| ORANGE COUNTY TRACKERS |
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SHORT CAT 'TALES'......
This short story follows our interaction with Babe months later..........
BABE LOSES HER COLLAR: WE FIND IT AND A LITTER MORE
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On Wednesday morning, May 16th we again went off in search of Babe. She had not been observed in the Back Bay since April 13th and we were starting to get concerned about her presence as we expected her collar to magically fall off any day now. These collars are designed to automatically detach after about five months. They are then located by the research team using radio telemetry and the data or coordinates are downloaded.
We knew that the last two of her kittens had dispersed on about March 6th and naively thought she would soon be out looking for a breeding opportunity. We know she bred on about April 15th and so we have been looking for any evidence of visiting male bobcats cruising the neighborhood.
We knew that the last two of her kittens had dispersed on about March 6th and naively thought she would soon be out looking for a breeding opportunity. We know she bred on about April 15th and so we have been looking for any evidence of visiting male bobcats cruising the neighborhood.
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It was only a week ago that we received information that she had been observed posing in front of a wildlife remote camera near MacArthurand San Joaquin which is way east of her regular digs. A few more days passed and then we received the tip we needed. Babe had been spotted and photographed by a resident of a private community over by Fashion Island and the photo showed Babe walking along a golf course fairway sans collar! With this new information we took off today in pursuit of the missing collar so we could extract the precious data that would enlighten us as to her sojourns of the past five months.
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We drove in and out of every cul-de-sac and checked out many fairways before our telemetry meter started to make that familiar beep-beep-beep that told us we were getting close to the collar. After several hours chasing errant radio signals that were bouncing off concrete walls we got lucky. While we were looking behind some dense shrubbery for a collar with little yellow and green pieces of reflector tape on it, we got the surprise of the day. There in front of us, barely 6 feet away was Babe, hunkered down in the dense undercover staring back at us. Realizing we were neither wanted or needed, we quickly backed off but not before observing a tiny paw wrapped around Babe's chest.
Yup, Babe is a new Mom and temporarily living the life of luxury in the yard of a mansion overlooking the 18th tee of a prestigious Newport golf course but you will have to stay tuned to find out any more details about her family. Keep your eyes focused for a spiffy young bobcat mom with a white tag in her left ear and remember that she is no longer sporting last year’s jewelry. Please report your sightings immediately to the research team.
Dick Newell
Yup, Babe is a new Mom and temporarily living the life of luxury in the yard of a mansion overlooking the 18th tee of a prestigious Newport golf course but you will have to stay tuned to find out any more details about her family. Keep your eyes focused for a spiffy young bobcat mom with a white tag in her left ear and remember that she is no longer sporting last year’s jewelry. Please report your sightings immediately to the research team.
Dick Newell