 What do you get when you cross animal care volunteer Jace Cheatham and a bobcat in need of rescue? On an evening in June, Jace’s keen, caring eye for wildlife got him up close to one fortunate feline with a strong will to survive.
Driving to a Scottsdale grocery store, Jace wondered why a police SUV with its lights on was blocking a lane.
As he drove up, he saw the SUV was protecting a bobcat which had been struck by another vehicle and appeared to be dead. But as Jace drove past, he saw the bobcat take a sharp breath.
“I turned around to say that she was alive,” Jace recalls. And with that the grocery store could wait; he remained on the scene.
 Yet the bobcat had already let the police officer know this. The officer had a shovel on hand and was preparing to scoop her up when she had taken another breath at just the right time. The officer had then made two calls: one for backup and another to Southwest.
The second officer arrived first. Then, while Jace waited with them for volunteer Southwest Wildlife rescuers Dennis and Patty to arrive with a crate, the bobcat started showing her concerned crowd what she was made of. First, she opened her eyes and raised her head. “Five minutes later, she got up and tried to walk.” Jace remembers.
The bobcat’s back end quickly gave out, and she collapsed. But this tough predator wasn’t about to become sitting prey. She extended her rear skyward and slid her sternum and front paws into traffic, towards the median. The newly arrived officer jumped in his SUV and pushed oncoming cars further away. The bobcat, too traumatized to keep moving, eventually lay back down in the road, where she remained.
X-rays at Sonora Veterinary Specialists showed her to have a broken pelvis. She’s since been recuperating at Southwest’s clinic and is looked after from inside a spacious crate where she can best mend from her injury. Jace has quietly said hello. “She’s feisty as ever,” he grins. A follow-up X-ray is planned this month to evaluate when this resident of the wild could be released.
“I’m going on that release,” Jace says with certainty. After all, the feisty feline should have the man who helped save her life be watching when she fully returns to living it.
story by Darcy Pierce
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