1 escaped African cat captured, another still on the loose in Qualicum Beach, B.C.
The owners of a pair of African servals allege someone intentionally let the exotic animals loose out of a pen in their Qualicum Beach backyard Sunday. One of the animals is now back in their care, and they're hoping the other one returns.
"We’re really hurting about this," says Bill Edwards, the cats' owner.
"They’re $20,000 cats. They’re our pets."
Edwards says he and his girlfriend first became aware that their two cats – a male named Tumaz and a female named Luna – had disappeared on Sunday when they heard a commotion across the road from their rural property. It appears one or both of the servals was involved in the killing of a neighbour’s domestic cat.
Laurel Bablitz is Edwards’ girlfriend. She says the couple is remorseful about what happened.
“I sent (the cat’s owner) a message and said, 'You know, I am so sorry for your loss, we’re cat people and I can’t even imagine your grief,'” Bablitz says.
Edwards was able to recapture the male serval, but the female – believed to be pregnant – remains on the loose.
Tumaz the African serval is shown. (CTV News)
The couple have only owned the animals for about six or seven weeks, after purchasing them from the Metchosin area from a woman who was looking at using the cats in a breeding program.
Bablitz says the cats had been outside in their pen up until someone released them, likely while the couple were asleep.
“You have to really work at it because it’s not easy to open. It was not left open. It was an early morning release,” she says.
Bablitz went onto the Meadowood Facebook group to inform people the cats were on the loose and to watch their animals and their children. She realizes the way she worded her notice likely worried people.
“I don’t think they would attack a child because they know what people are, but animals are game, they’re food as far as (the cats are) concerned, so I wanted people to know,” she says.
Bablitz says she doesn’t know the cats’ history, so isn’t aware of how they would react to children if approached.
The B.C. Conservation Officers Service (BCCOS) confirmed the servals were on the loose and the BC SPCA said that a domestic cat had been killed.
The BCCOS says it provided the owner with advice on what to do and referred them to local animal control and the BC SPCA, since African servals are technically considered domestic pets and not wildlife, therefore falling outside the purview of the BCCOS.
Owning the exotic cats as pets is controversial, however. The BC SPCA says servals "are difficult to contain in a home or enclosure setting" and that they're not easily house-trained.
"These wild cats are not much bigger than a medium-sized dog, but they still retain their wild instincts and are cunning escape artists," reads the BC SPCA's information page on the animal.
Leanne Salter is the regional district representative for the area as well as someone with years of experience trapping animals on her property. On Wednesday, she began assisting the couple by setting out traps for Luna. She says she was inundated with emails from people concerned about the loose animal.
“They’re worried about their pets, their smaller pets. They’re worried that it’s an animal that’s loose and it’s not being fed and watered and just that it’s been up here and it’s been four days now, which is quite a while in this heat,” Salter says.
Salter’s arsenal includes a cage that was custom made for her.
“I had it made for me by a welder in Coombs and it was based on a bear trap, so I just gave him the dimensions and what it looked like and he built it. He did a really good job too,” she says.
Salter says she has learned a great deal about animal capturing techniques over the years.
“These servals are quite large – they’re the size of a small dog – and they’re wiley. They’re a wild animal for all intents and, you know, your own cat, if your cat doesn’t want to come home, it’s not coming home,” she says.
She says she also shares concerns about the cat in the wild.
“Somebody didn’t realize what they were touching there, I’m sure, because it is a danger to have this animal loose up here, (a) danger to itself and a danger to other people and their pets,” Salter says.
African servals do not fall under B.C.’s controlled alien species regulations and can be owned in the province as pets.
Bablitz knows many don’t find that acceptable, but says setting the cats loose isn’t the solution.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.