Municipal Court Judge Damian G. Murray on Friday decided that the infamous bobcat/Maine Coon cat mix could return home to his owner, Ginny Fine of the Beach Haven West section, after Fine told the judge she had made extensive improvements to her home to prevent the 38-pound feline from making another escape. The judge agreed that the improvements should prevent the bobcat mix from fleeing.
Court Administrator Carol Jenkins said Fine pleaded guilty to one count of letting an animal run at large. She was fined $250, plus $33 in court costs, Jenkins said. She also has to pay $448 restitution to Popcorn Park Zoo in Lacey, where Rocky has been living since July. Fine is expected to take the cat home this week. Fine agreed that if Rocky escapes again, she will have to give him up permanently.
In July, Murray had required Fine to turn over her cat after he escaped from his pen July 6. It was the fourth time the frisky feline had run away from Fine's home.
Rocky gained notoriety after breaking out of his pen in March and remaining on the lam for 12 days. After the feline was lured back to Fine's house in April, it was seized by animal control officers and brought to the Popcorn Park Zoo, which is run by the Associated Humane Societies. Rocky was kept at the zoo while Fine faced a charge of letting the pet get loose, in violation of an agreement she signed in October after another escapade in which Rocky went on the lam.
While Rocky was at the zoo, Murray ordered a DNA test on the animal after representatives of the Department of Environmental Protection's Division of Fish and Wildlife brought him suspicions that Rocky was pure bobcat rather than a hybrid of bobcat and Maine coon cat, as Fine had claimed.
Fine pleaded guilty on May 16 to the charge stemming from the March escape. She was fined $1,000, but she also was allowed to take Rocky home from the zoo because the DNA test proved inconclusive. Rocky escaped again in May and July.
(Asbury Park Press - September 17, 2014)
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