Last month, a wild juvenile bobcat wandered into a Eugene school. Children watched as Lane County Sheriff’s deputies pulled it from the building with a catch pole, put the cat into the back of a patrol car, and took it away.

Shortly after, an Oregon State Police trooper with the agency’s Fish and Wildlife Division euthanized it after conferring with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife — killing the bobcat with a fatal blow to its head.

Objections quickly surfaced, as wildlife advocates and veterinarians voiced outrage about the cat’s killing and the euthanization method -- the instrument used has not been disclosed -- calling it brutal and unnecessary.

Oregon Fish and Wildlife and the state police have defended their use of the blunt force trauma method as humane under American Veterinary Medical Association guidelines on euthanasia, citing the animal’s abnormal behavior as justification for euthanasia.

The Oregon Veterinary Medical Association has since publicly decried the blunt force trauma method used, saying the guidelines were misinterpreted. The Humane Society of the United States has done the same.

Adding to the outrage is the fact that a second bobcat wandered onto school grounds the next day and was removed by Fish and Wildlife without killing it.

The controversy has drawn the attention of some state politicians, and a hearing is scheduled before the House Committee on Natural Resources this month.

State police and state Fish and Wildlife will recount at the Nov. 20 hearing the events, policies and choices that led to the cat’s killing. All parties involved, including speakers from animal advocacy organizations, will have the chance to testify, committee vice-chair Rep. Chris Gorsek told The Oregonian/OregonLive.

“I hope we will get to the bottom of what really happened and see what possible justification there is for what was done to that bobcat,” Gorsek said.

On Wednesday, the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association and national wildlife advocacy group Predator Defense sent a petition signed by 62 Oregon veterinarians to Gov. Kate Brown. The petition asks for a full investigation and for the state to establish nonlethal options for wildlife as a first priority, among other demands.

Rep. David Gomberg said he hopes a hearing will answer lingering questions.

“Is this indicative of our general response to these kinds of situations?” Gomberg asked. “What training do we rely on to decide that an animal is acting abnormally? What options do we have for properly euthanizing it?”

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Bobcats are a common predator in western Oregon, especially in the Willamette Valley where there is abundant small prey, Oregon Fish and Wildlife carnivore biologist Derek Broman said.

“For the most part, people co-exist just fine with bobcats and there are few conflicts — which made this incident such a rare event,” he said.

The juvenile bobcat on Oct. 15 wandered into a kitchenette in Oak Hill School, a private K-12 school that hugs the edge of a forested area in south Eugene. Dispatch calls show that school leaders shut the door to the room and alerted authorities for help dealing with the wild animal.

A Lane County sheriff’s deputy responded and intended to release the cat, according to an emailed statement from Sheriff Harrold Clifton to Lane County Commissioner Pete Sorensen. But a state trooper intervened, telling the deputy the cat should be euthanized to prevent it from re-entering buildings.

Oregon Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman Michelle Dennehy said bobcats are not usually considered a safety threat because they are small animals, but this young cat had entered a school full of children.

“This bobcat’s abnormal behavior led wildlife biologists to consider it a public nuisance and potential human safety threat were it to claw or bite someone,” Dennehy said in a statement. The decision to euthanize the cat was made between Oregon Fish and Wildlife and state police.

School officials captured a second bobcat on the school property the next day, and Oregon Fish and Wildlife chose to release that cat after it was evaluated by a veterinarian, according to a news release.

The young bobcats may have been on school grounds because they’d been orphaned or abandoned, the news release states.

In an email exchange, Oregon Fish and Wildlife biologist Joseph Stack told the wildlife advocate group Predator Defense, “The procedure was different for the second animal because it did not enter the school building.”

But several organizations are demanding answers as to why such an uncommon euthanization method was used on the first cat.

“The bludgeoning of a young animal, whose only wrongdoing was being in the wrong place at the wrong time, underscores an indifference to the welfare of the wildlife they’ve been sworn to protect,” Kelly Peterson, Oregon senior state director of the Humane Society of the United States, said in a statement. She said both bobcats should have been released.

In a public statement, state police said it chose to use blunt force trauma to keep its troopers safe.

“A single strike rendered the animal deceased instantly,” the statement reads.

State police said it was unsafe for the trooper to use a firearm because of the possibility of ricochet and that it followed American Veterinary Medical Association euthanasia guidelines. Euthanasia drugs are only administered by licensed veterinarians, the statement notes.

But in a letter sent to Travis Hampton, state police superintendent, the Oregon Veterinary Medical Association said state police “inappropriately” cited the euthanasia guidelines. “For small laboratory animals, manual blunt force trauma is allowed but actively discouraged and practitioners are advised to seek alternate methods,” the letter reads.

Longtime Oregon Fish and Wildlife veterinarian Colin Gillin told the Oregonian/Oregonlive that while the method is uncommon, it should be an option.

Gillin said the method is used on suckling pigs and neonatal animals in the euthanasia guidelines. A bobcat’s skull is smaller than a suckling pig’s skull, so it should be effective, swift and humane, he said. The issue is more complex than at a surface look, when considering public safety and what resources are available to the officers responding to wildlife calls, Gillin said.

“The officer that had to make decisions is highly trained,” Gillin said. “They have to make decisions based on the resources they have.”

Unlike veterinarians, Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife troopers and Oregon Fish and Wildlife field workers don’t have access to euthanasia drugs, he said. The bobcat would have needed to be transported to a Fish and Wildlife veterinarian facility to be chemically euthanized, Gillin said.

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But the bludgeoning has prompted the Oregon Veterinary Medical Association to request state police conduct an internal audit and review its policies and training protocols.

In an emailed statement, State Police Captain Timothy Fox told The Oregonian/OregonLive the agency is “in the process of looking into the matter internally.”

He did not answer questions regarding what instrument the trooper used to kill the bobcat.

Brooks Fahy, director of Eugene-based Predator Defense, objected to the animal’s death and has been outspoken against the blunt force trauma method used.

“This animal virtually posed no threat whatsoever. It showed no aggression whatsoever,” Fahy said. “The only difference between this cat and the one released is that this cat made the fatal mistake of walking into that building.”

Gillin said the trooper took care to euthanize the bobcat away from public view.

But the presence of the bobcats on school grounds has impacted the Oak Hill community.

When the students created their annual Dia De Los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, display at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, the bobcat was a prominent feature, museum spokeswoman Debbie Williamson Smith said.

They built a traditional ofrenda, or altar, to honor the souls of the dead, said Armando Morales, the Oak Hill employee who coordinates the display.

“All of the elements you see in the ofrendas play a big role in the community,” he said.

Animals are especially important as guides for the souls of the dead, he said. Surrounded by candles, figurines and colorful flowers, a large photo of a bobcat was placed on the altar.

Committee representatives are hopeful the wildlife controversy will be hashed out at the upcoming hearing.

“It’s probably the best place for this to start -- to hold an open hearing, let everyone have their say and figure out the next step after that,” Gorsek said.

-- Emily Goodykoontz; 503-221-6652; egoodykoontz@oregonian.com