SAFE HAVEN IS HOME TO TWO PERMANENT-PLACEMENT BOBCATS.

Phoenix & Bobzee are available for sponsorship in our Adopt-an-Animal program.

PHOENIX

Phoenix (left), one of Safe Haven's first permanent-placement residents, was also one of our first rescues of an illegal pet. She was confiscated by The Department of Natural Resources from a woman who had kept her illegally in an apartment in Crystal Lake, IL. Once the woman actually lost her, and Phoenix roamed Crystal Lake for four months.

There was nowhere for her to go for placement except Safe Haven. She arrived distressed, and emaciated from an inappropriate diet of broccoli and canned Friskies cat food. She wasn't spayed, because veterinarians won't work on a wild animal for someone who doesn’t hold proper licensing—so she had been urinating all over the apartment, creating such a bad odor that other tenants were complaining.

Phoenix was declawed and completely conditioned to humans, so releasing her back to the wild wasn’t an option.

BOBZEE

In Summer 2009 Safe Haven accepted Bobzee, a 7-year-old spayed female bobcat who was voluntarily surrendered to Safe Haven by a couple who had lovingly cared for her ever since she was a bottle-fed 4-week-old kitten. In recent months Bobzee had begun exhibiting normal wild bobcat behavior and was increasingly difficult to manage. She escaped twice, but fortunately she was microchipped, and her owners were notified of her whereabouts.

Her owners agreed to place her with Safe Haven after they visited our facility and were confident that she would be in good hands. Bobzee was not a candidate for return to the wild. Besides being habituated to and dependent upon humans, she had been declawed and would not be a successful hunter.

We introduced Bobzee to Phoenix in mid-October. Although they remained separate for several days, they exhibited no hostility towards each other. Finally Phoenix ventured out onto the top of her den, casually lay down and crossed her front paws, and began making friendly sounds to Bobzee.

We are grateful for the friendship and support of Bobzee’s former owners, who visit her regularly. They are now happy to see Bobzee express her “wild side.” They even built a new den for her and helped us enlarge the bobcat enclosure.

Although Phoenix and Bobzee—both former pets—can never live in the wild, they are thriving in an environment where their natural instincts and behaviors are encouraged.