‘Hello kitties’ turns to ‘beware bobcats’ in Texas
SAN ANTONIO: With big blue eyes and stubby tails, two kittens taken in by a San Antonio family looked adorable until the fiery seven-weekold felines ripped apart formula bottles and repeatedly bit the hands that were trying to feed them.
The family, whose name has not been released, told authorities they thought the kittens were the rare and prized domestic breed of Bengal cats.
But the tiny felines were actually wild bobcats that were surrendered to a shelter this week, and officials said on Thursday the family was under investigation for possibly violating Texas wildlife laws.
“Bengal kittens look like house cats.
“They do not look like wild cats,” San Antonio Animal Care Services (ACS) spokesman Lisa Norwood said on Thursday, adding the two species are rarely confused for the other.
The family initially told ACS workers that they discovered the cubs abandoned in an alleyway.
Later, they confessed that the kittens were found by a relative in a nearby rural county and then brought to San Antonio, according to Norwood.
The search is on for the cubs’ mother because if she cannot be found, the pair may never be able to return to the wild.
The cubs are being handled with minimum contact so they do not lose their healthy fear of humans, which aids their survival by keeping them away from populated areas, said Lynn Cuny, founder of Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation, which is housing the animals in a rural area north of San Antonio.