Unique cat captured after becoming noticed roaming Halifax streets

An exotic cat that was spotted roaming the streets of a Halifax local community on Sunday has been captured and is now in custody of the Division of All-natural Assets.

Rachael Smith and her son had been driving all-around the city’s Armdale neighbourhood close to 10:30 p.m. when they saw a cat sitting down in the middle of the street.

As they moved closer, they quickly recognized it was no common cat — it was as big as a medium-sized dog — and it was experiencing off with a scaled-down, black-and-white domestic cat.

“I was really anxious for the domestic cat, but also with the unique cat,” Smith instructed CBC Radio’s Details Early morning Halifax. “I’ve never listened to of Halifax having exotic cats, so I just discovered that was truly strange for that to materialize.”

Smith contacted authorities while they had been nonetheless in the area. At initial she thought it was a lynx, but it was too tiny. It had long legs and striped and spotted fur.

It turned out to be a serval cat, which is indigenous to grasslands, open up forests and marshes in sub-Saharan Africa, and is not usually uncovered in Nova Scotia.

Tricia Fleming, the human wildlife coexistence biologist with the Office of Normal Means, said the serval was captured by animal handle and animal rescue volunteers Monday afternoon.

“Employees are doing the job to treatment for the animal, control any health and fitness issues and then get the job done towards deciding next steps,” Fleming instructed Information Morning. 

“The difficulty of how this animal can be roaming in [the Halifax Regional Municipality] is however underneath investigation.”

In an update Thursday, a spokesperson with DNR reported the serval is “alive and properly” and less than veterinarian treatment.

The spokesperson explained there are various solutions becoming looked at for the serval, including sending the animal to “an proper, permitted facility, these as a zoo or wildlife park.”

Rob Laidlaw, the founder of Zoocheck, an Ontario-based mostly charity that promotes the defense and very well-remaining of wild and exotic animals, said servals are shown as prohibited less than Nova Scotia’s Wildlife Act and cannot be saved as pets.

However, Laidlaw reported, it’s possible the serval was acquired from a breeder in Ontario, which will not have any polices on owning exotic animals, and was introduced to Nova Scotia as a pet — which is also illegal.

“For a ton of folks, they have a quite romanticized edition or standpoint on these animals,” Laidlaw instructed CBC Radio’s Maritime Midday on Tuesday.

“They you should not recognize they are wild animals … they consider of them like they’re just huge — in the case of servals — major house cats, when they’re not.”

He said servals are also identified to be great escape artists, pointing to incidents in Ontario and British Columbia.

“If they have an opportunity to escape, they will,” Laidlaw said. “They are pretty good at receiving out and I assume that’s an indicator most likely that they should not be held the place they’re becoming saved.”

Smith reported she’s delighted the serval cat was captured safely. 

As for the domestic cat, Smith has considering that learned he was unharmed in the scuffle — and his title is Sammy.

“He’s a community cat. I guess he dominates the region … but Sammy is effectively,” Smith claimed. “And I’m positive he’s nonetheless a little shaken up, and as significantly as the proprietor, I am absolutely sure the same thing.”