TEXAS (ABC NEWS)- Three people in Texas suffered minor injuries over the weekend after mistaking two bobcat kittens for domestic kittens and bringing them inside the house, according to local authorities.
The kittens were found in an alleyway in San Antonio on Saturday, San Antonio Animal Care Services spokeswoman Lisa Norwood told ABC News. After the three acquaintances brought the kittens inside, they were bitten and scratched as they were trying to feed the bobcat kittens milk for domestic kittens, Norwood said.
The trio had the bobcat kittens for about a day and a half before they realized they were not house cats, Norwood said. Once they noticed the bobbed tails and how robust the kittens were, they took the baby felines to animal care, Norwood said.
The injuries they suffered were minor – bites to the hands – and did not require hospitalization, she said.
On Monday, the bobcat kittens — one male and one female — were taken to Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation in Kendalia, Texas, the sanctuary’s founder and president, Lynn Cuny, told ABC News.
Cuny warned would-be good Samaritans against tampering with wildlife, instructing them to “assume that everything’s fine,” leave the animals alone and call wildlife experts instead.
“These kittens should have never been taken away from their mother,” who was likely hiding from the humans or hunting for food, Cuny said.
If caregivers cannot release the bobcats back in the wild, the kittens will live on the rescue center’s 212-acre sanctuary, Cuny said.
