Posted on 01/27/2008 10:36:31 AM PST by jazusamo
A wild serval cat, the second one found wandering around West Seattle in the past three weeks, was on its way to Sara's Sanctuary in Redmond on Friday.
Terri Miner, the owner of the sanctuary, is working long hours to build a new enclosure. She knows what she's in for; it will be the third serval for her shelter.
The elegant cats with long legs and graceful necks look like miniature cheetahs or leopards. They come from Africa and, like other exotic animals, are illegal to own in Seattle.
"You can't put a serval with another animal. You can't put them with a dog, a cat or monkey. Everything we have on this property is prey to a serval," said Miner.
"They can jump 15 feet straight up in the air. It means quite an enclosure is needed," she said. "They are incredible. They are very powerful animals.
In the past three weeks, Seattle Animal Enforcement has picked up two of the wild cats. One was caught at Madison Middle School on Jan. 19; the other was found about 10 blocks away around Christmas.
Don Baxter, an enforcement supervisor with the Seattle Animal Shelter, said he has seen only four or five servals, including these two, in his nine years with the department.
"We shouldn't be seeing those walking around West Seattle," said Baxter. "I suspect that they were bred in captivity and that someone thought they would be a cool thing to have."
The first cat picked up three weeks ago was a young female. Baxter estimated that she was about 15 pounds underweight.
She was found under the porch of a house and walked right into the animal carrier when officers put it near the porch.
The second cat, a male, found last weekend on the schoolyard, was less cooperative. Animal control officers tried first to lure the cat into a carrier with some raw chicken, but he didn't take the bait. They ended up snagging him with a tool that resembles a lasso.
The male weighs an estimated 35 pounds. The cats can weigh up to 40 pounds.
Neither had been spayed or neutered, suggesting that they were going to be used for breeding, Baxter said.
A number of Internet sites offer the cats for sale, sometimes for as much as $3,500 each.
Baxter said the cats seemed social but warned that they are still wild animals.
"You don't know how they might react if they are cornered or scared," he said.
The owner of the cats hasn't been found.
"We are investigating any leads," Baxter said.
Five years ago, two serval cats, a male and female, were found roaming the Phinney Ridge neighborhood and were temporarily taken in by Woodland Park Zoo. The owners of those cats were never found.
Those servals have since been sent to another zoo.
Mary Leake Schilder with the Progressive Animal Welfare Society in Seattle said her organization believes wild animals shouldn't be kept in captivity, including serval cats.
"People might want to have them for the novelty or because they are cool, but they may not know what they are getting into, the space they need or understand their wild nature. It is a bad idea for the person, and a bad idea for the animal," said Schilder.
Miner said the female serval that arrived at her sanctuary nearly three weeks ago from West Seattle was declawed. She had an upper respiratory infection and was very thin. She said the cat was powerful and difficult to handle.
"They are very wild. They are not tame at all. She is very frightened and sick. It is not her fault," said Miner.
SERVAL CAT (Leptailurus serval)
DESCRIPTION: A medium-size wild cat with long legs and neck. Gold or tan coat with dark spotsHEIGHT: About 20 inches at the shoulderWEIGHT: Up to 40 poundsLIFESPAN: 12 to 20 years
ORIGIN: Africa, particularly the savanna and open grasslands.Sources: Wikipedia, Valleystables-exotics, Exoticcatz.com, Serval-cats.com and Woodland Park Zoo
MORE CAT FACTS
DIET: Mainly rodents and birds.BREEDING: Two or three babies, but as many as five.THREATS: Serval cats are hunted for their coats, and in Africa, for food.AS PETS: It is illegal in Seattle to own serval cats, which are considered exotic animals.MARKET: Internet sites offer serval kittens for sale, generally ranging in price from $3,000 to $3,500.
Sources: Wikipedia, Valleystables-exotics, Exoticcatz.com, Serval-cats.com and Woodland Park Zoo
Must be Sara's Serval Sanctuary.
15 feet straight up and the zoo officials thought 12-1/2 feet was high enough for a tiger.
That’s right...These are a lot of muscle in a small package.
Some wild animals are very tightly wound. They are either resting or going full strength and that is a lot.
Despite efforts to paint Seattle as urbane and cosmopolitan, the city is quite young. My friend’s father hunted bear and deer in what is now south Seattle. I’ve had coyotes in my back yard. We regularly hear reports of cougar and bear visits.
That said, these are obviously not indigenous, and given their value, wonder at what circumstance brings them to the area.
As long as they don’t mess with our Sasquatch population I’m OK with them being around...;’}
Protect the Sasquatch. LOL!
I was surprised at the cost of them. If someone bought the cats and they just got loose I’d bet the owner is crying the blues to themselves over them getting loose, they can’t complain to animal control. :)
Or either they figured out they couldn’t afford to feed them and let them go intentionally.
Yes, or they realized they couldn’t tame them. Sadly a lot of people that buy exotics lose interest in them after the animal becomes too much to handle.
But they’re so cute....wild is wild as they soon find out.
I used to take my kids to a sanctuary in Florida for — no kidding — retired circus tigers.
Please don't put 'em in that tiger enclosure at the San Francisco zoo!
No, it's the cruel humans who kept her and then turned her out. Lock them up right beside Vick.
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