Bobcat kitten!

[jmowreader]

This little guy showed up in downtown Coeur d'Alene, ID, sometime before noon. He eventually got picked up by the Department of Fish and Game, who sent him to a cooperative rehabilitation facility. He'll be released back into the wild.

There are more pictures:

http://cdapress.com/news/local_news/article_766ae64a-4686-11e3-a596-001a4bcf887a.html

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Aww. I want to pet him.

Except that he'd probably claw my face off.

[jmowreader]

2. I showed the picture to one of the people here at work

She said she wanted him.

I reminded her that when he hit forty pounds and started eating the neighbors' chihuahuas, she probably wouldn't want him.

[Xithras]

7. Yep. It would.

My son volunteers at a local wildlife rehab center. Smaller bobcat kittens are almost indistinguishable from housecat kittens, and are playful and harmless. Once they get he size of this one, the predatory instincts start showing up and they'll claw the heck out of you. They generally try not to handle the larger kittens at my sons facility, but when they do, they usually put on heavy leather aprons and elbow-length gloves to keep from getting shredded (because he's only 17, he's never been able to do that himself).

By the time they reach maturity, even the leathers aren't enough. As my son puts it "A bobcat is just a housecat that has convinced itself that it's really a lion. To a lion, humans are prey."

[Flaxbee]

3. what a cutie pie! Glad he's at a wildlife rehab facility...

would love to give the little one a kiss and hug ... before he gets too big!

[Brigid]

4. He's adorable!

Glad he'll be OK.

[joeybee12]

5. Adorable!!

[libodem]

6. Awww

I want to hold him, and pet him and call him, Luv Cat. Here little kitty. If only he wouldn't bite me and scratch my eyes out.