Nearly 45 days after she was found with a trap strapped to her paw, a bobcat that local residents call Bobbi is on the road to full recovery.
Last month, the Calgary cat, who was roaming around the southeast neighborhood of Chaparral, was taken into care by the Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation Society, where she was treated for her injuries, including her foot and teeth.
The nonprofit hopes the bobcat’s treatment phase is now behind her and she will move into a full recovery and evaluation phase.
“She’s fine, she’s had three surgeries, the third surgery was her last surgery,” said Melanie Whalen, director of wildlife care and services.
“The first operation they performed, they hoped that the trap wouldn’t cut off blood flow from the actual bone and that the bone could come back from it.
“But unfortunately not.”
Whalen said any injuries the bobcat received from the trap were on the front of her paw and it closed behind her pad. They were able to keep the pad, but the bobcat eventually lost four toes on that paw.
She also had a broken canine tooth that had to be removed, likely caused by the gnawing on the trap.
“Bobbi” was well known to residents of Calgary’s Chapparel neighborhood. In mid-January, local residents saw the bobcat limping around with the trap on its foot.
At the time, an Alberta Fish and Wildlife official said it was unclear whether the bobcat was deliberately attacked or accidentally caught in the trap.
Now, Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation will move the bobcat to a facility with an outdoor enclosure where it will be monitored for walking, climbing and hunting.
“We have to make an assessment, there are animals that lose limbs and they’re doing fine in the wild,” Whalen said.
“Because she’s a cat and relies so heavily on those front claws, we’re going to do an assessment.”
Based on the assessment, a decision will be made as to whether Bobbi can be released back into their territory. It can also be taken to a sanctuary or something similar.
“We have three weeks, probably three weeks to a month, before we know before we can make that final assessment,” Whalen said.
There is still no information on who set the trap and whether it was intentional.
