The baby bobcat has gained 12 pounds since its arrival at the High Desert Museum in October.

In October 2022, a nameless male bobcat kitten came to the High Desert Museum after being separated from his mother in the Portland area. He weighed less than 3 pounds.

Now a full-grown cat weighing 22.5 pounds, the High Desert Museum has given him a name: Timber. The name was selected by the winner of the 2023 High Desert Rendezvous raffle, which was conducted at the museum’s annual gala in August.

Visitors who want to see Timber can catch a glimpse of him at the atrium habitat across from the Spirit of the West exhibit. He alternately shares the space with a gray fox named Gert, which is a way to keep the animals happy and healthy, said Curator of Wildlife Jon Nelson.

“He’s big with museum visitors. He likes to engage with visitors. He likes to follow people back and forth in the glass,” Nelson said. “When Gert is out, often we will get people at the front asking where the bobcat is.”

Although cute, Nelson said Timber is not to be mistaken for an oversized house cat. He’s got a full set of claws and the staff is only allowed to interact with him through a protective barrier. That being said, Timber certainly has his own personality.

“He is a little bit rambunctious. He likes to play a lot. He gets big bursts of excitement and energy.”

“But a lot of the day he also likes to sleep, which is probably one of the ways that he is similar to a house cat,” Nelson said.

Timber has been with the High Desert Museum for about a year. When his presence was first reported to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, they did everything they could to reunite Timber with his mother but he soon sought humans out again and was deemed too socialized to release.

Currently, the animal staff at the High Desert Museum are training Timber on the basics of how to be a museum resident. He’s already able to participate in his own care, said Nelson, and he even voluntarily gets into a carrier to be transported from habitat to habitat. Next, they will be working on medical care and voluntary injections.

The High Desert Museum provides care to more than 120 wild animals, including Timber. Many of the animals cannot be released into the wild because they have become habituated to humans, just like Timber.

Nelson and the staff think the name suits Timber.

“It’s a pretty common name, I think, for bobcats,” Nelson said. “But it’s definitely relative to the High Desert region. There’s a lot of timber habitats all through the area that bobcats use and I think it suits him pretty good.”

A baby bobcat is living his best life at Bend’s High Desert Museum