Not a Pet

11
Mar
2023

Nala – The heartbreaking story of a pet serval

Nala

The heartbreaking story of a 'pet' serval

Nala Serval Instagram In early February of 2023, the owner of a serval in Canada passed away. A friend of the owner contacted us to see if we could give the cat a home. We said yes and excitedly prepared for her arrival while all the import paperwork was being done. We learned that this little serval was even an
Instagram star with her own account and followers! The videos were supposed to show what a great “pet” she was. When we watched the videos, we saw something very different – and very heartbreaking.

We’re sharing Nala’s story so we can show everyone the hard truth about keeping servals – or any wildcats – as “pets.” We are adamant that all breeding and selling of wildcats as “pets” must stop now.

The following is the email we received from the woman caring for Nala in Canada in preparation for her coming to WCR. This is what she said:

"Dear Cheryl,

Good morning

Nala went for her vet appointment this morning and while her general health is good, she is the poster child for Metabolic Bone Disease. Her weight is 8.5kg, so smaller than we all thought and she has a very small ulcer on her left eye but other than that, generally, she's okay.  My vet has some students, so for educational purposes and because the physical exam raised a lot of questions, he did some x-rays at no cost to me.  To say I'm angry is an understatement and I feel sick to my stomach at what this cat has endured since the day she was born. As you can see in the x-rays, this poor cat has suffered hugely. Her scapulae have folded, there is a kink/break of some kind in her spine, I think one leg doesn't have a bend in it, and her pelvis, while it doesn't appear to have been broken the femur heads have obviously had to compensate or the pelvis compensate for the mess the bones have become. I'm not a vet, nor do I have any expertise in reviewing x-rays but it is so obvious anyone can see it.  I'll try and get some video of her moving so you can see how bad she is.

I had a discussion with my vet about quality of life and I think that's something that needs to be seriously considered.  - While she's been with us, she has been active, she has 'run' after a ball, plays in the water, and will crawl/half jump onto a chair or window ledge but she definitely cannot act like a normal Serval, nor will she ever be able to. - She eats well, poops and pees, and seems to be doing well and appears happy.  But, we all know how well animals can mask pain, and given Nala has lived like this her entire life, whatever she's feeling is normal for her. I want to give her a chance but I also don't want her to suffer.  She's only two years old and that could potentially be a long life of living on pain meds. 

Cheryl, I know you are ready to take her on but I'm asking you to consider if moving her to the sanctuary is the right decision for Nala.  You and Dr. Connolly know better than I do if this is something we should be doing. Just to note - we gave her 300mg of Gabapentin and it barely made any difference in her behaviour - she was just as spicy and mobile.  I do know that animals in pain react differently to meds so I'm wondering if that may have happened in this case.

I'm sorry the news isn't better and I just want to make the right decision for Nala, she deserves it after everything she's been through."

Carla

When I sent the radiographs to Dr. Connolly for her opinion, this was her response:

‘Hi, Cheryl,

That poor cat!

She’ll never be comfortable unless she’s heavily medicated. She has severe metabolic bone disease. We don’t know how her organs are, but she may not be able to handle the stress of a move. All of her long bones are weak and bowed. Her scapulae are folded. Her spine has at least two major defects.

I cannot tell how healthy her jawbones are from these views. I am concerned about her heart, based on obvious nutritional disease. I am sorry, but my recommendation is humane euthanasia.’

Dr. Cheri Connolly

All of this information came to us the same day that Rajah, another serval in our care, passed away due to health issues stemming from his previous care.

It was overwhelming to deal with another tragic story of a serval we were trying to save and can’t.  - When is this going to end? What we see on Instagram does not convey what is truly happening to these animals. They are NOT pets and more often than not, they’re being sold to people who have NO idea how to care for them but LOVE to post images of how cool they are with their wildcat. Seeing the videos of Nala on her page, you could clearly see how damaged she was. But not her owner. She just saw a wildcat she could pose with and get more “likes” and followers.

Nala was euthanized in Canada. We knew it was the only humane option left to her, but it broke our
hearts to know that she never had a chance to live a happy, pain-free life.

It’s frustrating, tragic and we are simply sick of it. It’s too late for Nala and for Rajah, but how many more small cats will we and our fellow sanctuaries try to save before this ends? The Big Cat Public Safety Act has been passed; - it’s time to come together and stop the breeding and selling of ALL wildcats.

Posted by Cheryl Tuller in Blog
11
Feb
2023

A Visit to West Coast Game Park Safari

Visiting West Coast Game Park

An Investigative Report by Tiffany Lopez, WCR Operations manager

This past weekend me and Chris had the opportunity to drive down to Bandon, OR and go to West Coast Game Park Safari. Not to enjoy a good time or vacation but to get some important information and footage of the parks now illegal activities of exploiting big cats. Now that the Big Cat Public Safety act has passed, it is now illegal for exhibitors to allow direct contact with cubs. West Coast Game Park has continued to allow the public to interact and ‘pet and play‘ with big cat cubs along with other species at the park, so we decided to see for ourselves. 

Read More

Posted by Tiffany Lopez in Blog
21
Nov
2021

What is a Hybrid Cat?

What is a Hybrid Cat?

The Keeper Journal

Taji

Here at WildCat Ridge, we take in a number of wildcats that used to be owned as pets, including bobcats, servals and the occasional lynx. Sadly, many pet owners believe that since they're "smaller" wildcats, they make the perfect exotic house pet. This is just not true, as they come to find out, and they're quick to try and re-home these animals in places like animal sanctuaries.

