Transcripts
Welcome back everybody.
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Today we have a very special guest whose
life work is all about giving a voice to
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creatures that can't speak for themselves.
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If you follow Wildlife Rescues on
social media, you've likely seen
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the incredible heartwarming bond
between a licensed rehabber and
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a very famous bobcat named Tyler.
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Joining us today is Moon Taylor.
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She is the founder of Spiritual Wildlife
Rescue and Rehabilitation Sanctuary.
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She is a licensed wildlife rehabilitator
with many years of experience
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rescuing, healing, and advocating for
native wildlife and exotic species.
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Hi, Moon..
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Welcome to the show.
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Moon: Thank you.
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I'm glad to be here.
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Dixie: I'm super excited to hear
about Tyler the Bobcat, and then
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also what you do with your nonprofit.
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Moon: Okay.
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Dixie: To start, can you share a bit
about your background with our listeners?
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What drew you into wildlife
rehabilitation, and how did your
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journey in animal rescue begin?
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Moon: I'm a farmer's daughter.
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I grew up on a farm, and out being in
the farm, we had all kinds of animals,
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and I've always had the passion for it.
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So when I moved to Texas, I wanted
to continue that passion, and I
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made my passion geared towards
the special needs wildlife because
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they need a lot of hands-on.
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They need that compassion, that extra
care that a lot of rehabbers cannot give.
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So when you say special needs
wildlife, what do you mean by that?
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You'll have wildlife that comes
in with burns and, or a severe hip
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injury or a head injury, and sometimes
they're deemed non-releasable.
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That means they stay in
your facility forever.
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Like Tyler, when he came in as
a baby, he was literally-- him
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and his mom was captured by some
hunters, and they killed his mom.
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They put him in this little cage, and
they let dogs torture him through the cage
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where it deformed his paws, tore open his
eye and his back, and I had to do a lot
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of hands-on for Tyler to save his life.
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And during that time, he
became very imprinted.
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He had to have surgeries on his
paws in order for him to walk.
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There's been other bobcats that
have came in, like with the burns.
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A lot of hands-on there with
nurturing and caring for them.
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The trauma head injuries, it's
usually, because they've been hit
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by a car Those type of special needs
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Dixie: I've spoken with a few other
wildlife rehabilitators and typically
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what they'll do is, if somebody finds
say a raccoon that's injured in the
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city, baby possums, those types of
things, they'll rehabilitate them, and
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then they release them back in the wild.
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With the special needs
cases, is that different?
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I know you still have Tyler.
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Yes.
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So for the other ones that you get, do
most of them have to live out their life
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with you, or do you have the ability to
reacclimate and release some of them?
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Moon: That's a case-by-case scenario.
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The vet determines if they can be released
back into the wild or if they cannot.
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If they are released back into the
wild, I have several friends and
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attorneys and vets that own farmland.
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They get to be released on the
farmland where they've got shelter,
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like a barn to go into, creek
to have water and to fish with.
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We've got cameras there to help
protect them, and then we also
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provide extra food to make sure
that they're not going hungry.
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But we make sure that they're very well
protected and no hunting is allowed.
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But each case is, per the
vet's de- determination.
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Sure.
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And if they are considered non-releasable,
then yeah, they spend their life with
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me, or if there's another sanctuary
that's willing to take in a special
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needs to have as an educational
animal, they are welcome to go there.
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Dixie: The name of your rescue
is Spiritual Wildlife Rescue
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and Rehabilitation Sanctuary.
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So-
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Moon: Yes
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… Dixie: tell us when you started when
you became a 501[c][3], and I also love
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your name, so I'd like to hear more
about how you settled on that name too.
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Moon: I came upon Spiritual
Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation
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Sanctuary because my parents
are Indian, Apache and Cherokee.
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And my tribal family helped
guide me to choose what I felt
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comfortable, what was a calling.
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As to becoming a 501[c][3], I started
back, way back in 2008, maybe earlier
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Dixie: I see too that you have a
USDA Class C and Class T license.
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What does that mean?
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Moon: Yes.
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I am state and federal
Texas wildlife rehabber.
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I am also a Texas state
educational instructor and trapper.
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My USDA Class C and T.
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My Class C means I can have all kinds
of exotics, anywhere from mountain lions
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to cougars to pumas to bears to wolves.
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It means I can help transport them.
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I can take them in and bottle feed them.
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I can get them to other states.
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My Class T is a transporter's license.
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That means I can transport any pl-
any animal I want to any state.
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Dixie: That's very interesting 'cause
I knew at the state level you needed to
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have the wildlife rehabilitation licenses.
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Yes.
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But I didn't realize that there
were certain ones that you
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needed to get from the USDA too.
