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| A bobcat kitten rescued by a truck driver moves into a California wild cat sanctuary. |
The kitten appeared to be near death when a professional truck driver spotted it along the road near Acton, Calif. When the driver brought the kitten home to care for it, his sister, Patricia Groton, realized the kitten didn’t look like an average housecat. Groton believed they had a bobcat on their hands, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
After calling several wildlife organizations, Groton spoke to the Fund for Animals in Ramona, Calif. A volunteer from the Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach came by to pick up the bobcat, and brought it to Lions, Tigers & Bears, a refuge for wild cats near Alpine.
The kitten will remain at the sanctuary for his entire life, as his time with humans has put him too much at ease with their presence, said Bobbi Brink, founder of Lions, Tigers & Bears. “He’ll walk right up to you,” she said. “He wouldn’t survive.”
Sanctuary workers have named the kitten R.J., after Robert Joseph Cox, husband of El Cajon Councilwoman Jillian Hanson-Cox. The councilwoman will sponsor the bobcat kitten’s care at the sanctuary, Brink said.
For the time being, R.J. will live in the sanctuary’s nursery. When he matures, he will move in with the two other bobcats at the facility. Lions, Tigers & Bears is also home to three lions, four tigers, a leopard, a serval and a mountain lion.
Groton was happy to hear the kitten has found a good home. “He’s going to have a happy, peaceful life,” she said.