Anasazi (the name of the Ancient Ones)
Female Bobcat
4/22/02 Earth Day
On May 20,2002 Big Cat Rescue received a call from an animal clinic in Ruskin, FL about a bobcat. A local resident had supposedly seen a bobcat cub in her yard all by itself, fearing that the mother had abandoned it or had been hit by a car, she caught it and brought the dehydrated kitten in. After giving the cub fluids the clinic called us and we agreed to come and pick up the kitten. The bobcat cub was very sweet. She purred anytime she was picked up. She was about 4-5 weeks old and was obviously hand raised. A kitten her age from the wild would be a hissing spitfire. We had some tests done on her, only to find out that she was very sick with all kinds of worms and bacteria. She immediately went onto vitamins and medication and started to eat a ground meat diet. She has made a full recovery and is the definition of rambunctious. Ana is now old enough to share a Cat-A-Tat and a life with Moses. Both have been altered to prevent breeding. You can help feed me HERE
Angie
Female Southern Bobcat
Date of arrival 1/9/98 from Tim Franz
Angie's owner brought her and two cougars to Easy Street in January of 1998 saying that his county had changed their ordinances on keeping wildlife and asked if we would look after them while he moved and built new cages. After being here nearly two years, we went ahead and built her a new cat-a-tat and as you can see from the photo she is enjoying her new found freedom. You can help feed me HERE
Bailey Female Bobcat DOB 5/13/03? Arrived 6/4/2003
Bailey's mother was possibly a native Florida Bobcat who was
killed in Odessa. That or she was a pet that was abandoned. Lost and
alone little Bailey wandered out in search of the mother who would never return
and was discovered by a local woman about the same time as she was being discovered
by a hawk. The woman rushed to her rescue and thinking she was a feral
cat, she called the animal shelter. The woman called 
Big
Cat Rescue to see if there was anything we could do to save the tiny kitten,
who was only about 5 or 6 weeks old, from being euthanized. We picked
her up and will provide her with a home for the rest of her expected 20 years.
Because she had only had a few weeks with her mother, she did not have the skills and training that would have taken her mom one to three years to impart. Without her mother's guidance in such critical areas as how to feed herself, how to defend herself and how to hide from man Bailey would not have survived a week in the wild. Because of being handled by so many people during her stay in the shelter, she was not a candidate for release back to the wild. If she were to find herself hungry and unable to hunt, she wouldn't know that approaching a human would mean certain death. Because there was no way to verify her origins she could not be released, since it is illegal to release a non native exotic animal.
It is sad to think that Bailey will never be able to roam free and make her own choices. It is even sadder still to know that more and more animals are being killed and orphaned as urban sprawl gobbles up the fields and forests that are home to so many wondrous creatures. The following year we had our first rehab and release of a native bobcat kitten. Read Faith's Story. You can help feed me HERE
Catera Male Bobcat DOB 7/24/97
His parents, Shiloh and Indian Summer had been a bonded pair
for seven years before coming to live on Easy Street. They had never
reproduced, so we left them together and of course a littler of three resulted
in just a few short months. The mother, on the third day, began killing
the kittens and by the time the Founder could get to her, two were dead and
she was biting the last one on the chest and abdomen. She snatched the
bleeding kitten away from her and took it to medicate and bottle raise. It
wasn't long before the she discovered why the mother had brutally attacked
her offspring. Catera (named for the 
Caddy
that zigs) was obviously brain damaged and from the condition of all three
kittens, it was apparent that they had not been nursing although the dam had
stayed with them faithfully. It took hours to feed Catera and every time,
it was as if it was the first time for him. It took him a year to get
on to solid foods and again, every meal was like the first he ever had. If
his surrogate mother walks out of the room and walks back in ten minutes later,
he has forgotten who she was and only through the vocalizations they have shared
over and over and over does he again recognize her. Every day is new
and exciting to Catera and he is quite possibly the happiest cat living on
Easy Street. Catera runs incessantly in circles and attacks everyone he can't
remember, which is everyone he knows. Catera has shown much improvement over
the years and is doing very well with his operant conditioning sessions. He
has learned 3 behaviors in only a few months. Catera has his own Cat-a-tat
that provides plenty of running room. You can help feed me HERE
Cherokee
Female Southern Bobcat
Date of Birth: 9/13/94
Cherokee was purchased at an auction at the age of six weeks. She apparently had never been handled and was very wild. She was raised inside with house cats but she is only tolerant of people. She has her very own 900 square foot cat-a-tat! In this photo, Cherokee is rubbing on the ground, where the volunteers have sprinkled some spices. You can help feed me HERE
Little Feather
Female Southern Bobcat
Date of Birth: 5/11/93
Little
Feather was five days old when she came to Big Cat Rescue. We began bottle
feeding her, and she quickly became everyone's little darling. Her surrogate
mother was Breezy, a freebred domestic cat Jamie Veronica rescued from the
streets. She was very sickly as a kitten and spent days in a pouch around Carole
Baskin's neck to keep her warm and to monitor her every breath. She never grew
to be very big for some unknown reason, and full grown she weighs only 16 pounds.
