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It’s always a scary article intro for any readers living in the US heartland:

A wild cat native to Africa is on the loose…

Lions! Tigers! Leopards! Oh my!

What we don’t realize is that Africa has small wild cats, too — cats that are even more scared of lions and leopards than we are.

One of these small African cats is the serval, imported by cat breeders to help develop the Savannah fancy cat. There is a market for servals as exotic pets, too.

And someimes they get loose.

While tame, escapees like the one described in that article are probably frightened, hungry, and disoriented, so if you see one, you should call in professionals rather than trying to handle it yourself.

That said, there is no need to react as if it were a big cat.

To help reduce the fear level, lets learn more about this stilt-legged cat.

And out in the wild —

I love how it stalks away after an unsuccessful hunt — in their heads, all cats are big cats!

With that background, let’s take another look at that video in an April 2023 post of an Arkansas wildlife refuge cat catching an escaped “wild cat native to Africa”:

What a wonderful, difficult job!

Maybe some day they will be called to rescue another kind of small wild feline immigrant, whom we’ll meet next week.

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Some lagniappe:

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Featured image: Image by wendy CORNIQUET from Pixabay

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