You may remember when Wildfire Today told you about “Chips”, the injured bobcat that was found last year on a wildfire and rescued by the Mad River Hand crew. Chips has recovered from her burned paws and infected eyes and has been released back into the wild.
The bobcat was nursed back to health and prepped for release by a volunteer at the Sierra Wildlife Rescue in Placerville, California.
Chips was found August 24 by the crew on the fire that inspired the name of the bobcat, the Chips Fire, burning on the Lassen and Plumas National forests in California. Not wanting to disrupt a natural process, the crew tried to walk away but the bobcat followed them. When they stopped it curled up on the boots of crew superintendent Tad Hair. They searched for tracks that belonged to its mother and found none. A closer assessment revealed that the kitten had burned paws and eye injuries so they rescued it and contacted Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care, a nonprofit organization that rehabilitates injured or orphaned wildlife and returns them to the wild.
Here is a link to a story about another bobcat that was rescued on the Jesusita fire near Santa Barbara, California in 2009.
