Boat-boarding bobcat released

It’s bobcat breeding season, so the 18-pound male that was captured Sunday on a Gateway Clipper riverboat in Pittsburgh has been returned to the woods, where he is more likely to encounter a potential mate.

The bobcat was “beautiful, very wild, very aggressive and scared of people,” Jill Argall, director of the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Verona, said Monday.

The bobcat was found Sunday morning on The Empress, operated by the Gateway Clipper Fleet. Pittsburgh Animal Care and Control officers removed the bobcat “without injury to men or animal,” Ms. Argall said.

The bobcat was taken to the wildlife center, where he was sedated for a veterinary exam. He is healthy, Ms. Argall said, and at 18 pounds is probably on the young side. The weight range of bobcats is 12-30 pounds.

Humane Animal Rescue, which operates the rehabilitation center, has the facilities to care for the bobcat, Ms. Argall said, but the priority is to return animals to the wild.

Staff from the Pennsylvania Game Commission picked the bobcat up Monday morning and released him on state game lands in Armstrong County.

This was the first bobcat brought to the rehab center, and the staff was excited to see him, Ms. Argall said. Sightings of bobcats are rare, especially in densely populated areas,because they avoid people.