I am probably being far too cynical and un-trusting. In the video below you will hear the story of three, tiny, 13 ounce, new-born American bobcat kittens who were brought into a veterinarian’s clinic with a request to the vet tech that she/he raise the kittens (and I presume socialise them) so that they were made ready to be given to the hunter’s children. The vet tech agreed to take them but, it seems, on the proviso that they were, when ready, released back into the wild. She contacted Big Cat Rescue in Florida.
Big Cat Rescue stepped in and organised the raising of these kittens by a surrogate mother who is a domestic cat with a bobtail (actually a half length tail). You can see in the video that she immediately takes to the bobcat kittens and is happy to nurse them and no doubt she will do a wonderful job in raising them. She was specially selected as a mother
who had given birth to 6 kittens and who was fostering two more. All but two of the kittens were fostered out and then the mother, whose name is Bobbi, and her two remaining kittens were brought over to Big Cat Rescue to see whether she could be a mother to the three bobcat kittens.
The reason why the kittens were not raised by humans is because, as mentioned, the intention is to release them back into the wild and therefore it is essential that they did not form any relationships with humans.
Now to the ugly part of this story which I regret came to my head when I read it. I just have this rather sad, gut feeling that the Alabama hunter killed their mother. That point is not discussed in the video and I don’t see anything about it on the YouTube page where the video is presented so I am guessing and I may well have guessed completely incorrectly. I am, in fact, surprised that the question has not been asked. Perhaps it has.
There is, incidentally, quite a big trade in selling wild cat kittens of various species. People have a fascination with looking after a wild cat. Some wild cat species can be domesticated to a certain extent and make pets of a sort. However, the bobcat is not one of those cats so the idea that the Alabama hunter had was misconceived completely.
Yep, some people just don’t get it. They just don’t have any sensibilities towards animals and the fact that they have a right to life and to be left alone. They don’t see the possibility that they have emotions not that far from ours. Thanks for commenting Kristina.