Thursday Throwback: Evi the Bobcat
The case of the "stolen" bobcat at Relection Riding
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) – For our Thursday Throwback, we take you back five years.
That’s when the folks at the Nature Center came to work to find their bobcat was missing.
And it looked like someone broke in overnight an took her.
Here is our story from June 6, 2019 on Evi the Bobcat.
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Tour groups went through the native animal exhibit at Reflection Riding Arboretum and Nature Center.
They was one animal they couldn’t see, Evi the bobcat.
The director of wildlife says someone broke in after hours on Monday and before opening on Tuesday to steal the animal.
Visitors were shocked something like this would happen.
Libby Perry/ visitor
“I hope they know how to handle bobcats. That is not really a smart thing to do.”
Outside the enclosure, you could see marks on the fence and a rock used to pry it open.
Tish Gailmard/ director of wildlife
“You question why. And all of the emotions of, you are distraught. We want this animal back she is safe in our care. She does not have the skill set she needs to survive in the forest and she is safest at our facility.”
It’s believed they also tried to steal this bald eagle.
The wildlife director wonders if someone wants to sell the three year old bobcat.
‘We have to be concerned about the exotic pet trade. It is certainly a possibility. That they stole her to sell her. It is a possibility that they stole her to keep her as a pet. It is possible that they released her. You know, we just don’t know.”
There is fear Evi won’t make it in the wild.
“The animals that we have here in our facility are permanently injured. They can not survive in the forest. We are their safe haven.”
They want answers.
“We need the community’s support. We need the eyes and ears of the community.”
For now visitors will enjoy the other wildlife.
As we said, this story has a happy ending.
Police did cite someone with breaking in, but it looks like Evi got away from him.
They could see from game cameras that she spent several days in the woods around Reflection Riding.
Then the next week, she just came back to her home.
Rosie Lee told us at the time “It took a second for met to realize what was going on, but then I was like ‘ Oh, that is our bobcat.’ So I had the kids stay super quiet and still where they were and I just kind of wandered over to her and by then she kind of wandered off to her enclosure. She was super casual about it. We were all freaking out.”
Evi had lost a little weight during her adventure on the wild side, but that was it.
You can still see her over at the Nature Center.
Visit their website by clicking here to learn more.
