“We’ve had calls about them in Navarre and Destin. They usually keep to themselves and don’t bother with pets and garbage, so they are around here, we are just not seeing them.”

Annie Blanks @DestinLogAnnie

NAVARRE — A bobcat is recovering after it was struck by a car in Navarre on Tuesday morning.

According to Shelby Proie with the Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge, the adult male bobcat was brought in by a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officer about 11 a.m. Tuesday in very poor condition.

“We suspect he has massive internal trauma and head trauma, as he was very non-responsive and recumbent,” Proie said. “He was just lying there, and he was breathing very erratically and cackling. You could hear a lot of fluid in his lungs. … Both of his eyes were not reacting to light.”

Proie said the bobcat is 3 to 4 feet long and weighs about 15 pounds.

Veterinarians and technicians at the refuge worked for several hours Tuesday to stabilize the animal. Proie said late that afternoon that his prognosis was “very, very guarded.”

The bobcat was transferred to the Wildlife Sanctuary of Northwest Florida in Pensacola, which is better equipped to deal with larger animals, Proie said.

The Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge is raising money so it can break ground on a new facility in Navarre, where Proie said they hope to have much more space to rehabilitate animals like bobcats.

Bobcats are relatively common in Northwest Florida, Proie said, but aren’t seen often because they mostly stay away from developed areas.

“As we keep encroaching on their land more and more, it pops them out,” she said. “We’ve had calls about them in Navarre and Destin. They usually keep to themselves and don’t bother with pets and garbage, so they are around here, we are just not seeing them.”