Stafford New Jersey Woman May Get Her Pet Bobcat Back

Authorities say a Stafford woman may get her pet bobcat back if she builds a pen to contain it.

Rocky the bobcat at Popcorn Park Zoo (Popcorn Park Zoo)

Rocky got out of Ginny Fine's home on March 25. Fine found the 38-pound, 3-year-old in a nearby patch of woods on Sunday. Police later arrived with a court order to take Rocky to the Popcorn Park Zoo pending a court hearing on Friday.

Police Capt. Tom Dellane tells the Asbury Park Press, "We don’t have any issue with her having the bobcat. She’s legally allowed to have it, but the only issue is that she doesn’t let it run at large."

The solution is a pen that an anonymous benefactor who has donated money to build the pen to township specifications. Work has already started on the pen and she hopes to show pictures to the judge during a scheduled hearing on Friday that will help convince him to allow Rocky return home.

Dellane says zoo officials say Rocky appears friendly and domesticated. “The people at Popcorn Park say he’s friendly and appears to be domesticated," he told the Press. Fine, however, was less impressed and thought that Rocky looked "stressed" being in a small cage at the Lacey zoo.

$1,200 in donations have been made to an online fund since the story of Rocky went national.