Bobcat at Riverside wildlife exhibit found after vandals cut hole in cage

Bobbie, the bobcat at Central Riverside Park’s Kansas Wildlife Exhibit, was back home Thursday evening after vandals cut a hole in his cage early Thursday, said Jim Mason, director of the Great Plains Nature Center.

Mason, who oversees the exhibit, said someone took wire cutters and sliced a gap in the front of the bobcat’s cage. “It was such a minimal gap they probably had to stand there and pull the wire back to let him out,” he said.

“That’s kind of a crazy thing to do, really,” Mason said. “I just don’t know why someone would release a creature like that in a public park in the middle of downtown. That wasn’t thinking straight.”

A visitor to the park early Thursday called authorities after seeing Bobbie out of his cage.

Bobbie didn’t go far – Mason found the bobcat in some shrubbery within feet of his cage.

“We were able to eventually lure it back into a pet carrier, shut the door and carried it back inside the cage,” Mason said. “He was pretty happy to be there – he immediately laid down and took a nap.”

Mason said the alarms at the exhibit did not operate properly. But the alarm issue has been resolved and the fence on Bobbie’s cage has been patched, he said.

Bobbie has lived at the Kansas Wildlife Exhibit for all of his 18 years, Mason said. He was raised at the exhibit after being orphaned as a baby.

The Wichita Animal Shelter is asking anyone who may have seen the vandalism to call 316-350-3360.

The Kansas Wildlife Exhibit was most recently the subject of media attention when its beaver, Chapa, escaped in mid-April. Chapa returned to the exhibit a few days later.

This story was originally published June 25, 2015 at 6:47 PM with the headline "Bobcat at Riverside wildlife exhibit found after vandals cut hole in cage."