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, Like this USDA Class C for the exotics,
if somebody- … in another state was--
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interested in getting into wildlife
rehabilitation, is that a license
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that they would also need to get,
or is it on a state basis as well?
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Moon: A lot of states don't
mandate that you have it.
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They just mandate that you have
their state wildlife license.
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Me, I prefer to have both my
state and my federal license to do
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wildlife, but I also wanna have that
USDA license because it helps guide
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extra protection for the animals.
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Dixie: It sounds like you've , an
incredible level of lifelong dedication
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'cause you started out decades ago,
especially like when mentors and
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resources were a little bit more scarce.
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So- Yes … you had a
deep love for animals.
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How did you learn to do the rehab?
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Moon: As I said, growing up on the farm,
yeah, we had the basic farm animals,
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but we always had baby deer coming up.
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We had raccoons, possums out there,
and, every so often out on the farm, we
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would see a mountain lion or a cougar.
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It's-- My dad knew that it broke my
heart if he saw, tried to kill them,
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protecting the animals and stuff.
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So we took the passion of finding
ways to deter them away from the
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farm animals, but also making it a
way where those animals could have a
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safe sanctuary on our farm back home
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Dixie: I'd like to talk a little
bit about Tyler, 'cause- Okay
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Tyler is a little bit of
a social media sensation.
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Moon: Thank you.
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Dixie: You described how
he came into your life.
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How old was he when you got him?
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Moon: When I got Tyler, he was only maybe
two months old, and he's a big boy now.
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He is the one that basically
started the foundation towards
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s- the special needs animals.
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Dixie: Yeah, that's what I was actually
gonna ask you, if he was your first
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Yes … lifelong resident that was gonna
live with you under the special needs.
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Moon: Yeah.
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He's the one that was basically
the foundation that started
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the special need rescue.
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Dixie: He had all of these issues,
you said, with his his paws being
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deformed from the dogs attacking him.
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How much time did you have to
spend rehabilitating him, and what
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did he need to get done by a vet
in terms of surgeries and stuff?
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Moon: Part of his back was torn open.
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His one eye was literally almost
torn out of the eye socket.
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We had to sew his back.
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We had to sew his eye back in and
hope that he wouldn't lose his sight.
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His paws were literally, instead
of facing forward, they were facing
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almost completely back, so he had to
have surgeries to start forming them
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forward, and it would take, some plates.
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It would take pins.
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And it wasn't just one surgery.
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He had to have multiple surgeries.
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I had to do therapy with him.
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We went through a long journey.
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It was a lot of hands-on with cleaning
his bandages, every 20 to 30 minutes to
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make sure that they wouldn't get infected.
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There was times that I thought
he was gonna give up on me.
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Dixie: I can't imagine the
poor guy going through that
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it's something that's hard to even
wrap your head around, that he could
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have been gone through that to have
to- Yeah … to go through all those
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surgeries and all that intensive care.
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Moon: Yeah.
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I'm glad he did
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… Dixie: with him being like you said,
two months old, … I would imagine
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that is a little bit an older age, if
you were to find a bobcat out in the
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wild that didn't go through all this
trauma that he went through, that a
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bobcat- that would be two months old
would almost pretty much be wild.
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Of course, you would still have to
teach him how to be a bobcat, but
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how is Tyler different from that,
that he was able to imprint on you?
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Moon: Because of all the hands-on.
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I was constantly k- have to hold
him up against my body for warmth.
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He would not stay in his incubator.
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He would not lay on heating pads.
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If I even put him down just for a
minute to make his bottle, he would
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cry, he would yell, and as soon as I had
picked him up, he would cuddle into me.
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So I literally had to put him
in a little pouch and carry him
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around like a kangaroo mama.
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It was the only way to
comfort him, and it…
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As long as he stayed calm, and as long
as he stayed comfort, he was willing to
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eat, he was willing to take his medicine.
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But the moment that I was out
of his sight, he became scared.
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He just wanted to cry, and
you couldn't blame him.
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He was traumatized so much.
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So would you consider him now to be,
more behavior-wise like a house cat?
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Bobcats are never like a house cat.
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They can have their d- one minute, their
sweet little pleasure of purring and
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looking at you, and within a second,
they can still turn right around and
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use those sharp claws and teeth on you.
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But Tyler yeah I still say he's special,
but you still have that protection there.
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Dixie: What does a typical day look
like living alongside him as, in
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terms of like enrichment, diet,
territory, and safety protocols?
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Moon: With Tyler, every
day is an amusement.
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He will literally take the doggy's
c-cot from the dog, and when the dog
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wants its bed, Tyler will look up
like whatever and go back to sleep.
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If the dog's trying to take the blanket
and get him off of it, Tyler's like
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hissing at him like it's his bed now.
