Kathleen Hopkins

Asbury Park (N.J.) Press

BEACH HAVEN WEST, N.J. — This area's most notorious fugitive is on the lam again.

Rocky, the hybrid bobcat, escaped his enclosure and is on the loose, said Capt. Thomas Dellane of the Stafford Township Police Department.

A neighbor of Rocky's owner called police about 9 a.m. ET Tuesday to report the 38-pound feline was running at large again, Dellane said.

Now, animal-control officers are out looking for the wayward pet, which in recent months has been the subject of court battles, a paternity test and widespread publicity following repeated escapes from owner Ginny Fine's home.

Animal control officers already have spotted Rocky earlier in the Village Harbor area of the township but were unable to catch him, Dellane said. The animal ran off into the woods.

Officers have set humane traps in hopes of catching him, the captain said. If they do, they will bring Rocky back to the Associated Humane Societies' Popcorn Park Zoo in Lacey Township, N.J., to await a court hearing.

"Rocky is on the run at this point," said Dellane, urging area residents to call police with any Rocky sightings.

Fine has been charged — again — with allowing Rocky to run at large, Dellane said. She faces a municipal court hearing Dec. 5 .

She did not return a phone call Tuesday.



At a previous court hearing on Sept. 12, Fine vowed not to let Rocky get out again and agreed that if he did escape, she would voluntarily turn the pet over to the Popcorn Park Zoo, Dellane said.

Rocky is a declawed male feline who was advertised to Fine as being a mixture of bobcat and Maine coon cat.

In previous court proceedings, Municipal Court Judge Damian Murray said Rocky has gotten free at least six times in the past. Four of the occasions landed Fine in court, including a 12-day disappearance from March to April that spurred questions about Rocky's parentage.

In April, Murray ordered a DNA test for Rocky as he was being held at Popcorn Park Zoo after state Division of Fish and Wildlife officials went to him with suspicions that the animal was pure bobcat, which would require a special permit to own. If that had been the case, Fine would have had to forfeit the pet.

But Murray on May 16 allowed Rocky to be returned to Fine because the DNA test revealed the feline's mother to be pure bobcat but was inconclusive on Rocky's father.

At that hearing, Fine pleaded guilty to letting the animal loose and was fined $1,000. She also was ordered to pay $216 in restitution a veterinary hospital for tranquilizer darts used during attempts to capture Rocky.

But Rocky broke out again, on May 31 and again July 6, which landed Fine back in municipal court.

In court Sept. 12, Fine told Murray that she had made extensive improvements to Rocky's enclosure to prevent him from getting loose again. She pleaded guilty that day to one count of letting the animal run at large, was fined $250 and ordered to pay $448 in restitution to the Popcorn Park Zoo, which kept the pet for an extended period.