An escaped serval cat native to Africa that was on the unfastened in a Vernon Hills neighborhood Saturday night time died from accidents sustained after its seize, police stated.
The animal, initially misidentified as a bobcat, was noticed within the village’s Grosse Pointe neighborhood at about 7:16 p.m., Vernon Hills Deputy Police Chief Shannon Holubetz stated.
{A photograph} a witness had snapped helped the Illinois Department of Natural Resources correctly determine it later as a serval, an African species.
That led officers to imagine they weren’t searching for a wild animal that had roamed into the realm, however a domesticated unique pet, Holubetz stated.
Online details about the species identifies it as a slender cat standing 21 to 24 inches tall on the shoulder, weighing 20 to 40 kilos as an grownup, with a small head, giant ears and the longest legs of any cat species relative to its physique.
While looking, officers got here throughout others who seemed to be searching for one thing. They turned out to be the house owners, Holubetz stated. With the house owners’ help, the skittish animal was captured at about 10 p.m. a number of hundred ft from its home.
“It seems as if this animal escaped from their yard whereas they have been out,” Holubetz stated.
Though the serval later died of accidents, no person or animal appeared to have been harmed by it.
The police division despatched out an alert on social media Saturday night time saying the cat had been seen within the Grosse Pointe neighborhood. Residents have been urged to control their pets, notably at night time.
Accompanying social media posts Saturday chronicled various resident encounters with the animal that almost instantly discounted its preliminary identification as a bobcat.
One person urged fellow residents to take the alert significantly, describing the cat as aggressive and unafraid when encountering it whereas walking dogs with a neighbor. The canine walkers began yelling and have been let inside by some close by neighbors.
Though the matter was over by Sunday, police are nonetheless trying into the legality and protocols of preserving such an animal, Holubetz stated.
