Arizona landlord keeping bobcats as pets, former tenant claims

It is unusual, however, to see them as house pets.

A Scottsdale woman accused her former landlord of owning several bobcats as pets, and said the man even asked her to feed the felines while he was on vacation, KNXV reported.

“He calls them the kitties, actually, but they are definitely bobcats,” Victoria Fell told the television station. “I watched them grow into pretty much full-size bobcats."

Fell said the landlord asked her to feed the bobcats for more than a month, KNXV reported. The bobcats were not eating Meow Mix, either.

"He was going on vacation, and he asked if I would be able to feed the bobcats while his family went on vacation," she told the television station. "I would feed them raw chicken. They take the chicken and 'Grr' rip it out of my hand."

The Arizona Game and Fish Department has bobcats on its restricted wildlife list, adding that it's illegal to own one.

"I assumed that he had a permit of some kind." Fell told KNXV. "It didn't really dawn on me until later when he said he was going to trap another bobcat to mate with the others. And that was a big concern for me."