A young bobcat kitten used up one of its nine lives when it was saved from the clutches of a vulture in South Texas earlier this week.
“Yesterday, an officer responded to a call regarding a bobcat kitten found along the roadway after a passing driver noticed a vulture attempting to attack it,” the post reads.
The incident occurred in the vicinity of Interstate 69-C and Farm-to-Market Road 490, a desolate and rural stretch of countryside north of the city’s core, but still within its jurisdiction, a spokesperson told MySA. Animal Care Officer Rey Robles was able to capture the tiny bobcat. In photographs, the kitten appears to be very young. Its eyes are not open, no teeth are visible, and its ears are still small and folded. According to Zoo Idaho, bobcat kittens are born blind and deaf and do not open their eyes until about 10 days after they’re born. Animal care officers coordinated their rescue efforts with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, which is now caring for the kitten, officials said.
Local residents reacted to the kitten’s rescue with a mix of relief and jokes about the so-called “cat distribution system” — an internet meme that describes how many people come to own cats when the universe unexpectedly provides one at an opportune time.
“Soooooo how does one get this kind of spicy kitty in the cat distribution system?” a woman named Renee Sanchez Leal commented on the city’s Facebook post. “I only ever end up with the regular kind.”
“Puro Edinburg Bobcats!” another commenter said, alluding to the mascot of the city’s oldest high school.