Humane Society calls euthanizing first one found an 'overreaction'

A baby bobcat was euthanized Wednesday after it entered the Oak Hill School in southeast Eugene. And a second bobcat, found Thursday at the same location, is under evaluation.

The Lane County Sheriff's Office was called Wednesday to the school, near Lane Community College, after the animal had wandered into the school while students were still on campus. Staff trapped the animal in a room while authorities responded. Sheriff's deputies captured the bobcat and transferred it to the Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife Division. Based on the abnormal behavior of the juvenile bobcat and in consultation with Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife's wildlife biologists, OSP euthanized the bobcat.

On Thursday, school staff spotted a second bobcat outside of the school. ODFW wildlife veterinarians are evaluating the condition of that juvenile bobcat for possible release to the wild or to an accredited captive facility, ODFW spokewoman Michelle Dennehy said.

"This juvenile bobcat is likely the sibling of (the other) bobcat that was euthanized after being found inside the Oak Hill School in Eugene earlier in the week," she said. If the juvenile bobcat is found to be diseased or otherwise unhealthy, however, Dennehy said "it may be humanely euthanized." ODFW wildlife veterinarians will evaluate the health and behavior of the bobcat to make a decision on what happens.

Bobcats, like most wildlife, will generally avoid people and will not enter structures, Dennehy said. Bobcats are the smallest wild cat in Oregon, about twice the size of a house cat, and are usually not considered a human safety threat due to their small size. However, the abnormal behavior of the bobcat found earlier this week led wildlife biologists to consider it a public nuisance and potential human safety threat were it to claw or bite someone, Dennehy said.

But the Humane Society of the United States is calling the situation "a lethal overreaction" to an animal that was not a threat to anyone.

“This situation is just the latest of many examples of a lethal overreaction by ODFW to an animal who posed absolutely no threat to anyone. This was a young kitten, likely with her mom waiting for her return. It is growing more difficult to trust a state agency charged with protecting our wildlife when time and time again these kinds of responses show they cannot be trusted with such an important role. They simply must do better,” the organization said in a news release.

Wildlife biologists suspect these two juvenile bobcats may have been orphaned or abandoned, which is the reason they were hanging around school grounds. Bobcats are typically born between April and June and stay with their mother until February. The bobcat that is under evaluation may have been born earlier than April, because of its bigger size, Dennehy said.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correctly attribute a quote to the Humane Society of the United States.