FORT SMITH, Ark. – When animal control officers in Fort Smith were called about a bobcat that was lounging in a flower bed at a private home, they captured the animal and released it into a wilderness area.

The problem was that the bobcat was a pet who was adopted by Margie Marx in 2003 when the feline was a kitten.

Animal control released the bobcat, named Shadow, on Friday in the Fort Chaffee area. Marx found the domesticated beast on Tuesday after days of searching with her husband.

Fort Smith police and animal-control officials used a tranquilizer dart on the cat when they caught her. The officers took the bobcat to the Sebastian County Humane Society first, then released it into the woods.

Marx and her husband, Allen, returned from out of town on Friday afternoon and were told by a friend that a bobcat that was probably Shadow had been picked up by animal officers. At the house, the gate of Shadow's 10-foot-high gate was ajar and the big cat was gone.

Marx said she grabbed Shadow's toy – a squeaky monkey – and set off to find her cat. Shadow would play with the toy by responding to its squeak with a squeak of her own.

Marx said she and her husband found bear tracks, heard coyotes and picked up plenty of ticks, but didn't see any sign of the cat. They searched from morning into the night on Saturday. On Monday, they got help from animal-control officers, but did not find the cat.

When searching Tuesday, she heard Shadow return the toy monkey's squeak. Suddenly, there was Shadow.

"I sat down on a log because I was tired and I looked down and she's laying beside me," Marx said.

She said Shadow appeared to be in good shape, except for having picked up some ticks.

"I wasn't expecting her to be as cute as she was; I was expected her to be dirty and weak," Marx said.