Our Friend, Precious “The Bobcat”

By Judith Smith Wilson

Since the time of ancient Egypt, humans have been fascinated by wild animals, especially the big cats. The Wilsons, a family of wildlife lovers, have no idea what they’re in for when they adopt an injured bobcat that was found in the backyard of a home near the rim of a canyon. Author Judith Smith Wilson and her husband and young daughters find surprises nearly every day as the young female bobcat invades their lives and their hearts.

They soon learn that Precious, the name they’ve chosen for their new family member, was domesticated and de-clawed, so she can never be returned to the wild. She’s a complete failure when it comes to killing prey, and two attempts to breed her have mixed success. They also find that Precious loves to nuzzle their hair and snuggle by their side. Like any cat, Precious also enjoys playing in boxes and batting around various objects for fun—only in this case, those objects happen to be the paint brushes used by Judith, a professional artist, in her art room.

Needing her own space, Precious soon settles into a large enclosure outside, but her favorite place still remains the living room of the Wilson home every evening, when all of the other pets are shut away and the family can focus on this dynamic character who’s unlike any pet they’ve ever owned. The impact she leaves on her new family over the following two decades of her life can never be forgotten, even in comparison to the lions Judith encounters on her African safaris.
Where Precious came from is still a mystery. “Maybe,” Judith writes, “we weren’t meant to know. What I do know is that Precious came to teach us many things: Love, Patience, Laughter, and yes, even Responsibility."

“Through my tears, you will always remain, OUR FRIEND, PRECIOUS THE BOBCAT.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brighton Publishing LLC
• Release date: May 9, 2016
• ISBN: 9781621833673

Judith Smith Wilson

From the time Judith Smith could hold a pencil or crayon she was drawing and coloring. She loved all animals and many of her first paintings were of horses and wildlife. She grew up in San Diego, California, during the Second World War. Her fraternal grandmother took care of her while her parents worked. Her grandmother was influential in encouraging her to draw, even saving many of her first sketches of people. At the age of five the family moved to a small town. It was in the country, and Judith and her dog, Blackie soon became acclimated to the different life style, chasing lizards, snakes and all sorts of critters.In high school she was an art major, and hoped to go on to an art school in Los Angeles to become a fashion designer, but she was young and her parents did not want her to live that far from home. She began her professional art career at twenty five after she married and her one daughter was four and the other a baby. She has sold many paintings and prints all over the world, and won awards, but she always loved keeping a journal about her adventures, and writing letters to friends and family. They would remark to her how funny and informative her notes were.When times were financially tough Judith would go back to the only profession that she was trained for, that of a Collection Manger collecting delinquent bills for a living. She loved it as she could use her writing talents in collection letters in fact her manager would always tell her how efficient her letters were, and they brought in a lot of delinquent money.In the l980’s after her two girls were grown, she fulfilled one of her dreams, to travel. She has traveled extensively, to Kenya, East Africa three times, and Rwanda, East Africa once, and took many photographs and wrote about her great adventures on Safari. She also traveled to Hawaii, Hong Kong, Japan, Tahiti, the Island of Morea, and the Yucatan Peninsula, viewing the ruins of Tulum.This is her first memoir about her families twenty year trials and tribulations in living with a rescued female Bobcat named Precious.

Book preview

Our Friend, Precious

The Bobcat

Judith Smith Wilson

Brighton Publishing LLC

435 N. Harris Drive

Mesa, AZ 85203

www.BrightonPublishing.com

Copyright © 2015

ISBN: 978-1-62183-367-3

eBook

SMASHWORDS EDITION

Cover Design: Tom Rodriguez

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Acknowledgments

We had many people that assisted us with Precious the bobcat, friends that were knowledgeable about exotic cats in captivity, and who taught us the proper way to care for her. Our veterinarian, Dr. Arnold Sampter, of El Cajon, California who treated Precious’ bullet wound, saw her through her two pregnancies, and general health. He advised us on what foods would be best, even mixing cottage cheese with her ground turkey.

My two girls, Dorinda and Dawn that allowed Precious to be their nanny for many years. Not too many children can say that they were raised with a bobcat. It took patience and some sacrifice on their part. Gene, my former husband who convinced me that we needed to keep Precious, and nurse her back to health. Gene passed at the early age of 58, and I am sure he and Precious are now together once again.

A special thanks to Paul, my partner now, that was a bit surprised when I announced to him out of the blue that I was going to write a book about Precious. He only knew me as a wildlife artist for the last twenty five years. He endured long hours alone in front of the television while I labored over the computer, which I am not fond of. He read every page and encouraged me to continue.

Scott Padgett, of Padgett’s Gadgets, you were a life savior, bailing me out of trouble when I did not know how to do certain functions on the computer. You were an excellent and patient teacher. I thank you.

Pauline Erlinger-Ford from the Island of St. Lucia, who edited the manuscript. You corrected my punctuation and grammar and I know you had your work cut out for you. Thank you to her husband Buzz who placed many of the photographs, for your friendship, and telling me that, I had written a lovely story. Pauline and Buzz are also ardent animal lovers, and conservationists. I hope we will always remain friends, and your assistance has been invaluable.

I would like to thank Kathie and Don McGuire of Brighton Publishing for considering this first time author’s manuscript and for their continued love and conservation of all animals, big and small.

Finally to Precious for coming into our lives and giving us the pleasure of caring for her. I struggle to find the right words to express my/our love of this most wonderful bobcat. Just, thank you Precious for being our friend.

