A Different Kind of Homelessness

 

Big Cat Rescue, in Tampa, FL frequently get calls about bobcats who have been hit by cars.  It is always a challenge to have the caller properly identify the animal.  While every animal life is precious Big Cat Rescue's focus is on saving exotic cats.  Once the caller has described the cat sufficiently the Rescuers hit the road with a van full of nets, carriers, humane traps, flashlights, bug spray, blankets and high hopes of bringing the bobcat back alive.

 

Sometimes though, the cat either cannot be located or even if spotted cannot be caught.  That was the case when a call came in on March 29, 2011.  When Rescuers and licensed rehabilitator, Jamie Veronica, Gale Ingham and Chris Poole arrived on the scene of an accident that had happened on the exit ramp of Interstate 75 in Tampa the caller returned to the scene to help point them in the right direction.

 

The cat was no where to be seen, but as the caller relayed what he had seen earlier, the bobcat ran from the woods back into the busy exit ramp.  Rescuers ran desperately to corral the badly injured bobcat back off the roadway.  Jamie barely missed him with her net and made one last leap after him as he dove into the briars.  The thorny underbrush was so thick that she just hung there, trapped in mid flight, but the tears that sprang to her eyes were not because of the thousands of rivulets of blood trickling from her gashes, but because she knows that you usually only get one swipe at netting a wild cat and she had missed this one.

 

Later on the way home she broke down and sobbed, “I feel like it's all my fault!  I should have been faster.  I was so startled that he was in the middle of the road and I didn't want him to get hit again.  I could see the whole side of his face was caved in, and the blood...I think he lost the eye on one side.”  The scene played over and over again in her head, but no matter how much it haunted her, there was no way to set the clock back and if she could it would have been much further reset to avoid the initial accident.

 

More Rescuers arrived on the scene and the search through the thick brambles and palmetto thick forest went on without a glimpse of the bobcat until around 9pm.  Chris thought he saw a shimmer of brown fur but it moved quickly past him, leapt up onto a log, and then disappeared completely.  The searchers tried to circle around the area, but it was dark and the woods were full of trash.  Pieces of plastic and broken bottles reflected back millions of false illusions of eyes.  Each had to be investigated to rule out what was garbage from what may be a one eyed cat.

 

The bobcat was not sighted again and the search party, bleeding from battling briars and mosquitos decided around midnight to call it quits and try again at first light.

 

The next morning Jamie and Carole drove out to the scene as day broke and resumed the search.  A humane trap with fresh mice had been set where the bobcat had last been seen, but the hazy morning light revealed that it had not been successful.  The stress of having been so close and yet not being able to catch the bobcat on the first try had kept Jamie up all night, but she was determined to find the cat on this morning and get him to a hospital.

 

Hours passed, and she saw just the slightest hint of brown fur in the thick palmettos but despite all of her skill and practice as a wildlife tracker, she could not get close enough to see if it was a bobcat, or a rabbit, or a rat, or squirrel, or a raccoon.  It disappeared instantly and not another sound was heard.  The only evidence of life were the discarded clothes and food containers that had belonged to the homeless who live in this small patch of woods.

 

Those who hate Big Cat Rescue for the work we are doing to end the trade and exploitation of big cats had filed a 22 page false complaint with USDA.  The inspectors arrived at the sanctuary to do an investigation so Rescuers lost the rest of t