Bobcat that survived being hit by a car gets a custom-built kennel
In March, we reported on a wild bobcat that was hit and dragged by a car, and also got its head stuck in the car’s grille. As if things could get worse, the wild cat arrived at the Raven Ridge Wildlife Center in Pennsylvania on a Sunday, and the nearby veterinary office was closed. But thanks to two lucky acquaintances, a mobile X-ray machine was brought in, revealing that the bobcat had two broken legs.
Thanks in part to the fact that his bone fractures were clean breaks, his team decided to risk surgery. The next morning, two surgeons operated on the bobcat at the same time. After the surgery, Tracie Young, director of the Raven Ridge Wildlife Center, said Popular science that she was doing “wonderfully” and “starting to act like a bobcat.”
In his great misfortune, the cat was rather lucky – and it seems that luck was there. Two striking coincidences have now come together to give him a custom-made cage for his rehabilitation.
“After two months of recovery, the bobcat now needs to be moved outside to exercise and begin building muscle tone,” the wildlife center wrote on social media. “We had to design a safe and creative way to get her outside, which required building a special cage. We determined that a custom kennel would be the only viable option.”
However, the problems were twofold: time and money. Kennel builders contacted by the wildlife center needed at least eight months to build the rehabilitation cage, and the project would cost thousands of dollars. But then Raven Ridge photographer Dawn called her neighbor Glen for suggestions, who turned out to be the owner of a kennel construction company and could build the kennel in two weeks.
And if you think that’s enough of a coincidence, even better. The same day work began, the Raven Ridge Wildlife Center received a letter containing a generous donation. A woman named Raven Minervino died and her husband wrote that she had always supported the wildlife center. After her death, her husband asked that instead of receiving flowers, people make donations in her memory. The letter contained a donation in his memory large enough to pay for the bobcat’s personalized cage.
“Thanks to all this support, we were able to move the bobcat to the new enclosure, where she is now exploring, exercising and is much happier,” we read on social media. Raven Ridge plans (or may have already) placed a plaque in memory of Minervino on the cage.
Both of the bobcat’s broken legs have healed and since having the custom cage, she has gained ten pounds, bringing her to a much healthier total of 19 pounds. Adult female bobcats weigh on average between 15 and 20 pounds.
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