Baby Bobcat Rescued By North Jersey Animal Rehab

PASSAIC COUNTY, NJ — A wildlife rehabilitation center in Passaic County recently brought in a bobcat kitten who was down on his luck.

On Saturday, The Last Resort Wildlife Refuge in West Milford took in a male bobcat kitten with severe damage to his neck.

According to the refuge, the kitten had suffered from serious neck entanglement. Whatever he was entangled in, his struggling made it worse, resulting in his blood flow being cut off and “extensive trauma, swelling, and edema” to his airway, larynx, esophagus, trachea, and cervical spine.

The bobcat spent a night in the rehabilitation center’s ICU, and his condition has improved, according to the refuge.

“After overnight ICU care in our hospital unit, this brave little one is finally stabilizing,” a post read. “His prognosis remains guarded, but he’s responding remarkably well to treatment. Over the next few days, we’ll be closely monitoring his ability to swallow, breathe comfortably, and regain normal mobility.”

As veterinarians keep an eye on him and hopefully nurse him back to health, their main goal is to reunite him with his mother, who is likely looking for him out in the wild.

“Please send this resilient kitten all your love, strength, and healing energy today,” a social media post read.

According to Last Refuge, this is the eighteenth bobcat that has come through their doors this year. Most of the previous patients were hurt in car accidents.

Bobcats remain an endangered species, but their population has rebounded in the last 20 years in New Jersey. After their population took a major hit due to habitat loss in the mid-20th Century, New Jersey took steps to reintroduce the species.

From 1978 to 1982, 24 bobcats were released in sections of Warren, Sussex, and Morris counties north of Interstate 80. Nowadays, there are an estimated 200 to 400 bobcats in the Garden State, according to the New Jersey Conservation Foundation.

Bobcats, typically twice the size of a regular house cat, are shy creatures who rarely interact with humans if they can avoid it. However, while a bobcat has never been reported to have killed anyone, there have been instances where they’ve attacked people and pets if sick or provoked.