vantage point, carefully peer around a corner and again he would already be staring at my hiding spot before I could get set.
I decided motionless might work so I sat very still at the window barely breathing as I watched him. He walked out of his tree top shelter, across the branch, down to the travel cage and stopped short at the door, looked up at me in the window, calmly washed his paws and went back into his shelter to take another nap. This went on for over an hour before it dawned on me he was simply taunting me, playing a game.
The phone rang in the cabin startling him. He leaped back into his shelter as I got up to answer it. I said “Hello” and turned back to the window to keep an eye on smarty pants only to find he already had the chicken back in his treetop shelter in the split second I had turned my back. I really felt stupid standing there with the trigger rope still in my hand watching him smuggly eat his dinner. The person at the other end of the phone pondered the dumfounded silence from my end,...”Hello, Hello, anyone there?
This went on for two more days before I threw in the towel and took a one week vacation after arranging for baby-sitters and feeders for all the critters. I am back now and the game resumes tonight.
If I have to I could dart him with a tranquilizer, assuming he stood still for a split second, but that is a last resort. Tranquilizers are very disorienting to an animal and not something you like to do just prior to release unless absolutely necessary. Maybe if I upgrade the bait used to lure him into the travel cage.... perhaps some cornish game hen braised with butter stuffed with wild rice and cranberry stuffing.
I have pretty much decided it is time to call Webster and have them eliminate the term “Dumb Animal” from the dictionary. I have yet to meet one in my work.
DONATIONS NEEDED If you would like to help any donation amount it is greatly appreciated. Donations should be made out to Witter Wildlife Refuge and can be sent to P.O. Box 1118, Huntsville AR 72740.
See web page under "HOW YOU CAN HELP" for specific ways you can help us help wildlife
