Bobcat gets costly surgery for broken leg

KAMLOOPS A young bobcat will go on to live a happy life in the wild after it was struck by a car and rescued by two-legged friends at the B.C. Wildlife Park in Kamloops.

“Hopefully, she’ll go on to breed and produce more little bobcats,” animal-care manager Tracy Reynolds said.

A nearly one-year-old female bobcat, which has since affectionately been named Gallagher due to the Okanagan location in which it was discovered, was dropped off at the B.C. Wildlife Park about a week-and-a-half ago.

The young feline had been struck by a vehicle and found by a passerby, who contacted conservation officers, who in turn brought it in for rehabilitation at the park’s Fawcett Family Wildlife Health Centre.

A large cut on one of the cat’s back legs was immediately stitched by staff. But the animal still couldn’t walk and its femur was determined the next day to be badly broken. Gallagher had three options: surgery, amputation or euthanasia.

Reynolds said it’s unlikely the cat would survive with three legs in the wild. “Ultimately, what we want to do is get them better so they can leave here,” she said.

A costly specialized surgery that involved a custom titanium plate was required, typically costing about $5,000. A specialty clinic in the Lower Mainland, Boundary Bay Veterinary Specialty Hospital, agreed to conduct the surgery for only $2,000. The surgery was a success and Gallagher is now on antibiotics at the B.C. Wildlife Park.

It will be a couple of months before the bobcat can be released, but staff are confident in the animal’s success. Reynolds said the cat — the size of a big house cat at its age, but with huge paws and the voice of a mountain lion — has not been habituated and will be released back in the Gallagher Lake area.