Imagine walking into your yard to see this cold, wet, shivering face:

Trying to do the right thing, you call a wildlife rehabber to see how long to wait before the bobcat kitten is thought to be abandoned by its mom and in trouble. The wildlife rehabber tells you as of August 21^st 2020, the WDNR no longer allows any rehabber in WI to admit bobcats because they are a species susceptible to SAR-CoV-2.  They are supposed to tell you to leave it alone and “let nature take its course”. You are shocked. You ask if they can at least tell you how to know if it’s abandoned. You agree to text the rehabber a photo so they can get a better idea of age and prognosis.

Unfortunately, for at least one Northwoods family and Wild Instincts, this is not some imagined scenario. This really happened.

In fact, since the moratorium on Mustelid and Felid rehab went into effect on Aug 21, Wild Instincts has had the issue come up twice- in just 3 weeks.

The temporary rehab ban on members of the Mustelid and Felid families instructs rehabbers to tell the public to leave the animals alone or to call the local county wildlife biologist. There is a link provided to the WDNR staff directory by county.

The first time Wild Instincts ran into this situation, two young girls just arrived at their facility with an injured mink. Unable to tell the girls to “go put it back”, they tried calling the biologist as instructed.

Even knowing who to call, it took Wild Instincts half a dozen calls to get to someone. Even in the middle of a Tuesday afternoon, no one was available.

The bobcat kitten appeared on a weekend evening. Want to guess the odds of phones being answered?

If you were the person with a bobcat kitten in trouble in your yard, would you be able to leave it there for nature to take its course? We don’t think so.

Many people have stepped forward to say even if it meant fines or tickets, they would be doing whatever it takes to help that poor animal.

That’s where we think the WDNR moratorium is counter-productive. There are certain species of wildlife that can actually catch SARS-CoV-2 from people. Bobcats are one of those. We know when trained, professional wildlife rehabbers aren’t available to help, you will step in and do the best you can. However, without training in diseases, proper PPE and disinfection, this can be harmful to the individual animal, the population, you and your family, including your pets. Not just with SARS-CoV-2 and COVID, but many other diseases and parasites as well.

We believe wildlife susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 should absolutely be brought into rehabilitation where it can be monitored closely and even tested if warranted. Taking extra protocols and risk mitigation is what wildlife rehabbers do. They should be allowed to continue to do so in a way that protects the individual animal, the population and the public.

Contact your WDNR and your state representative now. Next week the animal in need could be in YOUR yard.