Serval Caught in Atlanta
Posted by: Loren Coleman on July 12th, 2008
The mystery felid was identified as various kinds of cats before it was finally officially verified to be a Leptailurus serval.
The African wildcat was caught near Georgia Tech in Atlanta, Georgia, early Thursday, July 10, 2008. It is now on lock down and its owner could face misdemeanor criminal charges for bringing the illegal pet into the state.
The Department of Natural Resources is working to locate its owner and find out how the animal found its way from the African savannahs to Atlanta. Several people have claimed the potentially dangerous cat, which may have been loose as long as two days before its capture.
The agency’s investigation could result in misdemeanor charges against the owner — including unlawful possession of a wild animal and allowing a wild animal to escape — said John Bowers, a DNR assistant chief.
Georgia prohibits owning such exotic wild animals as pets, but does grant special licenses to wild animal businesses, zoos or circuses.
The cat could end up the care of one the state’s current 119 licensees, Bowers said.
Common to Africa south of the Sahara, servals are slender with long necks, small heads and large, cupped ears. They can grow to more than 40 inches and weigh as much as 33 pounds. They are swift and agile nocturnal hunters able to climb and leap well.
Fulton Animal Control used a net to capture the exotic animal on 14th Street near Holly Street just before 3 a.m. in response to multiple calls reporting a large, wildcat in the area.
“It took quite a bit of time,” said Jere Alexander, Fulton’s animal services director. “The cat was elusive and hiding in the bushes.”
Held in a kennel by itself, the serval has acted very docile and defensive.
“It hisses. It’s crouched low,” Alexander said. “He seems scared but he’s doing fine. He’s beautiful and healthy.”
The cat was first reported as a lynx, then a ocelot and with the name “Ozzie” until the DNR helped clear up the mystery by identifying him as a serval.
In 2006, a serval roamed the Mount Paran area of Buckhead after escaping from its owner who raises exotic cats for money.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Beautiful cat. If the people who owned it were not licensed to have it, I hope they are prosecuted. There are very good reasons why people or organizations are given licenses to keep such exotic animals and I don’t feel that keeping these animals illegally should be condoned in the slightest. If this cat did escape from a licensee, I hope that those people go through lengths to ensure that their facilities and personnel are assessed to make sure this sort of mistake doesn’t happen again.
Cats escape… thats what they plan all day kind of like the hogans heros..
Exotic pets is a whole other hot button issue with overlying dynamics and politics
One good thing is that the cat looks in good condition, judging from its bright fur. Its face reminds me of that mystery feline that was photographed on a rock somewhere in Maine. It looked like a cougar lynx hybrid. Could this animal have escaped in Maine and travelled to Atlanta? If a house cats can find their way back to the owner after crossing vast distances then a serval should be able to cross a few states in a few months…
Glad the cat looks in good condition…
what reason besides burning incense to Caesar? Are they endangered?