A New Jersey woman will have to part with her escape-artist bobcat hybrid pet after multiple instances in which the bobcat ran free, according to USA Today.
Since April, the pet bobcat, Rocky, has escaped from its owner, Ginny Fine, and her home, USA Today reported. Rocky has never harmed anyone during one of his escapes.
Rocky is a hybrid of a bobcat and a Maine coon cat, but DNA tests were inconclusive, according to USA Today. According to the court, Fine would have needed a special permit to own Rocky if he were a purebred.
A Stafford Township judge said Rocky will now have to live at a zoo, and Fine, the owner, will be charged $500 and a $560 restitution fee to the zoo where the bobcat has been kept since October after an escape from Fine's home, according to USA Today .
The ongoing legal battle between the New Jersey community and Fine ended on Friday after Fine pleaded guilty to allowing her pet bobcat run loose in October, according to Patch.com.
"This should be an end to the tortured history of this case," Municipal Judge Damian Murray said, USA Today reported. "Some things are not meant to be. Rocky living in your household is one of them."
Fine left the bobcat under her son's care while she was in Japan in October, according to USA Today.
Before Friday's decision, Fine told the judge she could keep the bobcat, who weighs a mere 38 pounds, confined in a proper enclosure so that the animal could not escape, USA Today reported.
Shortly after, the bobcat escaped and had to be trapped by animal control in the woods behind Fine's home, according to USA Today.
