Bobcats get a new home with Valley conservation center, SRP partnership

PHOENIX — A family of bobcats is once again free to wander the wild after being released into an SRP-managed habitat southeast of the Valley, according to a press release.

The bobcat family, consisting of a mother and her three kittens, were brought into the Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center where the kittens could grow and develop in a safe and supportive environment.

“This particular bobcat family was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and they didn’t have a good place to grow up,” Kim Carr, animal care manager at the conservation center, said in the release.

“They needed to be in the wild away from human development.”

The bobcat family is the latest wildlife species to be released on one of nine SRP conservation properties that consist of approximately 3,000 acres along several Arizona waterways and upland habitats.

The electricity provider partnered with the conservation center last year to provide habitats that are suited for numerous wildlife.

“It is important we protect these resources for future generations, including the wildlife living in these areas,” Heather English, senior environmental scientist at SRP, said in the release.

Other recent animals released to the habitats as part of the partnership include juvenile coyotes, juvenile foxes, juvenile raccoons and a badger, according to the release.

“It’s really hard these days to find open habitat and suitable places for wild animals to be released after they have been rehabilitated,” Carr said. “When SRP reached out to us to offer up some of their land for these releases it was amazing. It was almost too good to be true.”

SRP said in the release it has made long-term commitments to implement conservation efforts for more than 15 wildlife species and has several different programs for protecting wildlife.

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