Animal found in Reservoir Hill believed to be serval-type cat
By Greg Ng, Tori Yorgey
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BALTIMORE (WBAL) — Animal Control officers removed an exotic cat found wandering the Reservoir Hill area Friday morning.
The Baltimore City Health Department told WBAL-TV 11 News that Animal Control received calls from 311 describing a very large, loose, potentially wild cat in the area of the 2400 block of Eutaw Place.
“It was crazy, just crazy,” said George Epple, who recorded a video of the cat being captured by Animal Control Friday morning. “I’m sitting there having my coffee and I see a truck pull up and it’s like, well, that’s unusual. I get up and walk out on the back deck with snow, and I see the cat. It’s very unusual to see something that looks like that.”
Officials said animal enforcement officers went to the location and found the animal, which appeared to be a serval-type cat. Officers captured and removed the cat from the area.
The founder of the Wildcat Sanctuary in Minnesota saw the video of the cat circulating and spoke with WBAL-TV 11 News via Zoom. The sanctuary provides a home to wildcats that were former pets, seized by authorities, or surrendered wildcats bought by people looking to domesticate them.
“(The cat in the video is) an African serval, a wild animal,” said Tammy Thies, the sanctuary’s founder. “It might be only one to two generations from its wild ancestors, where our domestic cats are hundreds and hundreds of years bred for domestication. Even though this is a small wildcat, and not as dangerous to the public as a tiger, it’s not fair to try and keep a wild animal as a pet.”
Officials said the cat is privately-owned by someone in the city, which is prohibited.
The health department said the owner has a second serval cat that was also on the loose at some point Friday.
Officials said the owner told them he re-secured the cat inside his residence, which is where the second cat currently is. Officials said they’re investigating the handling and ownership of the second cat.
The cat captured by Animal Control appears to be in good health and will be transferred to a licensed rescue or zoo as the private ownership of wild or hybrid cats in Baltimore City is prohibited, officials said.
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