201904.14
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Bobcat struck by police car, rescued by 2 officers, is returned to wild

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  • LAGUNA BEACH — The young bobcat looked around from inside his kennel and squinted as the sun lit up his amber-yellow eyes. Then, with a sudden leap, he was out. Within seconds, his shiny gray-brown fur blended into the nearby coastal sage scrub as he ran for cover. After one final look at the group […]

  • A 1-year-old bobcat awaits its release into the wild after getting run over by a police car two-months ago. The animal was cared for by Orange County’s wildlife veterinarian, Scott Weldy, who set him free in Laguna Coast Wilderness Park on Saturday, April 13, 2019. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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  • LAGUNA BEACH — The young bobcat looked around from inside his kennel and squinted as the sun lit up his amber-yellow eyes. Then, with a sudden leap, he was out. Within seconds, his shiny gray-brown fur blended into the nearby coastal sage scrub as he ran for cover. After one final look at the group […]

  • A bobcat takes cover under brush after being released in Laguna Coast Wilderness Park on Saturday, April 13, 2019. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • LAGUNA BEACH — The young bobcat looked around from inside his kennel and squinted as the sun lit up his amber-yellow eyes. Then, with a sudden leap, he was out. Within seconds, his shiny gray-brown fur blended into the nearby coastal sage scrub as he ran for cover. After one final look at the group […]

  • Veterinarian Scott Weldy looks over x-rays of a bobcat that was run over two-months ago and was being released in Laguna Canyon on Saturday, April 13, 2019 in Laguna Canyon. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • Veterinarian Scott Weldy looks over x-rays of a bobcat that was run over two-months ago and was being released in Laguna Canyon on Saturday, April 13, 2019 in Laguna Canyon. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • A San Diego Zoo sign hangs on the wall of Serrano Animal & Bird Hospital in Lake Forest on Saturday, April 13, 2019. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • LAGUNA BEACH — The young bobcat looked around from inside his kennel and squinted as the sun lit up his amber-yellow eyes. Then, with a sudden leap, he was out. Within seconds, his shiny gray-brown fur blended into the nearby coastal sage scrub as he ran for cover. After one final look at the group […]

  • LAGUNA BEACH — The young bobcat looked around from inside his kennel and squinted as the sun lit up his amber-yellow eyes. Then, with a sudden leap, he was out. Within seconds, his shiny gray-brown fur blended into the nearby coastal sage scrub as he ran for cover. After one final look at the group […]

  • Orange County veterinarian Scott Weldy and his team travel up steep hills with a bobcat who was nursed back to health after being run over two-months ago. The cat was released in the south end of Laguna Coast Wilderness Park on Saturday, April 13, 2019. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • A bobcat is set back into the wild after getting run over by a police car two-months ago. The animal was cared for and released by Orange County’s wildlife veterinarian, Scott Weldy. Head technician Lauren Genger, carries the cat down a narrow path where it is released in Laguna Coast Wilderness Park on Saturday, April 13, 2019. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • LAGUNA BEACH — The young bobcat looked around from inside his kennel and squinted as the sun lit up his amber-yellow eyes. Then, with a sudden leap, he was out. Within seconds, his shiny gray-brown fur blended into the nearby coastal sage scrub as he ran for cover. After one final look at the group […]

  • LAGUNA BEACH — The young bobcat looked around from inside his kennel and squinted as the sun lit up his amber-yellow eyes. Then, with a sudden leap, he was out. Within seconds, his shiny gray-brown fur blended into the nearby coastal sage scrub as he ran for cover. After one final look at the group […]

  • Laguna Beach police officer Thomas McGuire readies his cellphone camera to capture the release of a bobcat in Laguna Canyon on Saturday, April 13, 2019. McGuire ran over the cat two months ago but got him immediate aid, subsequently saving his life. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • Veterinarian Scott Weldy caries a kennel back to his car after releasing a bobcat in Laguna Coast Wilderness Park on Saturday, April 13, 2019. Head technician Lauren Genger, left, watches for signs of him after the cat quickly disappeared under thick brush. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • The 133 toll road can be seen from Laguna Coast Wilderness Park where a bobcat was released back into the wild on Saturday, April 13, 2019. The cat was struck by a car on that road two-months ago. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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LAGUNA BEACH — The young bobcat looked around from inside his kennel and squinted as the sun lit up his amber-yellow eyes.

Then, with a sudden leap, he was out.

Within seconds, his shiny gray-brown fur blended into the nearby coastal sage scrub as he ran for cover. After one final look at the group gathered on Saturday, April 12, to watch him, he jumped farther down the canyon in a remote area of the south end of Laguna Coast Wilderness Park.

“It’s almost anti-climactic, two seconds and he’s gone,” said Dr. Scott Weldy, as he walked back up from the spot where he and Lauren Genger, his lead veterinary technician, had set the bobcat’s kennel for release.

Weldy, who operates the Serrano Animal and Bird Hospital in Lake Forest, is the go-to veterinarian for wildlife in Orange County.

The one-year-old bobcat was recovering at Weldy’s facility for two months, after being struck by a Laguna Beach Police Department patrol car along Laguna Canyon Road.

Officer Thomas McGuire was responding to a call of a person in the road when the cat darted out in front of him. After striking the animal, McGuire and Cpl. Darin Germaine, who was in a patrol car behind him, ran to assist the bobcat that lay motionless in the roadway. They called their department’s animal patrol officer, who rushed the animal to Weldy.

It was that immediate reaction, the vet said, that saved the bobcat’s life.

Initial findings showed he had significant head trauma. Further tests indicated the animal’s sternum had been fractured. Weldy also discovered from full body X-rays that the cat had been shot. Lead fragments in his hind legs near the ankles had healed over the bullets.

After consulting with wildlife experts, Weldy decided to let the bobcat’s sternum heal without surgery. During that time, it was Genger’s role to take care of the animal.

“It was exciting to be around him,” she said. “You can never let your guard down. You can’t be comfortable, you have to anticipate his behavior.”

The bobcat grew stronger. The more aggressive and agile he became, the better his chances for survival back in the wild. Earlier this week, Weldy decided he was ready for release.

Genger fed him a final meal of chicken parts and baby chicks Saturday morning before he was readied for transport to the wilderness park.

Putting him back close to where he was found is critical for his survival, Weldy said. The park is stocked with rabbits and squirrels, the favored diet of bobcats.

“I’m happy for him,” said McGuire, who with Germaine and a few others from the Laguna Beach Police Department were on hand to witness the release. “Hopefully, it all goes well and it’s almost like it never happened for him. It’s nice to see him back where he belongs.”

Germaine said he wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to see the release.

“At first, I thought it was pretty grim,” the 16-year LBPD veteran said. “I was really surprised when I found out he would pull through. It’s nice to see everything come full-circle.”

This is the second bobcat the animal hospital has taken in this year. In 2018, the hospital took in about 10, including one found in traffic on Laguna Canyon Road. The Laguna Coast Wilderness Park, adjacent the canyon road, is most often where the rescued bobcats live.

Dick Newell, who founded Orange County Trackers — a group of biologists who monitor wildlife — has tracked bobcats in the wilderness park since 2005. He said the park and the surrounding community is home to dozens of them.

Among the biggest threats to bobcats, Newell said, are humans and their use of rodenticide, which gets into the food sources of bobcats and can be fatal.

Genger and Weldy, who regularly release wildlife, are hopeful the bobcat will thrive in the wild. Genger said the bobcat’s release is why she works with Weldy in animal care.

“Stuff like this, you’re giving back to the universe, to God’s animals,” she said. “To be the one who opened the cage, it gives you so much. I live for days like today.”