El Toro : A Puss ‘n’ Boots Tale: Bobcat Chased Up Tree

Joseph W. Randazzo and his dog, Boots, took their regular walk Sunday without the agitation that accompanied the routine stroll the previous day.

It was during a walk through the neighborhood Saturday that Boots spotted something running across land that was being developed at El Toro and Trabuco roads. “I saw him starting to chase something. Whatever it was, it looked big,” Randazzo said.

What it was, the 49-year-old man soon discovered, was a bobcat. But even its size was not enough to threaten Boots. In fact, it was Boots who did most of the intimidating.

The 110-pound German shepherd-husky mix chased the bobcat up a tree, where the animal remained perched in the highest branches until the arrival of officers from the Orange County Animal Control Department.

As Boots barked furiously at the base of the tree, animal control officers shot the bobcat with a tranquilizer dart. When the drug began to take effect, the 25-pound cat bounded down from the tree and, though a bit wobbly, “started running around,” Randazzo said.

Officers captured the nervous cat and took it to the county shelter in Orange, where it was being held Sunday pending tests for rabies. Shelter officials said that if the bobcat does not have rabies or evidence of other communicable diseases, it will be returned to the wild.