Cherokee

CHEROKEE Female Bobcat

DOB 7/13/94

Arrived at Big Cat Rescue 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. Although she spent much time around people from a very young age, Cherokee is very elusive and prefers the company of her bobcat neighbors as opposed to her keepers. Cherokee loves enrichment time and when given tubes with her favorite spices in them she will flop and roll around on her back and rub her chin on the ground incesently. Keepers hand out enrichment every day in order to entertain these captive cats.

Most of our bobcats were rescues from fur farms.  The deal Our Co-Founder made with the three fur farms we discovered in the U.S. was that he would pay top dollar for every cat and kitten they had as long as the fur farmer would agree to never buy and breed cats again for slaughter.  It came at a time that the public outcry was against the fur industry.  Many of these animals were purchased at auctions where the uncaring owners were dumping the cats with no concern about their welfare.  There is much controversy over whether we did the right thing by paying the ransom for these cats.  We still accept many unwanted cats each year, but do not pay for them and typically require that their owner surrender their license, in an attempt to keep people from just trading in their cats each year for a newer, cuter model.  We have to turn away more than 100 cats each year due to a lack of space and funds and the lack of regulation of the exotic pet trade. Read more about our Evolution of Thought HERE