(CNN/KOMO) - Officers at a correctional facility had a prison break on their hands, but it wasn't what you might be thinking. No inmates at the prison in Washington State tried to get out, but a bobcat did break in!
Standing on that ladder is veterinarian Roger Hancock, with a sedated bobcat laying in front of him. He got a perplexing call about a bobcat break-in at the prison in Monroe. The capture happened on the roof of the special offender unit where the scared cat had fled to safety. Hitting the animal accurately with a dart and the right amount of tranquilizer was no easy move.
"I was told it was a cougar, so I was expecting to see something a bit larger, but was happy it was just a bobcat," Dr. Roger Hancock.
Correctional officers first noticed the bobcat during a perimeter check. The startled animal ran on top of razor to get away, ending up inside the prison compound. That's how it injured a left paw and its hindquarters.
"He's probably just hunting. It's probably just hunting grounds. Something may have spooked him and he took off up the fence. An animal like this is a good tree climber, so height is their defense," says Dr. Hancock.
Soon after he was hauled away from prison. He landed on an operating table at a veterinary hospital. Surgery to get the young male back on his feet. The prognosis is good. Prison officials say wildlife roaming the compound is common. "All the time, all the time. Cougars, bobcats, some deer, there's quite a bit of wildlife around here," says Lt. Derek Walters.
But a creature actually getting in, that's new territory. For the vet who came to the rescue, this is definitely a first. "It sure is. It's my first call for even darting a bobcat, so it was quite an adventure," says Dr. Hancock. The day this little cat broke into the big house and lived to tell about it.
A prison spokesperson says the bobcat was transferred to The Sarvey Wildlife Center in Arlington to recover before being released back into the wild.
