Cypress the Wild Bobcat Dies

It is always hard to say "good bye" to one of the cats who has graced our lives, but some are harder than others. I know I made the right choice in saying it was time to let her go, but her eyes will haunt me for a long, long time. I'll never forget that look when she thought she was drowning. Now I am drowning in the sorrow of having failed her. Hopefully her brief life will have touched some hearts out there who will become a voice for her and others like her.

 

Her story is here:  http://bigcatrescue.org/cypress/ It reads a little weird below because the text was illustrated with dozens of photos on the web page. 

 

January 4, 2014 9:28 am a call comes in from Bob Strouse who reports that a bobcat has been struck by a car and has dragged herself off the road at Cypress Gardens Boulevard and Hwy 27 in Winter Haven, FL.  He has called Animal Control, a local rehabber and several vets, but no one will come help the bobcat.

 

I told the caller I would start heading his way and asked him to see if the bobcat was still alive.  I loaded up the Toyota Tundra, that our Facebook fans helped us win, with nets, carriers and other tools to catch the bobcat.  I lost precious time doing that so we really need to buy some BIG nets, falconry gloves and dog size carriers to keep in the Tundra for such emergencies.

 

I tried hard not to speed, because the last thing I needed was to waste precious time over a speeding ticket, but I knew from Bob’s voice that he was clearly upset that the cat was so close to traffic and so close to disappearing into the brush on the side of the road, on the other side of a barbed wire fence.  Meanwhile he had called his wife, Lauree Strouse, to bring a big blanket and a carrier.

 

When I arrived on the scene there were 3 trucks and 3 people, including Bob and Lauree Strouse and their friend Shawn Patterson, between the 4 lane highway and the barbed wire fence, where the bobcat had dragged herself to evade capture.  I had suggested throwing a blanket over her so that she would feel safe, but the brush on the other side of the fence was so thick that it had been impossible to do.

 

When these kind motorist and I circled around her she managed to drag herself with just her front paws through that muck to the other side of the tree.  When we stepped into that freezing cold, black murky water we sunk up to our knees.  It was like quicksand and I could feel myself being sucked down deeper with each step toward the bobcat.  The muck was so thick it sucked our shoes right off so we were “running” barefoot, in slow motion.

 

On the other side of the tree the bobcat had gotten into water over her head.  Her look of determination turned to horror as she realized that no matter how fast she paddled with her front legs she was sinking fast.  She looked back at me with the most pitiful look as she was about to be sucked below the surface.  Tears for her terror welled in my eyes as I lunged forward through the tree reaching out as far as I could shove the net through that tangle of branches.

 

She seized one last gulp of air before the net came up under her and lifted her out of the water.  Bob said rather incredulously to me, “You’ve obviously done this before!”  What he didn’t know, and I couldn’t possibly explain in that moment, was that only angels could have guided that net through the brush, under the bobcat and lifted her to safety.  I am not that good and certainly, at age 52, not that strong.

 

Now I had her sitting like a fish in the net and any bobcat who has ever been in my net that way has quickly clamored over the edge and out.  I needed to flip the net up vertically so she would be trapped in the bag end of the net with the barred rim holding the bag closed, but I was stuck, up to my knees in mud, leaning full forward on the tiny branches of the tree and couldn’t imagine how I was going to stand up.

 

If the branches broke, I was going to fall face forward onto this litt