N.J. judge says pet bobcat must be tested

A New Jersey judge says he wants to make sure a woman’s pet is not a purebred bobcat before returning the animal to her.

Stafford Municipal Judge Damian Murray on Friday ordered that the pet be tested.

Owner Ginny Fine says the 38-pound 3-year-old Rocky is a hybrid of a bobcat and a domestic cat.

The test was reported by The Press of Atlantic City and is the latest development in a question over the animal’s future.

Rocky ran away last month and has been put in the Popcorn Park Zoo. The judge has said earlier that he could return to Fine only if she built a special pen.

But the judge now says he has learned that the breeder who sold the feline has previously sold purebred bobcats.