MOUNT JULIET, Tenn. — A Middle Tennessee couple was in for a surprise Friday when they found out the baby kitten they rescued from their back porch turned out to be a wild bobcat.
According to a Facebook post from True Rescue in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, the couple found the kitten after it ran up on their back deck.
They immediately took it to the rescue to try to find emergency placement, but staff at the rescue found it to be a bobcat.
After about half an hour, the kitten was given a health exam and handed over to the Walden's Puddle Wildlife Center near Nashville.
According to National Geographic, bobcats, sometimes called wildcats, are roughly twice as big as the average housecat. They grow to be fierce hunters and can kill animals much larger than themselves.
It is currently illegal to own a bobcat in Tennessee, unless the owner holds a specialized permit.
