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Neighbors work to save bobcat found with large plastic tubing around its neck

By Ari Hait

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    PORT ST. LUCIE, Florida (WPBF) — A bobcat is once again free in Port St. Lucie after neighbors worked together to remove a 7-inch piece of plastic tubing from the animal’s neck.

It started with a neighbor in the Heritage Oaks community spotting the bobcat about two weeks ago.

He posted a photo on social media of the cat with the tubing around his neck.

Neighbors agreed: they needed to do something.

“I said, ‘Wow, we got to get this cat help,’” said Steve Christensen. “I mean, the cat didn’t do nothing wrong.”

Neighbors spent hours on the phone trying to find someone to help.

When Jay Gerrish, aka Trapper Jay, heard about the issue, he immediately volunteered.

“To me, I was like, ‘I have to catch this cat and save it,’” Trapper Jay said. “That was the most important thing. He was going to die if we didn’t that off his neck. He was eventually going to die.”

Trapper Jay set up a trap in a resident’s backyard in an area where the bobcat had been frequently seen.

For nearly a week, the only creatures he caught were raccoons.

On Sunday night, Trapper Jay got an alert that something was near the trap.

He checked his trail camera and saw the bobcat lurking around the area.

“Sure enough, he beelined right around and right into the trap,” Trapper Jay said. “When I saw the bobcat in the trap, confirmed, I’m like, ‘Oh, my gosh, we got him!’ So, I raced over here as fast as I could.”

That’s when the Treasure Coast Wildlife Center got involved.

They carefully sedated the bobcat while he was still inside the trap and then removed the plastic tubing.

They examined the animal and found him to be in good health.

On Monday night, Trapper Jay was back at the same spot where he caught the bobcat, releasing him into the wild.

“That’s probably the high point of my job when you catch the target animal and then releasing that animal healthy,” Trapper Jay said.

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