Nebraska - When Jackie Vrzak Hamaker took in an "exotic" cat that apparently needed her help, the woman had no idea what she had really brought into her home. When the truth came out, the animal-lover was in for a big shock.
It was a snowy evening when Jackie discovered the feline on her doorstep, which she believed to be a stray cat in distress.
She was all the more pleased when the animal turned out to be very trusting and sweet.
"She didn’t run away when I approached her... [She] was very beautiful with large feet and a gravely purr," the Nebraska woman recalls to The Dodo.
"I really thought she was a new exotic cat breed," said the unsuspecting resident.
As Jackie assumed that the supposed street cat was hungry and looking for a warm spot to rest, she let the four-legged friend slip into her garage, where the kitty showed no fear and immediately devoured the food on offer.
On taking a second look at her visitor, Jackie noticed that the animal had a coat pattern that she had never noticed before on the cats in the neighborhood. The animal also had a much shorter tail.
Assuming it was a prized specimen of a domestic cat, which surely had a family who sorely missed it, Jackie posted her find in a local Facebook group.
The other cat-lovers had some troubling news for the well-meaning woman, however...
Woman accidentally takes in wild animal
What the other users told her was a huge surprise for Jackie: in the comments, she read that the "exotic cat" was almost certainly a wild animal.
A friend who worked in wildlife rescue was able to confirm this assumption.
"They confirmed she was 100 percent bobcat,” Hamaker said. "I was shocked it was a bobcat!"
Then everything happened very quickly: staff from Nebraska Wildlife Rehab rushed to Jackie and took the kitten into their care.
At the facility, the experts discovered that the animal was underweight and was still at an age when it should have been living with its mother.
Even though Jackie was initially mistaken in her assumption that she had taken in a helpless domestic cat, her actions would still save a life.
If she had not taken the bobcat in, it would not have ended up at the wildlife rescue service, which is now looking after it.