BANGOR — Police in the Maine city of Bangor are warning people to be careful handling injured animals after a woman tried to rescue a cat that she had hit with her vehicle that turned out to be a bobcat.

Police say the female driver believed the cat was seriously injured or dead and placed it in her van just after midnight on Wednesday morning.

But while she was driving the cat became alert and she realized it was a bobcat.

The woman got out of the vehicle and the bobcat went under the van.

Police used a catch pole to secure the animal until a game warden arrived. The game warden said the animal’s injuries were so severe that it had to be euthanized.

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