JENSEN BEACH, Fla. — A young bobcat is back in the wild after facing a scary encounter.
Deputies in Martin County said the injured animal may have been hit by a car but managed to seek shelter under another vehicle.
As wooded areas of the county are torn down to make way for housing complexes and stores, it poses a problem for wildlife.
"I feel like it's kind of unfortunate because there's a lot of building going on," resident Lauren Smith said. "The animals have nowhere to go, and they're just going to where they can."
"They really have no choice," Scott Smith, Lauren's husband, added. "The animals, if they're there, they're going to get pushed out into the environment."
The Martin County Sheriff's Office Animal Services unit on Thursday rescued an injured bobcat from the parking lot of the Treasure Coast Medical Pavilion in Jensen Beach. They believe it was clipped by a car and took shelter underneath a vehicle.
"[There was] a deputy on one side of the car [and] myself on the other side of the car, and it was just a game of cat and mouse basically trying to secure it so that we could get it evaluated at the wildlife hospital to make sure it was OK," Amanda Heffron, a certified animal control officer with the Martin County Sheriff's Office, said.
Heffron said the bobcat was transferred to the Treasure Coast Wildlife Center for care. The animal hospital said the bobcat had superficial scrapes on its front and back legs. It was treated and later released in a safe area. They believe the male bobcat was likely less than a year old.
Heffron, who facilitated the rescue, said calls about wild animals are becoming increasingly common and the animals don't always walk away unscathed.
"Our wildlife is taking a very large hit with the growth of the population and all the building that's going on," Heffron said. "It's taking away their habitat and their running looking for food."
Jensen Beach resident Becky Smith said she wasn't surprised to hear that a bobcat was rescued from an urban area, adding that she's no stranger to wildlife roaming around.
"We used to have some of the clear lots basically that did have trees, but then homes and all that have taken over," Smith said. "We do see a lot more animals, wildlife because they're looking for their homes."
