Southwest Wildlife Newsletter - Wild Tracks

Feisty the Bobcat

The couple was on their way home from an evening out when they saw it: an injured bobcat in the road. Not knowing what else to do, they stopped their car and notified security in their development. Fortunately for this bobcat, the security department knew about Southwest Wildlife and called for our assistance. While the couple waited for help to arrive, they kept an eye on the cat, so it wouldn’t get lost in the night, even as they kept a safe distance from it.

When Southwest Wildlife volunteers arrived, the bobcat was up but not able to move very well. She appeared to be extremely disoriented and bleeding from the mouth. They captured her with their snare pole, put her in a crate, and rushed her to Sonora Veterinary Specialists Hospital.

There, doctors immediately set an intravenous catheter, started treatment for shock, and took x-rays. Medical evaluations showed she had a severe head injury, including a badly-broken jaw. She also had a pneumothorax, which caused difficulty breathing. She had almost certainly been hit by a car, taking a severe hit to the head and chest. Before anything could be done, however, she had to be stabilized.

After a week in intensive care, they felt she was stable enough to undergo surgery. It was challenging for Dr. Soderstrom to put such a badly-shattered jaw back together, but with plates, wires, and a tape muzzle, he was able to get the job done.

Now, with her jaw wired shut and her muzzle taped, this feisty bob was going to have to learn to accept a little help eating. Fluids could be given intravenously, but not food. Day by day, she learned that she had to accept being hand fed. We wore Kevlar gloves because she always let us know, with a growl and occasional swipe of a paw, that hand feeding was to be done on her terms.

For months, she wore the muzzle and licked her food off the end of a syringe. Finally, the plate was removed and, 10 days later, the wires and muzzle followed. At last, she was able to eat on her own! At first, the food had to be pureed, so she could lap it from a bowl. Ever so slowly, she graduated to real bobcat food.

The severe trauma to her jaw caused her to loose some molars and part of one canine tooth, and her canines didn’t properly line up. Because of these permanent consequences of her injuries, she would not be able to survive on her own in the wild. Feisty, as she had come to be called, would be a permanent resident of our accredited wildlife sanctuary.

This spring, Feisty began her very important job at Southwest Wildlife: she is a foster bobcat mom! She is raising orphaned bobcat kittens that come to Southwest Wildlife, teaching them to how to “be bobcats”, so they can grow strong and be released back into the freedom of the wild.

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California Dreamin’

It happens far too often: careless people leave food at a campground, homeowners leave their garbage in unsecured containers, or, worse yet, people purposely feed bears. Every year, bears throughout the country are killed because they have learned an unfortunate lesson: people = food. Once this lesson is learned, a bear almost always becomes a nuisance bear.

Last year, four bear cubs were orphaned in California because their mothers were deemed nuisance bears and euthanized. What to do with their cubs? At only a few months old, they were far too young to fend for themselves in the wild and there was no rehab center in California to take them.

In a last ditch effort to save them, Nicole Carrion of California Fish and Game Department (CFGD) called Southwest Wildlife; if we did not take them, they would be euthanized. A quick call was made to Arizona Game and Fish Department, asking if we could take these
out-of-state bear cubs, and they granted permission.

Unfortunately, CFGD had no funds for transporting them. Nicole felt so strongly that these little guys deserved a second chance, she offered to spend her vacation time to drive them to Arizona herself! Going above and beyond her call of duty, she transported the four little black bear cubs to Southwest Wildlife a few days later.

Her delivery included one scrappy little female, who was recovering from a large gash in her side, and three males. Once at Southwest Wildlife, the cubs spent their days eating, sleeping, and playing in their enclosure, growing strong while we kept them wild.

Nearly a year later, on April 22, they were darted by Southwest Wildlife staff and placed in transport boxes, which were loaded into our stock trailer. Southwest Wildlife staff made the drive back to California, Operation Bear Cub Freedom. Finally at our destination, we were met by a CFGD biologist, who we followed to the release site.

There was no hesitation on the part of any of the bears, as all four were tired of the crates. As each crate door was opened, the bear inside quickly leaped to its newly-regained freedom—right into its new, wild home. The biologist shot each with bean bags to give them one final reminder to stay away from people.

If you live in bear country or plan to visit, please remember this saying, "A fed bear is a dead bear."

Once a bear gets a free or easy meal, it will become a nuisance bear. Officials are forced to remove nuisance bears because they have become a threat to humans. So, enjoy bear country but hike and camp responsibly.

Although Southwest Wildlife will continue to do everything we can to save them, we don't like to see cubs orphaned because their mothers became nuisance bears.

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Triple Trouble

Author’s note: Read this report with the theme music from the old TV series Dragnet playing in your head.

My name is Dief. Paul Dief. I was hanging around the shop banging some hot steel when the phone rang. It was tax day – April 15 – 6:31pm. I don’t like unfinished paperwork, so I had my taxes done months ago, and my refund was already working its way through the local economy. Nothing fancy. Tools for the shop. Dinner at Big Earl’s with my wife. That sort of thing.

The call was from Linda at Southwest Wildlife. It was trouble. Calls from Linda were always trouble. She’s that kind of gal.

I went to the address Linda gave me. I spoke to the homeowner, another gal named Linda, so I knew I was in for double trouble. As it turned out, I was in for triple trouble! Earlier in the day a baby bobcat had fallen off the patio roof. He was a small tyke, but it was obvious he was a delinquent. A kid that small has no business walking around on a patio roof. The mother was nowhere to be found. Probably holed up in some local gin joint.

I grabbed the kitten and showed him my badge. He knew better than to resist, and easily went into the crate I bring along on these types of cases. I headed upstairs to check out the patio roof. It was a little awkward leaning over the wall but after poking my nose around in the vines, I found not one but two more kittens. Like I said earlier: triple trouble.

Life is tough and even tougher for orphans. The kittens were transported to Southwest and put in a holding cell. The next day, Mom Bobcat showed up and wanted her kids back. It was decided she should have a second chance, so the kittens were reunited with her. All seemed to be going well, until she took them back to the very same place from where they had fallen the day before. Some parents! Go figure!

Fearing they would fall again, some SWCC volunteers met with the homeowner to see what could be done to keep the kittens safe. The homeowners were most distressed about the kittens being in danger and wanted to do whatever was needed to keep the kittens and mom together and safe. It was decided to use netting to create a safety net of sorts. If they fell, they could climb out, or mom could climb down and get them. So with netting, a staple gun, and zip ties, we fashioned a safety net while mom nursed the kittens above us.

SWCC’s goal is to keep wildlife in the wild whenever possible. With a lot of effort from SWCC staff and volunteers, these kittens will be raised in the wild with their mom—which is almost always the best for all concerned. We thank all who contributed to this effort, especially the homeowners who valued wildlife and went the extra mile to ensure they remained in their wild home.

That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

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