Little Feather waxes philosophical from time to time and would have you know that the mind is shaping the very thing that is being perceived. She makes the analogy that you don't have to understand electricity to benefit from it or by killed by it. The same electricity that cooks a man's dinner can cook a man. She has no need of electricity or money, but speaks to us in terms that we understand by noting that 1% of the people earn 96% of the wealth and that is because so very few understand that Thoughts become Things. There is one universal truth and that is the Law of Attraction. Whatever we think about becomes real by attracting more of the same, so it is vitally important that we focus our thoughts on all that is good. You can help feed me HERE
Moses
Male Bobcat
Date of Birth 4/22/01 Earth Day
We gave Moses the birthday of Earth Day, because he was abandoned here with no note and no one to tell us what his story was. He was about four weeks old and near death when his carrier was discovered inside our gates in May. He knew how to nurse from a bottle, which is something that has to be learned over a two or three day period, so we had to assume that he was someone's failed attempt at a pet. With proper diet and antibiotics, he was soon well enough to be a playmate to Trick E., the Amurian Leopard Cat. He has been neutered and now has a new playmate, another bobcat, names Anasazi. You can help feed me HERE
Precious Female
Texas Bobcat Date of Birth: 11/92 Precious came to Easy Street
from an auction when she was about six months old. She is a Texas Bobcat, which
is the most dramatically spotted variety. She lived in the house for a while,
but she was never house broken and never trusted people. She seems happiest
to have people keep their distance and admire her from afar. She shared
a 900 square foot Cat-A-Tat with Shiloh and Indian Summer for many years and
then, one day, they decided they didn't like her anymore and wouldn't let her
come down, out of the tree, to eat. Vern built her another Cat-A-Tat
with a great climbing tree so that she can live near by them, but not have
to worry about being attacked. You can help feed me HERE
Running
Bear
Male Bobcat
Date of Birth: 6/2/97
Running Bear and Little White Dove are the exception to the rule when it comes to wildcats living solitary lives. One of our senior volunteers watched as these two young bobcats bonded and chose to live together. They now share a cat-a-tat that features high limbs for them to climb and sleep upon. The higher the perch, the better they seem to like it. These two always prefer a room with a view! You can help feed me HERE
Little
White Dove
Female Bobcat
Date of Birth: 5/19/97
Little White Dove is well known for her beautiful golden eyes. She chose to bond and live with Running Bear. Though she was once food aggressive, as so many of the wildcats here are, she now defers to Running Bear at feeding time. She will even allow him to be fed before her. During the day, they spend much of their time perched high up in their tree sleeping. Seeing them up there, it is easy for guests to understand the nocturnal nature of bobcats and how easily they can camouflage themselves in trees. Despite development and human encroachment of their habitat, bobcats can sometimes manage to stay hidden from view and manage to survive.
The folk song, Running Bear and Little White Dove is at the bottom of the page HERE. You can help feed me HERE
Sheera
Female Southern Bobcat
Date of Birth: 6/12/95
Sheera is one of our most reclusive southern bobcats. Her cat-a-tat is located far from the main tour path to allow her the privacy she prefers. She is best seen at feeding time, but then only from a distance, since she will wait until her food has been put in her feeding area and the coast seems clear before creeping out of the shrubbery to dine. Even with the more timid cats, a senior volunteer is assigned to work with them through our Operant Conditioning program. As Sheera has become more and more trusting of her assigned volunteer, she does actually come out now to receive her clicker treats. It takes a lot of time and patience to work with cats such as Sheera, but the rewards are so much greater as she progresses. You can help feed me HERE
Shiloh
and Indian Summer
Date of Birth 1989?
Arrived 10/31/96
They had lived together for seven years and never produced kittens so when they arrived here we left them together since they had shared a cage their entire lives. Their former owner was a cat breeder in Davie, Florida who decided that she wanted to re-do her garden and the cats were in the way. They have never been friendly to anyone here, but apparently got too friendly with each other and produced a litter of kittens on 7/24/97. Catera was the result of that as was an immediate neutering for Shiloh. Their breeding was accidental and we haven't intentionally bred cats since 1997. You can help feed me HERE
The
Great Pretender
Male Texas Bobcat
Date of Birth: 11/92
The Great Pretender came to Big Cat Rescue at the same time and as a litter mate to Precious. We named him the Great Pretender because he always pretended to be so "bad" when he was little. Unfortunately, once he was full grown he wasn't just pretending anymore. He does not care for people much. He was neutered and now enjoys a comfortable retirement with dear old Elsa back in a quiet spot on the woods. You can help feed me HERE
Click the arrow > to play the song and sing along with the words.
Running Bear & Little White Dove by J.P. Richardson
On the banks of the river, stood Running Bear, young Indian brave.
On the other side of the river stood a lovely Indian maid.
Little White Dove was her name, such a lovely sight to see.
But their tribes fought with each other, so their love could never be.
Chorus:
Running Bear loved Little White Dove with a love big as the sky.
Running Bear loved Little White Dove with a love that couldn't die.
He couldn't swim the raging river, because the river was too wide.
He couldn't reach his Little White Dove waiting on the other side.
In the moonlight he could see her blowing kisses cross the waves.
Her little heart was beating faster waiting there for her brave.
Chorus:
Running Bear loved Little White Dove with a love big as the sky.
Running Bear loved Little White Dove with a love that couldn't die.
Running Bear dove in the water, Little White Dove did the same.
As they swam up to each other through the swirling stream they came.
As their hands touched and their lips met, the raging river pulled them down.
Now they'll always be together in that happy hunting ground.
Chorus:
Running Bear loved Little White Dove with a love big as the sky.
Running Bear loved Little White Dove with a love that couldn't die.
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