Reno Cage Story

By Diana Davis

Early in 2005 a car hit a bobcat. The brave and compassionate woman who hit her picked her up and took her to a vet. Fortunately for the woman, the bobcat was severely injured so she could be handled safely. The bobcat was transferred to an exotic animal veterinarian, who realized that this poor cat did not act like a wild bobcat. It was decided that she was either an escaped pet or had been raised from kitten hood by someone who lacked the necessary skills and training for this complicated specialty of wildlife rehabilitation. The bobcat was transferred to a carnivore sanctuary.

Here she got lucky. One of the volunteers at the sanctuary had a soft spot for native species and understood how miserable the poor bobcat was in her very small temporary cage. She named the bobcat Reno and took on the task of funding and constructing a new, much larger cage.

Reno's cage was constructed of 8'x20' wire panels (openings are 2 X 4 inches) in the shape of a Quonset hut (a long arch). The living space is 18 feet wide, 8 – 10 feet tall and 30 feet long. It contains both a double door safety entrance and a shift area. Construction took about 4 days (excluding site clearing). Both the sponsor and most of the volunteers completely lacked experience constructing animal cages.

The first end wall and arch took a whole day to put up, and was constructed under the guidance of a more experienced individual. It was definitely the hardest part of whole construction, but even so it only took two people (with a third jumping in during a critical time). To start, a panel was laid on its long side and leaned against existing trees and posts. The first arch was constructed by connecting a full panel and a half panel end-to-end with U-bolts. The arch was lifted into place using wood beams (and small diameter tree trunks) and attached to the end panel with U-bolts. The end wall panel was not high enough for the arch, so a second section of panel was cut and attached to the top of the first end panel to fill in the space and support the top of the arch. After this point the experienced individual only helped with spot-checking the work.

Since this end includes the shift and double-door safety entrance a second wall was added to the first arch. This only took two people a few hours. At lunchtime a fabulous group of inexperienced volunteers showed up to help. The remaining arches and the further end wall were finished in time for supper.

It is import that U-bolts be used about every foot to connect sections of panel. Between the U-bolts, hog-rings were attached to reinforce the connections. Since the location of the cage is wooded, a few panels had to be cut around trees. These areas and areas where the cage didn't quite meet the uneven ground were secured with small pieces of panel. U-nails attach the cage to trees where there are contact points. Where the soft ground allowed movement of the cage against the earth, three-foot sections of rebar were driven two feet into the ground and the cage was secured against them with 9-guage wire. Because of the weight of 2 X 4 panels, the roof does require some support. This comes in the form of medium-diameter tree trunks dug about 18 inches into the earth and wedged against the roof.

Finishing securing the cage, and adding doors (made of sections of panels slightly larger than the opening and attached on the “hinge' side with hog-rings) took two volunteers one day. They also started the deluxe climbing tower.

The last day of construction was mostly dedicated to the deluxe climbing tower. This structure reaches from the ground to the roof and was completed by a small number of brand new volunteers who lacked experience with power tools. The first step was in digging six medium diameter tree sections about 18 inches to 2 feet into the ground. These six supports also help to support the roof. The structure of the deck is similar to a standard deck. Joist hangers hold 2 X 8 pressure treated lumber and sections of pressure treated 2 X 4 are used for the deck surface. The tower consists of three levels of deck, a low area only a few feet above ground, a medium area about 5 feet about ground and a high area, almost to the roof.

At the end of construction day four the bobcat was crated (itself an adventure), and transferred to her new quarters. Since moving to her new quarters she appears to be happier. She comes out of hiding to attack the cleaning tools, she has begun to cache her food, and for the first time since arriving at CCI her toys are moving around during the night.