A southeast neighbourhood’s resident bobcat, dubbed Bobbi, is on the road to recovery | CBC News

Almost 45 days after she was found with a trap clamped to her paw, a bobcat nicknamed Bobbi by local residents, is on the road to a full recovery.

Over the past month, the Calgary feline, which had been seen wandering the southeast neighbourhood of Chaparral, has been in the care of Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation Society, where she was tended to for her injuries, including her foot and teeth.

The not-for-profit organization is hopeful that the bobcat’s treatment phase is now behind her and that she’ll move into a full recovery and assessment stage.

“She’s doing well, she’s had three surgeries, the third surgery was her final surgery,” said Melanie Whalen, director of wildlife care and services.

“The first surgery that they did, they were hoping that the trap didn’t cut the blood flow off from the actual bone, and that the bone would be able to come back from that.

“But it didn’t, unfortunately.”

Whalen said that all of the injuries that the bobcat sustained from the trap were across the front of her paw and it closed in behind her pad. They were able to keep the pad, but the bobcat did end up losing four toes on that paw.

She also had a fractured canine tooth that needed to be removed, likely caused by gnawing at the trap.

“Bobbi” was familiar to residents of Calgary’s Chapparel neighbourhood. In mid-January, residents had spotted the bobcat limping around with the trap on her foot. 

At the time, an Alberta Fish and Wildlife officer said it was unclear if the bobcat was targeted or caught in the trap by accident. 

Now, Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation will be transferring the bobcat to a facility with an outdoor enclosure where they will monitor how she’s able to run, climb and hunt. 

“We have to do an assessment, there are animals that lose limbs and they’re quite fine in the wild,” Whalen said.

“Because she is a cat, and relies so heavily on those front claws, we will have an assessment.”

Based on the assessment, it will be determined whether Bobbi can be released back into her territory. She may also be taken to a sanctuary or something like it.

“We’ve got another three weeks, probably three weeks to a month before we know, before we can make that final assessment,” Whalen said.

There is still no information on who set the trap and whether it was intentional.