Oregon museum adopts bobcat kitten

BEND, Ore. — A museum in central Oregon has adopted an 8-month-old bobcat kitten.

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The High Desert Museum near Bend announced that the unnamed male feline is being kept in the facility’s atrium, The Oregonian reported. The bobcat will have to be rotated out of the area, since that is where a gray fox named Gert is kept, according to the newspaper. The two animals are unable to share the same space, museum officials said.

Officials said the kitten was originally brought to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and weighed less than 3 pounds, KATU-TV reported.

Wildlife biologists said it is common for bobcat adults to leave their young for a period of time to feed, according to the television station.

The biologists placed the bobcat where he was found, hoping that his mother would return.

“The best thing to do when discovering baby or injured wildlife is to leave the animal there and contact the local ODFW office to report it,” Jon Nelson, curator of wildlife at the museum, said in a statement. “The best outcome is always to locate the mother so the animal can be raised and live in the wild, but ODFW is well-equipped to determine if the animal is legitimately abandoned or otherwise requires long-term human care.”

Although wildlife officials put the kitten back into the wild, he was returned to the ODFW by a different person, KATU reported. Officials reached out to the High Desert Museum for placement, and the bobcat now joins 130 other animals at the facility, The Oregonian reported.

The bobcat weighs 15 1/2 pounds and is expected to be 20-25 pounds once he is fully grown.

“Although not generally a danger to humans, bobcats are also not housecats,” Dana Whitelaw, the museum’s executive director, told the newspaper. “Our team is working with him daily to ensure he will thrive here.”