Portage County deputies rescue trapped bobcat from vehicle on highway

PORTAGE COUNTY, Wis. (WSAW) - “I have a bobcat in my car,” is likely the last thing a dispatcher in Portage County ever expected to hear in their career, but it indeed came from a legitimate call for help Tuesday evening.

The driver said they didn’t see anything, but heard the vehicle strike something. Assuming it was road debris, they got out of the vehicle to take a closer look. Little did they know when they pulled off on the side of the road, they would find a bobcat hanging out in their front bumper.

Portage County Sheriff Mike Lukas said three deputies responded to the location to investigate.

“As you can imagine the shock they were in when low and behold there was a bobcat in the vehicle. My deputies are really good at solving problems but this one baffled them so we called in reinforcements with Conservation Warden Bryan Lockman,” Sheriff Lukas explained.

Once they had a team and at least somewhat of a plan in place they jumped into action. Sheriff Lukas said once they got the big cat in the bed of the truck, they drove the bobcat back to the area where it got stuck in the vehicle and released it.

Sheriff Lukas and the rest of the team were glad the bobcat was still in good shape to be returned to the wild in case the animal has young ones to tend to.

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