I rescued a ‘kitten’ and was planning to take it home until my neighbors told me it was a dangerous animal
A COMPASSIONATE driver who picked up what she thought was an adorable kitten on the side of the road had planned to take it home - until her neighbors told her otherwise.
The Tennessee woman, who thought she was rescuing a furry feline, later found the animal was was a wild bobcat.
"I pulled over on the side of the road, got out, got it," Jill Hicks told CBS affiliate WDEF.
According to the passerby, the small creature didn't put up much of a fight when she went to pick it up.
"It did run a little bit, but not fast and not far. I crouched down. I picked it up. I put it in the car with me. It climbed all over me," she explained.
It wasn't until Hicks's began discussing the incident with her neighbors, that she realized her new pet was not a kitten after all.
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"I was going to go home from dinner, give her a bath, put her in the bed with me and when we decided she was a bobcat," she said.
Plans changed after she learned that the bobcat could become dangerous.
"I was like 'I probably better not do all of that,'" she added.
After realizing the true nature of the animal, she brought it the animal to For Fox Sake Wildlife Rescue.
Juniper Russo, who specializes in animal rehabilitation, explained that there are a few ways to tell the difference between kittens and baby bobcats.
“Bobcat kittens always have spots in some form or another, whereas actual spotted markings are really rare in domestic cats," she pointed out.
The wild animal expert also warned that bobcats become much more aggressive and unpredictable as they age.
She added that they "can be about twice the size of a typical domestic cat."
The baby bobcat, now named Arwen, is set to be released back into nature in March. She will be dropped off close to where she was found.
Even though Hicks realized she made a mistake, she does not regret picking up Arwen.
“Even though I thought she was a kitten, had I known she was a bobcat, in that small and in that high trafficked area, I still would have done the same thing,” she concluded.