Chips the Baby Bobcat
Fire rescue orphan returned to the wild
I can’t help myself… two rescue kitties in a row?! Today we are watching footage taken by the US Forest Service of Chips the bobcat. She received her name after being found by the Forest Service during their firefighting efforts of the Chips forest fire in Plumas County, California of 2012. This fire, determined to have been human-caused, burned more than 75,000 acres of forest land.
The 4-week-old bobcat was found with second-degree burns on her paws and smoke-related damage to her eyes. While the Forest Service policy is to usually leave wild animals alone, particularly when they are young and in the presumed care of a dangerously protective mother, the cub was clearly in distress and her mother could not be located—likely she’d either fled from or perished in the fire. Therefore the crew placed the cub with an animal rehabilitation center (Sierra Wildlife Rescue in Placerville, CA) with the goal of bringing her back to health, nurturing her to independence, and releasing her back to the wild if she was deemed able to readapt. When first rescued, Chips was affectionate to her caregivers who were necessarily required to hold and feed her to provide the appropriate level of comfort, nurturing and burn care. Given their objectives to return Chips to the wild, this familiarity with humans concerned them. However, after she healed and grew old enough to hunt independently, Chips was placed with other orphaned bobcats into a protected den. The cubs were given mice to hunt and human interaction was minimized. As they grew, Chips and her den-mates engaged in typical juvenile bobcat behaviors—hunting, playing, wrestling. And the plan to prepare them for reentry worked; during the months of bobcat-only interaction, Chips became cautious of humans, emerging from her den only when alone. When she was eight months old, wildlife rehabilitation experts judged the den denizens as ready to be on their own, having proved to have adapted to a life in the wild. In April of 2013, at ten-months-old, Chips and another den mate of the same age were released near where she has been found, back into bobcat territory of Humboldt County, a rescue success story.
USDA: "Rescued Bobcat Chips Teturns to Natural Habitat" by Tiffany Holloway, 4/30/13
KCRA 3 (NBC): "Chips the baby bobcat released back into wilderness" 4/22/13
I'm glad there are professionals who can make sure these wild animals are able to be returned to their habitat. I know I couldn't do that job because I would cuddle that bobcat forever. Thanks Martini for so much squee.