A woman who had her 38-lb. pet Bobcat taken away from her is now being allowed to bring him home.

'Rocky' had escaped from Ginny Fine's Stafford Township home four times since March, but Fine told the judge she has made extensive improvements to her home to prevent Rocky from breaking free again.

According to 7online.com:

Fine claims Rocky is a hybrid of a bobcat and Maine coon cat. But a court-ordered DNA test has proved inconclusive. She would have needed a special permit if Rocky was determined to be a purebred bobcat.

People understandably get nervous when they hear a Bobcat is loose, but according to Ginny, "He's not scary. He is very sweet, very loving. He honestly is like a big house cat."

Fine says Rocky is neutered, declawed and decidedly domesticated.

Do you think people should be able to have a pet like this, no matter how secure the environment?

I have mixed feelings--if this cat is a rescue from an abusive situation than surely he found a better place to live, and I'm assuming he was already declawed when rescued.

However, I'm generally against having pets who are essentially very much still wild at heart, which creates a market for exotic animals who really aren't suitable as pets.

I'm also against declawing cats, which is a painful procedure that often results in creating a more aggressive animal as well as sometimes bad litter box habits (I've seen it often with domestic cats when I worked at the Humane Society of Ocean City several years ago).

Having said that, I assume that this cat has a good and loving home and is happy to be back with his owner, and hopefully he won't escape again, and they can now remain together. :-)

 

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