Ollie the escaped bobcat. (Photo by Janice Sveda for Smithsonian’s National Zoo)

Ollie the escaped bobcat. (Photo by Janice Sveda for Smithsonian’s National Zoo)

The National Zoo continues to search for Ollie, the bobcat who escaped from her enclosure on Monday.

Zoo officials hoped that she would return for food and shelter and took “several measures” to entice her back, but the seven-year-old, wild-born female remains on the loose.

They’ve gotten a number of phone calls from the public indicating that Ollie might be in the neighborhoods right by the zoo—Woodley Park and Cleveland Park—and dispatched a team of zoo keepers, zoo police, and D.C. Humane Rescue Alliance to continue searching, according to a release from the National Zoo.

While bobcats aren’t known to be aggressive towards humans, the zoo is still advising people not to approach Ollie if they see her. Instead, call 202-633-7362.

Zoo officials say that that she most likely climbed through a small opening in the mesh net around her habitat, which she shares with two male bobcats. “Ollie is an adept climber and would have been able to climb and crawl through the hole,” the zoo says.

She’s self-sufficient, too, and D.C. is a natural habitat for bobcats. “Cats are survivors,” the zoo’s curator of large cats, Craig Saffoe, said at a press conference on Monday. “I’d be lying to you if I said we were definitely going to get her back.”

But why did she go? Here are some theories we’ve been seeing:

1. Ollie is a political protester

This is perhaps the most popular theory: that Ollie, along with escaped red panda Sunny from the Virginia Zoo, is responding to D.C.’s new political climate by either getting the hell outta dodge, voicing (more like barking) her opinion about the latest executive orders at a demonstration, or laying low to avoid the ensuing chaos.

2. Ollie is sick of the way people are talking about her and females everywhere

In Monday’s press conference, Saffoe referred to Ollie as “standoffish” and “not super friendly.” Essentially, Ollie is a bitch, despite being feline rather than canine. Human females can relate to this designation.


3. There’s an ongoing red panda-bobcat conspiracy

Ollie may be the most recent zoo escapee, but red panda Rusty remains among the most famous fugitives. And Monday was an important day in history for those following his journey.

And the furry fan fic for Sunny and Ollie’s shared adventures has begun.

4. People associated with the new administration are big game hunters … just sayin’

Eric and Donald J. Trump, the first sons of the United States, have a thing for killing large predatory cats. While the two of them are based in New York, they’ve traveled further in search of thrills.

Reminder:

Image via Hunting Legends.

Filed Under: bobcat, escape, fugitive, national zoo, ollie, zoo,