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He will not get off that doggy cot until
he's ready, and the dog has learned that.
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When it comes to making his food,
he will literally walk around you.
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He will do a large meow and yowl because
he knows his feeding schedule, and then
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he goes and he sits on the counter,
and he sits there and he watches you
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make his food until that plate is ready
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He will supervise everything
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And what do you feed him?
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His-- Right now, I pick
up his special diet food.
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It's a carnivore meat that all
the zoos use for the carnivores.
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They're same, the tigers,
the bobcats, and stuff there.
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So I order the special cases.
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It's delivered to the zoo.
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I can either pick it up at the
Dallas Zoo or the Fort Worth Zoo.
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But it already is custom-made.
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It has all the supplements in it.
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And this way, I know he's getting
the proper enrichment that his
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body and his species needs.
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Dixie: I'm sure a lot of people
see the videos and see how cute
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he is, and they all think, "I
wanna go out and get a bobcat."
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So can you explain to people why that's
something that they should not be doing?
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And also, just because you do need
to have some specialized training,
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'cause like you said, he is a
lot different from a house cat.
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So just because you're used to
dealing with cats does not mean you'd
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be used to dealing with a bobcat.
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Moon: One, it's against the law in a lot
of the states to own any type of wildlife.
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You have to have a special license to
have any type of wildlife or exotic.
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Two, the reason why I specialize
in these animals is because, like
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I said, one minute they can give
you this sweet purring sound, this
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cute, innocent look, and within a
second, they can slice you open.
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Their demeanor will change for no reason.
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It could be because of a certain sound.
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It could be a smell.
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It could be something that just
stressed them out immediately
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that you were not aware of.
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They can be extremely destructive on your
house, too, by clawing up the furniture.
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Their claws can actually tear up walls
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And that seems to be their favorite thing.
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Yeah, they will use a cat tree,
but you give a, a bobcat a wall,
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they're gonna go after it and
use it as their scratching post.
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Dixie: Yeah, I can't imagine having
just regular cats and seeing the things
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that a cat'll do, like to a doorframe.
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I can only imagine what a
bobcat would do to your wall.
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Moon: And with a lot of the
wildlife and exotics, they're used
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to using the outside to go potty.
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I am blessed that I am able to train
the bobcats and all of them to use
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a potty box, and some of them I've
even trained to use the toilet.
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So what other residents do you
have in your care right now?
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Right now I just have the bobcats.
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I've got the four baby bobcats that
came in that had burns on them.
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They are about four months old.
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They are completely over their
burns, and we're getting their
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dietary and their nutrition up.
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So hopefully they can go back out
into the wild if the vet deems it
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And how many do you
normally take in a year?
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That bases on different calls.
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There's been a couple of times
that for a whole year I'd
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only get maybe two or three.
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This year, the calls have
been really coming in where
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I've had over 20 some calls.
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It's just been a little crazy this year.
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Dixie: Do you focus primarily just
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on Texas, or will you take them
in from other areas as well?
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Moon: That depends on the protocol
and the ba- the case scenario.
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I have had calls from other states
from rehabbers that got in a bobcat,
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and they've called me and asked
me if I could guide them and train
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them on how to do a bobcat because
they've never done it before, and
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I have educated them through Zoom.
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There's been times that they would
come in twice a month, do some
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hands-on training with me, and
go back to their own facility.
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Dixie: Another thing that I'd like
to ask you about is I heard that for
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rehabbers that do bobcats, that you
need special enclosures for them.
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Moon: Yes.
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Dixie: What type of enclosure do
you need for a bobcat to be secure?
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Moon: That is based on the aging.
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If you're talking an adult bobcat,
the outside enclosure should meet
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the state guidelines, and again,
each state is different by their
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guidelines on the size the same as USDA.
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My outside enclosure are twenty-four
by twenty-four, and it's this,
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the galvanized chain fencing.
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It goes completely underneath.
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There's ground and g- the grass put above
it, so that way they can't dig under.
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It's all the way around the sides.
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It's got the roofing.
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There's also AC and heating, hooked up,
so that way they've got ventilated areas.
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I make sure that the
animals stay c- comfortable.
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With the new little ones
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Dixie: that you have, the four-month-old
ones, are those out in their enclosure,
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or do you bring them in your home as well?
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Moon: No, those are in a special
room with the same type of enclosure,
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because like I said, they are g-
they just got over their burns.
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And even though they're over their burns,
we still have to make sure that their fur
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is growing in properly to protect them.
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And once the vet says, yes, they can start
going outside more, then we will start
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introducing them to the outdoor closure.
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But right now, we try to keep
everything on a sterile basis for them.
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Dixie: When they go into their
outdoor enclosure, how long do
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they normally have to stay in that
before they're okay to be released?
