Samantha and Miguel, the teenage bobcats rescued as kittens near
San Miguel and carefully raised to stay wild, were set free
Wednesday into a 12,000-acre ranch with no paved roads and few
people.
Samantha and Miguel, the teenage bobcats rescued as kittens near San Miguel and carefully raised to stay wild, were set free Wednesday into a 12,000-acre ranch with no paved roads and few people.
The effort was achieved by WERC, the Morgan Hill-based Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Center. WERC developed a now-famous and copied method where wild cats are raised to fend for themselves and fear humans – critical skills in wilderness survival – with a diet of mouse and rat with the human caretakers dressed up in “bobcat suits” and smelling of herbs and bobcat urine.
According to Evelyn Davis, chief “bobcat mom,” the two siblings hung around the release area for about 10 minutes. Then they loped off, discovering the ghost of a barn, Davis said. The pair wandered in and out, through the barn wall slats, upsetting resident barn owls. The barn has a water trough and an endless supply of ground squirrels and other rodents, the basis of a bobcat’s diet, Davis said.
Jim Solis, a state fish and game warden in San Miguel (San Luis Obispo County) will be keeping an eye on the bobcats, who were tagged with an electronic tracking device the size of a rice kernel at their final veterinarian check up. It was Solis who originally confiscated the kittens in April and sent them to WERC to be raised and trained.
Samantha and Miguel received their vet care free from John Quick’s Animal Care Center. Veterinarian Shanna Compton tended to the kittens as they grew from babies to wild animals ready to take on life on their own. The pair were her first bobcats, but not her last. WERC still has several other bobcats they are raising – with bobcat” companions. They will never see a human except at the vet, which is part of the negative “humans: bad” training.
The group also rescues other wild animals and provides educational programs for schools and community groups. Even though the kittens ‘medical care was free, there are many other costs related to WERC’s bobcat work. Contributions are always welcome.
Details: www.werc-ca.org
