Domesticated bobcat missing near St. Ignatius

ST. IGNATIUS – A two-year-old male bobcat is on the loose in Mission and its owners concerned.

Takoda, who is wearing a “reddish harness,” disappeared July 12 from the Pinsoneault Road area in St. Ignatius and could be just about anywhere.

ST. IGNATIUS – A two-year-old male bobcat is on the loose in Mission and its owners concerned.

Takoda, who is wearing a “reddish harness,” disappeared July 12 from the Pinsoneault Road area in St. Ignatius and could be just about anywhere.

His owners are offering a $500 reward and they urge the public not to try and touch, grab or trap Takoda.

Pinsoneault Road is near the National Bison Range, four miles north of St. Ignatius High School on the Flathead Reservation.

Lake County Undersheriff Dan Yonkin said Tribal Members can own bobcats as pets, but non-Tribal Members cannot.

“It is not abnormal for people to have a bobcat,” Yonkin said. “They are not like a mountain lion who is programmed to kill. Most domesticated bobcats want to get away from humans. They aren’t going to revert to being wild just because it doesn’t have its owners taking care of it.”

In fact, bobcat breeders in Stevensville devoted a website to teach people how to raise bobcats as pets.

“All cats tend to (have) a lifestyle of relative inactivity which is interrupted primarily by the search for food. Cats often sleep 18 hours a day and only stir to appease hunger,” the website said. “They are independent and quite self-sufficient, yet are companionable and loyal to the owner…when tamed and raised properly with a lot of human contact, they bond very strongly to people.”

The site described bobcat as “laid back in temperament and quite loving,” and “apt to be jealous,” but when raised right, are very gentle to animals and small children.

Montana state law allows possession of wild felines with a valid permit, and the promise not to raise the wild cats for their fur or body parts according to www.bigcatrescue.org.

In March 2014, Animal liberationist organizations Bite Back and the Animal Liberation Front vandalised the Fraser Fur Farm in Ronan to eliminate breeding records, a move the groups felt was a non-violent way “to ensure the loss of irreplaceable genetic lines, rendering the breeding stock of a given fur-producing business lost.”

At that time, the Leader office was swarmed with emails generated from animal-rights groups. An investigation by the Lake County Sheriff’s Department ensued, but Yonkin said domestic terrorism and interstate trade issues fall under FBI jurisdiction.

Bobcats are carnivores according to www.montanatrappers.org.

Bobcats eat birds, rabbits and medium-sized rodents, and eat rabbit between 75 to 90 percent of the time. They grow to be about twice the size of a domestic house cat and are the smallest of the native cats, the website said.

Male bobcats are slightly larger and heavier than female bobcats and weigh between 20 and 30 pounds.

Bobcats do not fear water and commonly wade and swim. They do not hesitate to attack beaver. They are curious and smart, are skilled climbers and do not stay ‘treed’ long, the website said.

A male bobcats’ territory may extend to a 60-mile radius.

Contact 406-883-4343 or 406-319-2181 to report a Takoda sighting.