Bobcat sneaks into Oregon school

EUGENE, Ore. (KVAL) – Things got a little wild when a bobcat showed up at an Oregon school. The unannounced critter is stirring up quite the hype.

John O’Brien is the head of Oak Hill School. He explained, “Well, I was sitting here doing some boring paperwork after school when I heard from outside the office. I heard… turns out it was one of our moms, yell, ‘There’s a bobcat!’”

A bobcat made its way into O’Brien’s office at Oak Hill, a school that sits in a lush, forested area.

“I turned and looked and it was right at my feet basically,” O’Brien said. “So I went that way outside and closed the door.”

That’s when the cat perched itself inside the window, drawing in students and teachers for a look at the improbable.

O’Brien said the bobcat was locked inside the office alone for about an hour before a team of experts arrived to remove it.

Joe Stack with the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife said, “It is not common. That is definitely not normal behavior for a wild animal.”

Stack said the abnormal behavior placed the bobcat as a risk to public safety making a not so happy ending for the furry visitor. “We are able to humanely euthanize it and that’s what happened to this cat.”

But it’s still leaving a buzz at the school. Maybe even changing O’Briens’ open-door policy. “The door will probably be a little bit more like this for the time being,” he said.

Bobcats are the smallest wild cat in Oregon.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said the animals are found throughout the state except at high altitudes and on cultivated farmlands.

© 2024 KOBI-TV NBC5. All rights reserved unless otherwise stated.

Skip to content