Brought to you by WBIW News and Network Indiana
Last updated on Monday, January 25, 2016
(BLOOMINGTON) - Another bobcat will be added to Indiana’s population today when the young female cat that was hit by a vehicle on Bloomington’s north side this past November is transported back to south-central Indiana.
The Herald Times reports, the bobcat was hit November 24 along Arlington Road when she was crossing the road with her mother and another kitten. She sustained several injuries, including broken ribs and a badly broken pelvis that required surgery. Efforts to find a veterinary hospital willing to take the cat led WildCare officials to the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine, which is where the cat has been since early December. A four-hour surgery on December 2 repaired her badly broken pelvis by installing a metal plate. She has now healed to the point where she needs a larger cage than the hospital can provide.
Dr. Nicki Rosenhagen, DVM, says the bobcat's pelvis has healed, but she still needs some rehabilitation.
Members of the Illinois vet hospital transported the bobcat Sunday morning to a rural area in Owen County, where she will join two other juveniles bobcats housed built by WildCare Inc., a rehabilitation center in Bloomington. The two other cats, both males, were brought to WildCare earlier in 2015 at separate times. Both nearly died, one because it needed surgery for a hernia and the other because it was fed improperly by people who found it after its mother died when she was hit by a car.
Once in her new pen, the female bobcat will begin physical therapy and building up her strength.
Beginning in February, all three bobcats will be fed only live prey, including mice, rats, rabbits and quail. It's a period of rehabilitation they call "mouse school." The bobcats' progress will be tracked on remote cameras so the volunteers know when each of the cats is successfully hunting a variety of prey.
The two male bobcats will be probably be released in late March in or near Sullivan County, where one of them was found. The female will be released several months later in Monroe County. She will probably not be released in the same location where she was injured, because that is her mother's territory.
1340 AM WBIW welcomes comments and suggestions by calling 812.277.1340 during normal business hours or by email at comments@wbiw.com
© Ad-Venture Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.