Oliver arrived to Back to Nature in April 2009 when he was just 2 weeks old. He was found on a 100-acre parcel in Osteen, Florida. The owners of the property were mowing and accidently destroyed a mother bobcat’s den. The mother bobcat ran off and her 2 babies were left inside. The citizens waited 24 hours for the mom to return. When they checked back in the den, Oliver’s sibling had passed away. At that point it was necessary to remove Oliver from the den and take him to a wildlife rehabilitation center. Our veterinarian at Broadway Animal Hospital was contacted and accepted Oliver on behalf of BTN. As soon as Oliver officially arrived to Back to Nature, the animal care staff began contacting other local facilities in Central FL to find a companion bobcat. Given Oliver’s young age, he was at a critical stage of development. The attempts to find a friend for Oliver were unsuccessful and as time grew, Oliver became more difficult to wild out. He was deemed non-releasable due to his arrival age and for lack of socialization with another bobcat which resulted in human imprinting.
*Oliver enjoys playing hide and seek, splashing in his ‘kitty’ pool and snuggling with his stuffed animal friends: bear and lion (2 “friends” that he has had since his first day of arrival as a kitten).
Facts about The Bobcat
Oliver is one of the two bobcats that live in the Back To Nature Wildlife Refuge. The bobcat (Lynx rufus) is a North American mammal of the cat family Felidae. With 12 recognized subspecies, it ranges from southern Canada to northern Mexico, including most of the continental United States. The bobcat is an adaptable predator that inhabits wooded areas, as well as semidesert, urban edge, forest edges, and swampland environments. It persists in much of its original range, and populations are healthy.
With a gray to brown coat, whiskered face, and black-tufted ears, the bobcat resembles the other species of the mid-sized Lynx genus. It is smaller on average than the Canada lynx, with which it shares parts of its range, but is about twice as large as the domestic cat. It has distinctive black bars on its forelegs and a black-tipped, stubby tail, from which it derives its name.
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