Free again: Destin otter, bobcat turned loose

BRUCE — For a captive bobcat and American river otter, the journey to their new home Tuesday morning was long and winding and more than a bit bumpy.

It started at the Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge in Destin, where Assistant Director Patrick Gault loaded their cages into the back of his truck.

He drove to the refuge’s future home at the Nokuse Plantation in Bruce, where Director Matt Aresco knew just where he wanted to release the animals.

Deep in the northern portion of the preserve, down miles of rutted roads, Aresco drove until he found a narrow sand-bottomed creek surrounded by trees.

There, the young female otter, which had been found in the backyard of a home in Destin, rushed down a steep creek bank and into the clear water.

“There he goes,” said Aresco.

“Man, he’s fast,” said Gault, chuckling. “Cool.”

The otter had swum out of sight in less than a minute.

The young male bobcat was trapped late last week in Navarre, where he had been eating chickens and ducks. Aresco pointed to a clearing about 15 yards from the creek for its release.

“I figure this is good for the bobcat,” he said. “He can kind of move along that tree line.”

The two men moved the bobcat’s cage into the clearing and Gault opened the door.

In less than five seconds, the cat streaked into the woods and cut sharply to the right to take cover as quickly as possible.

“He looked for the closest tree line,” said Aresco, walking along the edge and peering into the shadows.

The bobcat will have to establish his own territory at Nokuse.

“He’d have to do that anyway,” Gault said. “He’ll have a better chance here than in Navarre.”

Aresco said the 50,000-acre preserve has healthy populations of otters and bobcats, but Nokuse is glad to help refuges look for good release sites for animals.

Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge has already released a Cooper’s hawk, a beaver, gopher tortoises and two Cedar waxwings at Nokuse.