Man saves bobcat, raises it back to health. - 14 News, WFIE, Evansville, Henderson, Owensboro

A now-infamous Deer case reminds local man of his Bobcat

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Bob the Bobcat Bob the Bobcat
Bob the Bobcat Bob the Bobcat
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POSEY CO., IN (WFIE) -

By now you've probably heard the story of the Indiana couple facing prosecution for saving a deer's life.

The story is a familiar one to a Posey County man; except instead of a deer, it was a bobcat.

Bob the Bob Cat weighed just two ounces, couldn't open his eyes and was barely hanging on to life when he was brought to Donnie Martin's doorstep.

Martin tells us that, "He was actually prey for nearly all predators."

So Martin did the only thing he could do and nursed him back to health.

"He was never in captivity, because I had talked to the Department of Natural Resources and they said I could feed him but I could not keep him captive," says Martin.

"I couldn't pen him up."

Martin says Bob was a wild animal, he hunted for himself and would occasionally stop by and visit him.

According to Martin, all the neighbors in the area knew Bob and that "he was very friendly to humans."

But then one day, Donnie says a woman stumbled onto him in a park and called the authorities.

Bob's been in captivity since and Martin is now hearing about Dani and officials wanting to euthanize her.

"Seems almost uncanny how parallel it is," Martin tells us.

It made him want to speak out,"You know if we are truly conservationists, if our Department of Natural Resources are conservation folks, then euthanizing Dani the Deer is not a conservation effort."

"There are other things that can be done."

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