Found San Antonio kittens turn out to be baby bobcats

One of two bobcat kittens found by a Northeast Side resident in early May, in an alley near her home, not far from Salado Creek. One of two bobcat kittens found by a Northeast Side resident in early May, in an alley near her home, not far from Salado Creek. Photo: Photo Courtesy Of Animal Care Services Photo: Photo Courtesy Of Animal Care Services Image 1 of / 53 Caption Close Found San Antonio kittens turn out to be baby bobcats 1 / 53 Back to Gallery

When a Northeast Side resident found a pair of striped kittens Saturday, she learned later that afternoon through a fierce attitude and more thana few scratches that it was a serious case of misidentified breed.

Following meows from the back alley of Good Hue Avenue, she found what she believed were Bengal kittens. Not seeing their mother, she carried them in her home to feed them. She and friends visiting from Austin, avowed animal advocates, fed the kittens from pet feeding bottles, filled with kitten milk replacement bought at a nearby store.

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The first clue something wasn’t right was the kittens’ aggressive feeding style. It was so aggressive that the duo ripped apart the plastic casings in their frenzy to drink the milk. And that’s when each one of the three humans helping them were bitten several times on the hand as the kittens devoured the milk and destroyed the feeding bottles in the process.

This is when the people decided the kittens might not be Bengal kittens. They researched details about the kittens’ look, such as the distinct pattern of their fur, the tufts of hair coming out of their ears and snubbed tails that were much shorter than traditional domestic cats.

Sunday, the resident called Animal Care Services to report the bite incident. When an ACS officer arrived at the home, she recommended that the trio get medical attention and confirmed that the kittens were in fact baby bobcats.

ACS spokeswoman Lisa Norwood said it behooves residents to educate themselves about wildlife companions that were living in areas before humans moved in.

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“Just like there are pockets of activity for roaming dogs, so are there too for roaming wildlife,” Norwood said. “This particular area is close to the Salado Creek area and wild areas that would make nice homes for bobcats. We still don’t know why the bobcats were in the area.”

“I think their hearts were in the right place, but we have to use our eyes and minds and make educated decisions,” she said. “If you don’t know something, ask somebody. There are so many resources out there.”

Norwood said ACS veterinarians worked with the Department of State Health Services to determine a quarantine period and consulted with Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation in Kendalia, where the kittens were taken.

Lynn Cuny, the wildlife organization’s founder and president, said that, sadly, the rescue receives bobcat kittens too often. She said people should know that wild animals belong in the wild and the bobcats should have been left with their mother.

“Something went wrong in their world and whether it was caused by humans or fate, the tragedy here is wild animal babies are taken from the wild,” Cuny said. “The fact of the matter is that San Antonio has grown up around … green spaces over the years into the huge city it is now. And every time a city grows then wildlife is displaced, killed and harmed, and green spaces are destroyed.”

She said bobcats are not common in San Antonio neighborhoods, so she doesn’t want people to panic. Cuny said all wild animals are going to want to stay away from humans because that’s in their genetic makeup and helps keep them safe.

Cuny said the goal for their newest rescues is to to keep the bobcats wild and only handle them when absolutely necessary so that they can be returned to their natural habitat.

“They’re being housed outside, because they need to be outside so they’re hearing the sounds of nature all of the time,” Cuny said. “That’s extremely important to their survival when they’re sent back to the wild. So our focus is to keep them wild, healthy and be able to set them free when they’re ready to go back.”

Cuny said a longtime volunteer will go out to the area where the bobcats were found to determine whether there’s an adult bobcat in the area. If there is, the kittens will be taken back in a safe container and a volunteer will watch from a distance to see whether their mother shows up.

She said such reunification efforts don’t always work; it depends on the breed of animal. Bobcat kittens stay with their mother from 18 months to two years.

vtdavis@express-news.net