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Moon: That is based on the time
of the year that they come in.
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Because these babies are
only four months old,
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they probably would not be
releasable until February of
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next year to March of next year.
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You always wanna make sure that they are
released in the beginning of a summer
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when it's cool but not too hot, so that
way they have a chance to build their own
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den, learn to hunt, learn the territory,
so they can survive and be prepared for
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the winter that they're about to come.
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Dixie: Wow.
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So you'll have those babies almost all
the way through next year then even if
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the vet says that they are releasable?
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Moon: Yeah.
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I- it's like that with any wildlife.
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You don't wanna release them
until they're at least a year old.
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You've gotta give them time
to accept the environment.
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You never wanna release any
wildlife in the fall or the winter.
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They wouldn't survive.
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Dixie: Wow.
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Yeah I don't think a lot of
people think about that in
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terms of when you take 'em in.
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I think people think that for a
lot of wildlife rehabbers, you
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take 'em in, you heal 'em up,
and you let 'em go right away.
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And so it's a quick turnaround.
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I knew you would have
'em for several months.
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I didn't realize that it
could possibly be that long.
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Moon: Yeah you gotta make sure
that they're the right age.
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You gotta make sure that they
know how to hunt, they know how
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to seek out their prey, they're
able to adapt to the environment.
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That's the reason why I have the
private land, because at the same
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time we go out there, we got what's
called a soft release, we got
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what is called the hard release.
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The soft release means we take
them out, they're put in a large
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cage kennel area out there.
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They're learning how to hunt live
prey that's put in there with them.
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They're getting used to the surroundings,
the different environments out there.
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And then the hard release is
where you finally open up that
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cage, you cry your eyes out, and
you watch 'em run and be free
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And do they tend to stay around in
the area where you release them?
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A lot of them have because w- that's
where the game cameras come in, is we
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can see that they're still coming up.
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They're, checking out the barns
to h-hide in to have protection
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from the cold or the rain.
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We can see them out at the creek hunting
and playing in the water, running across
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the fields chasing a rabbit or a bird.
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I love the game cameras because to me
it says they're safe, they're hunting,
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they're living wild, they're being free.
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Dixie: Yeah, you get to
see how they're doing.
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Moon: Yeah.
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And they're v-- they stay
protected, and that's what matters.
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Dixie: With Tyler, you use Tyler
a lot for educational outreach.
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Moon: Yes.
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Dixie: What is the most important message
or common misconception you want to
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share with the public regarding wildlife?
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Moon: The one thing that I'm always
saying that wildlife is not a pet.
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It is illegal to own them.
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You should leave it up to the trained
wildlife rehabbers that are licensed
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and trained to care for them.
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If you find any wildlife that's in
need, whether it's an orphan or injured,
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immediately reach out to a rehabber.
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That's the best way they're gonna survive
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Now, as a rehabber, do you do
any kind of continuing education?
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Yes.
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I've done education to other
rehabbers in other states.
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I had a young lady that was in
Honduras that the government seized
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a fox from somebody over there.
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So I reached out to the government,
and with a three-hour phone call
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convincing, I managed to start a
rehab facility over in Honduras.
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Dixie: Wow.
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That's amazing.
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Moon: Yeah I'm glad that she
still keeps an eye on the fox
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and she still reaches out to me,
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Dixie: and how long has that been?
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Moon: That was a year and a half ago
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Dixie: For any of our listeners who
want to support Spiritual Wildlife
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Rescue and follow Tyler's journey or
donate, how can they find you online?
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Moon: On Facebook, I am Spiritual Wildlife
Rescue and Rehabilitation Sanctuary.
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On TikTok, YouTube, all of the social
media, I am Tyler the Bobcat, and
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I also have tylerthebobcat.org.
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It's his website.
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And what would be the most,
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Dixie: What do you need the most
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Moon: myself and many rehabbers, monetary
donations are the biggest gift of all
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because that monetary donation goes
towards buying their special food,
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their vet bills, their medication.
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Tyler has special medication
that he needs, especially when
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the weather keeps changing.
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His paws do hurt because he does have
arthritis, and pain movement in there,
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and he's gonna have it all of his life.
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So when it gets to bothering him,
he lets me know, and he does have
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special medicine, and it is expensive
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Dixie: Moon, thank you so much
for taking the time to share your
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story with us today, and thank
you for all the incredible work
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that you and your sanctuary do.
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And to all of our listeners, you can
head on over to tylerthebobcat.org
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to support their mission.
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And thank you again, Moon.
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It was great to hear Tyler's story,
and it was a very unfortunate
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beginning for him, but I am very
glad that he ended up in your care.
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Moon: And thank you for having us.
