WASHINGTON – National Zoo officials have given up the search for Ollie, the bobcat who went missing from the zoo Monday, but they said Wednesday they’re hopeful she’ll be OK.
“We have to be very realistic” about the search, said Craig Saffoe, the curator of great cats at the National Zoo, on Wednesday morning. “We are going to stop sending our staff out to canvass neighborhoods.”
The staff will respond to any sightings that get called in, but it’s a long shot, Saffoe said.
“A cat doesn’t wait around for you to catch it,” Saffoe said.
Zoo officials got a report of a possible sighting Tuesday night, Saffoe said – a cat was reportedly found under a car on Massachusetts Avenue in Northwest. But no luck, he said.
Still, they say, the 25-pound Ollie can probably survive on her own, especially if she made it to Rock Creek Park. Bobcats are native to North America, including the D.C. area, and prey mostly on small rodents and birds.
Keeper Rebecca Sites said that Ollie will be at the top of the food chain around here.
“I can confirm Ollie can hunt,” Sites said — calling her “an opportunistic hunter” who has caught birds, even out of the air.
On Tuesday, D.C. schools canceled recess at 13 schools near the National Zoo, even though zoo officials say the animal poses no danger to humans.
School system spokeswoman Michelle Lerner said Wednesday that “we are no longer in imminent danger so we have lifted the alert status at our schools.”
Ollie is believed to have escaped through an opening in the mesh around her enclosure Monday morning.
The bobcat was last counted by zookeepers at 7:30 a.m. Monday, but around 10:40 a.m., Ollie couldn’t be found when keepers returned for the morning feeding.
WTOP’s Neal Augenstein and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