Foreword

Since the time of ancient Egypt—and even before, I’m sure—humans have been fascinated by wild animals, especially the big cats. The pharaohs worshiped domestic cats, considering them sacred to the god Bast, and gave them the honor of mummification, along with many other exotic animals such as ibises, baboons, and crocodiles.

Many of the pharaohs brought cheetahs back from lower Africa not only to train as hunting partners, but also to keep as pets. We see the hieroglyphs and paintings on the walls of the royal tombs depicting other species of wildlife that were kept as pets, including lions, leopards, falcons, and other birds of prey.

Equally famous for capturing exotic cats and wildlife all over the world were the ancient Roman emperors. They kept these creatures not only as pets, but also to use in their favorite pastime: the brutal gladiator games in the Colosseum.

Fast forward to today’s world, and we find that humans haven’t changed in their adoration of exotic cats, from the sleek stature, speed, and spotted coat of the cheetah to the extraordinary strength and elusiveness of the leopard that has been hunted and killed for its spotted coat for centuries. Several subspecies of tigers are nearly extinct in the wild due to man’s ignorance of their importance in our ecosystems. They are prized for their magnificent striped coats, while other parts of their bodies are used as ingredients in folk medicines in some countries. Appalling.

In 2015, just outside of Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe, Africa, a much-beloved and well-known magnificent black-maned lion named Cecil was lured out of the protected park area where he roamed and was slaughtered for sport by an American dentist. Why did he do this? He just needed another trophy on his wall to bolster his ego and to display an innocent wild animal. I wonder what this man feels now that the majority of the world has shown its abhorrence for his dastardly deed, with many calling for the end of trophy hunting in all countries. Unfortunately he won’t face prosecution for his actions in breaking the laws of Zimbabwe, luring and shooting wildlife outside the boundaries of the national park, but also surely breaking the laws of the universe. Nevertheless I think before all of this is over, Cecil will have the last roar.

Of course, we have the same problem in the U.S. when it comes to endless killing of our own wildlife by shooting, trapping, or poisoning, whether they are a protected species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 or not. The bobcat, lynx, cougar, coyote, wolf, and many other predators are disappearing from our lands at an alarming rate, not only from predation by man, but also from our encroachment on these animals’ wildlife corridors, which they have traveled for generations. We once had jaguars in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Now they’re found primarily in the lower jungles of Baja California and South America.

I believe, when at all possible, these exotic species should be left in the wild where they belong, and we as good stewards of this world should see that they are protected in their natural habitat. They weren’t created to be coats for our backs or leather for our shoes and purses, or to be incarcerated in small cages for humans to gawk at in roadside zoos, or to be paraded before us in circuses. Such cruelty is unconscionable.

The larger privately owned zoos like the San Diego Zoo, where I spent a great deal of my young childhood, and many of the other private zoos all over the world have done their best to humanely house the wild animals they have acquired, improving their housing over time. The ultimate is the San Diego Wild Animal Park and other facilities like it, where the animals have large amounts of space and the people ride in trams to view them. Hopefully soon all captive wild animals in a private setting will have this type of arrangement.

There are many people who privately own exotic pets, just as our family did for twenty years, and among them are those who are conscious of and knowledgeable about the exotic animals they’re caring for. Their breeding facilities help to ensure that our endangered species will still be on this earth for future generations to observe.

As I have stated before, and at the risk of seeming hypocritical, I’m not in favor of just any individual obtaining an exotic pet. All too often they buy a cute, cuddly lion, tiger, or other exotic cat or animal because they think it would be fun to own something different from a domestic pet. They know little to nothing about the diet of these exotic animals, proper housing for them, the money it will take to maintain them, or the problems that will surely arise in the future. Caring for these animals is a lifetime commitment—one some people won’t want to face when that cute little exotic animal grows up to be more than they can handle, eats them out of house and home, and injures them. How many times have we seen in the news media that an owner/handler at some privately owned animal sanctuary has been seriously mauled or killed by what they thought was their trusted, tame lion, leopard, or tiger? It takes only one lapse of judgement, and you don’t have a chance against one of these wild animals. Worse yet, when one of these large predators escapes from its confinement, or an owner simply grows tired of caring for their animal and that animal is purposely turned loose, the ultimate outcome is predictable. Either the animal will either be shot by animal control or the police, or some person will be injured or killed by it.

In the United States there are already sufficient laws in some states to prevent the private ownership of exotic animals. We need all states to adopt reasonable legislation to prohibit any future ownership of these animals by private persons only interested in the vanity ownership of said animals. Those private owners that already have an exotic animal in their possession should be monitored closely by wildlife authorities in their state to be sure that these animals have ample enclosures, are being cared for in a humane way, and aren’t endangering the public.

Like our friend, Precious the Bobcat, some of these exotic animals can’t be returned to the wild, especially after they’ve been domesticated, de-clawed, or in some cases had their fangs either ground down or removed. If they were domestic born, they probably won’t know how to hunt for themselves. Some have been too seriously injured to fend for themselves in their wild habitat and must remain in captivity for the duration of their lives.

I once asked a friend, whom I considered to be very intelligent, why we humans never learn from our mistakes, repeating wars that never seem to be resolved, our cruelty to one another, and the destruction of our wildlife. He said, Don’t you understand…man has progressed technologically, but not emotionally. It was one of the most profound statements I have ever heard, and so true.

Since it is a mystery who owned Precious the bobcat the first year or two of her life before she came to us, I’m hoping the previous owner will recognize