By Tammy O'Neil, Wildlife Care Manager 

Bobcats again? Yes! The Kevin P. Clinton Wildlife Center has two new female bobcat kittens in our care until May 2021. They were both orphaned and approximately three to five weeks old when we received them. One is from Carroll County and the other is from Harrison County. Staff has enhanced the enclosure with new items to keep them physically and mentally stimulated. We hope you will enjoy watching them, as each day will be new and exciting as they develop and get stronger. Click here to watch them on the webcam. 

Take a look at the video below to see the bobcats get their final checkups before entering their new enclosure:

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The Kevin P. Clinton Wildlife Center, in partnership with the ODOW, is the primary bobcat rehabilitation facility in the state. Since 2012, the center has cared for and released eight bobcat kittens (six of which were orphaned due to vehicle strikes). Don’t let their cuteness fool you though—even as kittens they are fierce and defensive. It is imperative that we maintain this wildness throughout their stay at the center. We never want them to become friendly or imprinted on humans as this decreases their chances of survival significantly. 

During the time spent at the center, the bobcats are in an enclosure large enough to allow them to practice their innate survival skills, strength, agility, and stalking and hunting. We provide as natural a habitat as possible for them, natural food sources and remove them from human interactions as soon as they are weaned off milk. Nothing can replace the natural “play” provided by another young bobcat. This allows them to practice fighting, stalking, chasing and natural behaviors as they would with a sibling in the wild. We will keep these two new kittens a year, allowing them to grow and develop until they too can be released back into the wild. Check out the video below for a behind-the-scenes look at the bobcat enclosure and see the kittens take in their new surroundings.

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