Bobcat turns out to be a lynx
The bobcat that was lurking around the state line area about two weeks ago has turned out to be a lynx, a sure sign that the animal was kept as a pet.
“She was so emaciated we couldn’t tell,” said Cheryl Millham, executive director of the Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care. “But now that she’s healthy again, we can see she has bigger feet, doesn’t have the spots and isn’t native to California or Nevada.”
Bobcats, though not often seen at Lake Tahoe, are indigenous to the region.
Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care, a nonprofit organization that rehabilitates injured and orphaned wildlife, picked up the cat when officers trapped it in a garbage can near the Forest Inn Suites on Montreal Avenue. In the weeks prior to the rescue, the cat had been seen near homes along lower Kingsbury Grade.
Because the cat’s claws had been removed, Millham said she believed that it had been kept as a pet.
According to the Nevada Division of Wildlife, keeping a bobcat or lynx is legal as long as the owner obtains the proper permit, showing that the animal came from an approved breeder. In California, it is illegal for wild animals of any kind to be kept as pets.
Millham said that no one has come forward to claim the lynx, which is well on its way to full recovery.
“She’s healthy enough to go,” Millham said. “But she’s not pet quality – we can’t even handle her because she’s just too wild, like a house cat gone feral.”
Millham added that a couple of wildlife facilities have showed an interest in taking the cat permanently. The California Department of Fish and Game will make the decision on which facility takes the lynx.

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