Rufus was acquired .  Rufus was a result of the breeding of bobcats for the pet trade.  The woman who had Rufus had declawed him, using people nail clippers and was bottle-raising him in an attempt to socialize him.  Fortunetly a new act was passed in 1999, prohibiting the keeping of wild animls as pets.  The woman who had Rufus decided not to sell him as a pet, and we picked him up when he was only 5 weeks old.  He has been here ever since and everyday helps us to teach people that wild animals do not make appropriate pets, they belong in the wild and if they can not be there ( like Rufus) the best place for them is a wildlife centre where they can be taken care of properly.

Bobcat (Lynx rufus)

Dining and Dwelling

The bobcat is primarily a small game predator (rabbits, rodents and birds), also they may take larger prey such as deer and sometimes even reptiles, insects and snails.

They can been found in hardwood forests, brushland, rocky hillsides, swamps and the outskirts of agricultural lands.

Life and Death

The normally solitary female will only be social with her young, or with a male during breeding season.  The female gives birth to a litter of up to five kittens in a rocky cave or in protective clumps of brush.  The kittens are born helpless and develop slowly.  They are weaned at two months, but remain with their mother until the following spring.

That's Amazing

• The sounds of a bobcat during breeding season are often mistaken for the sounds of a child whaling in the bushes.

• The latin name for the bobcat is Lynx rufus which translated, means red lynx.