Calgary bobcat ‘Bobbi’ on road to recovery

“Bobbi” the bobcat captured the hearts of Calgarians when she was spotted in the community of Chaparral with a trap clamped on her foot.

The Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation Society (CWRS) was able to capture Bobbi in mid-January.

“When we trapped Bobbi, she had a conibear trap that was clamped onto the front of her paw for about two weeks we estimate,” said Melanie Whalen, director of CWRS.

“She had surgery right away, we were hoping that we would be able to save those toes but unfortunately, they had to be amputated,” Whalen said.

So far, her recovery is looking pretty good. The cat has had three surgeries and is recovering from her latest one. In a couple of weeks, Calgary wildlife hopes to test her survival skills.

“There’s another facility, a sanctuary that we can take her to that has a fenced-in area, so there’s four acres we’re able to set up cameras and we can monitor her to see how well she’s climbing, and if she’s actually able to hunt food,” Whalen added.

The assessment will reveal if Bobbi can be released back into the wild, which will be her home area of Chaparral.

Meanwhile, Whalen says the cost for Bobbi’s recovery is about $6,000 a month, including her vet bills. She is the first bobcat they’ve cared for with a trap on its foot.

“We do get quite a few skunks that have traps on them, we also get a lot of squirrels and other animals that have just been shot, so people are shooting animals within the city. So, we do see quite a few injuries from manmade causes,” said Whalen.