Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care found a more suitable home for this bobcat. Photo/ DanThriftPhotgraphy.com

By Tom Millham

I have an update for you on “Bobzee” the 40-pound pet bobcat. The owners came here about an hour ago and took her to Safe Haven, a wildlife refuge in Imlay, Nevada.

Bobzee will spend the rest of her natural life there. The owners, Tony and Christel, were very relieved to know that we were able to find a place for their pet of the last seven years. They finally realized that a bobcat is NOT a good house pet. They did their best to persuade Bobzee to walk into the airline pet carrier we had for her transportation to Safe Haven, but Bobzee would have NOTHING to do with it.

We finally had to resort to physical handling and I had to put a noose around her and forceably place her into the cage. No one — human or animal — was injured.

Safe Haven is approximately 100 miles east of Reno near Interstate 80.

So, we are now down to five bear cubs, a Cooper’s hawk and a great-horned owl.

Last Thursday and Friday, we released the 10 raccoons, the osprey, the two river otters and the porcupine.

The five cubs will most likely be with us until late January or early February. The Cooper’s hawk and great-horned owl will probably be released within the next 10-14 days. We do have a few other birds which have come in the past few days, but all have minor injuries and should be released later this week.

And, in case you didn’t hear, we did get an update on Li’l Smokey, but it was several weeks ago. He was tracked within 10 miles from the original release point. We expect to receive another update sometime before the end of the year.

Tom Millham is secretary-treasurer for Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care on the South Shore of Lake Tahoe.