Confused Woman Rescues Wild Bobcat, Mistaking It For A Lost Domestic Cat
One woman in Richmond, Virginia thought she had rescued a lost house cat, but the animal she brought home was far less domestic than she expected. What started as a simple act of kindness quickly turned into a very strange wildlife mix-up, complete with a Craigslist post and a cat that was definitely not acting like a pet.
She found the animal outside, trapped in her garden and screaming, so she fed it, took photos, and tried to track down its owner. The problem was that the cat looked too big to be a stray, too angry to be friendly, and, as she later admitted, she had never seen a bobcat before. That misunderstanding set off a wild chain of events.
By the time the truth came out, the story had already taken on a life of its own.
A day she will surely remember in vivid detail, the woman "rescued" the cat when it got caught in her garden and she found it "screaming its head off." Her kind heart led her to take the cat into her home to feed him, as well as take pictures to help her find his rightful "owners."
She shared the photos on Craigslist with the following information:
FOUND: Cat last night was stuck between my fence, screaming its head off. I brought it inside because it looks too big and healthy for a stray, and dogs here escape often and will eat cats that get out.
It is very thick and has little stripes and spots on its legs, and big white round spots on the back of its ears. The only thing that looks wrong with him is that he doesn't have a tail, but that doesn't seem like anything new.
It gets even messier than the impostor who tried posing as the rightful owner, and got caught.
He is very vocal (and mean!!!) I think he is a tabby and Bengal mix, maybe some Maine Coon because he is just so big and chubby. I took most of these pics last night, so the lighting makes him look brown, but he is actually more gray. He was very hungry. Please, if you're his owner, contact me ASAP. I cannot keep him here because, as cute as he is, he is CRAZY and has gotten into everything in the house in one night and is EXTREMELY AGGRESSIVE.
Bobcats are large and dangerous predators, not intended for interaction with humans. People who saw the woman's post on Craigslist were quick to inform her of the predicament she was in. Although bobcats typically hunt small animals like rabbits and rodents, they are also known to take down deer and have recently been in the news for attacking humans.
While most of the messages she received were helpful in nature, she also received some cruel messages and was quick to update her post after everything was resolved:
Thank you to everyone who told me this is actually a wild bobcat!!! Wtf!! No wonder he was so grumpy!! I kidnapped him.
I am not from America and have never heard of a bobcat; I thought all wildcats were much bigger than that!! I cannot believe I brought it inside! And he p***** all over my damn house, so now I have to deep clean everything!!
Anyway, I am glad at least he is okay and not a lost cat. I have already let him go back near the trees where he came from. I am also okay, with no bites or scratches.
Hopefully, from here on out, the mystery woman from Craigslist will do a little more research ahead of time before taking in large, mysterious cats. This situation could have ended very differently for her and the bobcat!
Want the moral twist, see what happened when a cat parent refused returning a tuxedo cat.
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