Tommie Girl

Female Bobcat
DOB appx 10/1/11 – 12/13/15
Rescued 3/6/12

On Mar 5 we got a call from the Florida Wildlife Commission asking if we could help a blind bobcat that had been reported by the Manager of the Cemex Mine.  His name is Tommie and he loves the wildlife that calls his land a sanctuary.  He knew there was something desperately wrong with this little kitten from the first day he saw her, which was about two weeks before.

We made arrangements to drive up to the mine on Mar 6 to set a humane trap because the kitten had not been seen since Feb 27.  Jamie and I drove up with a trap, nets, carrier, and bait for four days and Tommie Deaner agreed to check and set the trap daily.

On the way to Center Hill Tommie texted that the bobcat was in sight and that he had caught some fish for her and was feeding her.  Jamie texted back to stop because traffic had us running a half hour late.  Since there was no way to get a fish away from a starving bobcat, Tommie improvised and got a box out of the trash to trap her in.

When Jamie and I drove up we were waved to the scene by Cemex staff.  When we saw the box we were thrilled at the prospect of NOT having to chase a bobcat all over place. The problem was that the box didn’t have a bottom.

We slid a piece of plywood under the box, like you would pick up a spider with a cup and cardboard (per Jamie) and then put the whole thing in the van.  The plan was to shift her from the box to the carrier inside the van, so that if the bobcat escaped, she was at least trapped in the van… with us.  Well, that part wasn’t very appealing, but it was better than the risk of losing her and having her starve to death.

If you have never seen Jamie net a cat; you haven’t seen art in motion.  Quicker than a blink she had her in the net and backed up to the carrier door.  Since she really couldn’t see well enough to put up much of a fight, we got her in the carrier pretty neatly.  She growled for a while, but the belly full of fish and the swaying motion of the van for an hour and a half put her right to sleep.

She was suffering from starvation, blindness and parasites and was so badly debilitated that she will never be a candidate for release.  She has very limited, if any sight, so she will spend the rest of her life at Big Cat Rescue.

Tommie Girl watches Gale and the interns cleaning out Canyon Sandcat’s third section to prepare it for a tunnel, all of the weeds out of Nirvana Ocelot’s enclosure and many more landscaping projects.

On 12/13/15 Tommie Girl was found laying next to her water bowl, completely drenched, as if she had a seizure and had dumped the bowl on herself in the process.  Keepers found her breathing shallowly and staring out into space.  The vet happened to be right next door and rushed in, but she was dead within minutes.  We sent her entire body out for necropsy to two facilities in Georgia, but despite one of them specializing in brain issues, neither could determine her cause of death.  She was one of our youngest residents and we never expected to lose her so soon, even though she had arrived with severe neurological issues.

It is very rare that we get video of Tommie, so this was a real treat!

On 12/13/15 Tommie Girl was found laying next to her water bowl, completely drenched, as if she had a seizure and had dumped the bowl on herself in the process.  Keepers found her breathing shallowly and staring out into space.  The vet happened to be right next door and rushed in, but she was dead within minutes.  We sent her entire body out for necropsy to two facilities in Georgia, but despite one of them specializing in brain issues, neither could determine her cause of death.

She was one of our youngest residents and we never expected to lose her so soon, even though she had arrived with severe neurological issues.

Tributes to Tommie Girl Bobcat

Becky Gagliardo
Apr 15, 2016
Love and miss you Tommie girl – you were a one of a kind sweet girl and I miss giving you treats and talking to you.

Sharon Henry
Jan 14, 2016
Sweet Tommie Girl, you were such a precious little soul. It didn’t take long for you to find a special place in my heart. You were loved and you are missed.

More Memorials at http://bigcatrescue.org/category/memorials/