Neighbors in a Florida community work to save bobcat found with large plastic tubing around its neck
A bobcat is once again free in Port St. Lucie, Florida, after neighbors worked together to remove a 7-inch piece of plastic tubing from the animal鈥檚 neck.
It started with a neighbor in the area's Heritage Oaks community spotting the bobcat about two weeks ago.
The neighbor posted a photo on social media of the cat with the tubing around his neck.
Neighbors agreed that they needed to do something.
鈥淚 said, 鈥榃ow, we got to get this cat help,鈥欌� said Steve Christensen. 鈥淚 mean, the cat didn鈥檛 do nothing wrong.鈥�
Neighbors spent hours on the phone trying to find someone to help.
When Jay Gerrish, aka , heard about the issue, he immediately volunteered.
鈥淭o me, I was like, 鈥業 have to catch this cat and save it,鈥欌� Trapper Jay said. 鈥淭hat was the most important thing. He was going to die if we didn鈥檛 that off his neck. He was eventually going to die.鈥�
Trapper Jay set up a trap in a resident鈥檚 backyard in an area where the bobcat had been frequently seen.
For nearly a week, the only creatures he caught were raccoons.
On Sunday night, Trapper Jay got an alert that something was near the trap.
He checked his trail camera and saw the bobcat lurking around the area.
鈥淪ure enough, he beelined right around and right into the trap,鈥� Trapper Jay said. 鈥淲hen I saw the bobcat in the trap, confirmed, I鈥檓 like, 鈥極h, my gosh, we got him!鈥� So, I raced over here as fast as I could.鈥�
That鈥檚 when the got involved.
They carefully sedated the bobcat while he was still inside the trap and then removed the plastic tubing.
They examined the animal and found him to be in good health.
On Monday night, Trapper Jay was back at the same spot where he caught the bobcat, releasing him into the wild.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 probably the high point of my job when you catch the target animal and then releasing that animal healthy,鈥� Trapper Jay said.
Port St. Lucie is around 47 miles from West Palm Beach.
