Bailey

BAILEY Male Bobcat

DOB 5/13/03? 

Arrived at Big Cat Rescue 6/4/03

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 calledBig 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.