In addition to servals and bobcats, we also receive a number of inquiries asking to take in hybrid cats. Hybrids are the result of breeding a wildcat with a domestic house cat; these animals are then advertised as domesticated house pets. But no matter how hard you try, you simply can't take the wild out of a wildcat, even if it's been bred with a tabby.

So what's a hybrid?

Sadly, there are a variety of hybrid cats on the pet market today, tempting owners to invest in a more exotic, larger and unique looking pet. These cats may be anywhere from a first generation (F1) hybrid where one parent was a wildcat, one a domestic cat, to an F3, where the momma cat was an F2 and the father a domestic.

The belief is that the lower the number after the F, the less wild the animal...but we all know that while you might take the cat out of the wild, there's no removing the wild out of the cat. Right, Tut?

Savannahs, bengals and chausies

We currently have three different breeds of hybrids at our animal sanctuary – savannahs, bengals and one chausie.

  • Savannah – A savannah cat is the result of breeding a domestic cat with an African serval. While the resulting animal may look as unique as Taji or more like a large house cat, such as Violet or Maxi, their behaviors will likely remain as food aggressive and potentially territorial as a wild serval's. Of course, we do have some savannahs that love some keeper attention, but they remain a force to be reckoned with during breakfast.
Zuzu and Jersey

Zuzu and Jersey, savannah cats

  • Bengals – Bengal cats are the offspring of a domestic cat and Asian Leopard cat. And while they catch the eye of many want-to-be-exotic-pet owners because of their uniquely spotted coat, bengals have an irreversible instinct to mark their territory by spraying everywhere. While there is plenty of room for all our bengals to mark their territory to their hearts content out here at WCR, it's a good reason why bengals don't belong in a home.
    Morpheus

    Morpheus, bengal cat

  • Chausie – Chausies are a mix of domestic cat and jungle cat (Felis chaus). Only one chausie calls WildCat Ridge home: our beloved Tut. Even though this boy loves cuddles from the keepers, he also loves anything that smells. We frequently find him waist deep in the poop bucket when we're trying to clean litter boxes, and his reputation for spraying on everything (keepers included!) is just one reason why chausies make highly challenging pets.
Tut

Tut, chausie cat

But no matter their quirks, we adore each of our hybrid cats and find it an important part of our mission to provide them with a comfortable forever home.

Thinking about adopting a hybrid cat?

Trust us when we say, "Think again."

Don't get us wrong, we love each and every one of our hybrids, but we also love each and every one of our tigers and we certainly aren't suggesting they make good pets. Just because an animal is beautiful, exotic or has a great personality, it does not mean that animal belongs in a house. Far from it, in fact.

In addition, many hybrid cats, because they are the product of human experimentation and do not occur naturally in the wild, are born with a number of health complications or genetic defects. This can make life uncomfortable, even painful, for the cats; scary diagnoses and large vet bills are yet another reason why many owners give up on owning hybrids, resulting in an abundance of these animals at sanctuaries like ours.

Support our hybrids, not the exotic pet market

We won't disagree, hybrids are beautiful animals (like, we're all obsessed with Morpheus). However, as long as there is a demand, breeders will continue to supply hybrids, even when a majority of these cats will likely be re-homed or need extensive medical care at some point in their lives.

You can help put a stop to this demand and provide for the wellbeing of all exotic animals by raising your voice against the exotic pet trade, adopting a sweet domestic kitty from your local human society instead or virtually adopting one of our hybrids!

And we thank you for standing with us against the private ownership and breeding of exotic wildcats.

 

 

Posted by Rebecca Siemens in Blog
26
Oct
2021

No Contact: Why We Keep Our Distance

No Contact: Why We Keep Our Distance

The Keeper Journal

Ask any of the keepers and we'll tell you one of the most common questions we get when we share our job title is, "So do you get to go in and play with the tigers?" 

To which we smile, shake our heads most emphatically and say, "No way." 

Free vs. No Contact

In animal care facilities like zoos and sanctuaries, certain methods of interacting with/administering care to the animals exist. This includes free contact care and no contact care.

Free Contact

Free contact means the keepers use nothing to restrain the animal – no leashes, muzzles, harnesses or even fences come between animal and keeper.

According to Ken Ramirez, author of Animal Training: Successful Animal Management Through Positive Reinforcement, some animal caretakers believe that "free contact is the only way to build true trust between trainer and animal. But many training programs have proved that's not true. Free contact can also be the most dangerous way to interact with wild animals because it offers little to no protection."

With free contact, you enter into the animal's enclosure; but with more territorial animals, this might feel like an invasion of territory. In addition, it challenges their dominance, meaning you, the keeper, need to establish dominance in order to determine who's in charge here – and for some animals, like tigers and lions, this isn't likely to be well received; not to mention it can be highly stressful to the animals.

Sarge

For other animals, however, free contact is neither dangerous to keepers, nor threatening to the animals. We engage with our livestock in a free contact manner, cleaning and maintaining their physical health by going into their pens with them.

Even our hybrid cats (many of whom spent time as house pets) are accustomed to us freely walking about their enclosure – that being said, we are always conscious of who does prefer to be kept at arm's length (looking at you, Sarge).

No Contact

No contact is how we work with and feed our big exotic cats, meaning there is always a locked gate and fencing between us and them. While some might see this as limiting, it is actually an effective method of training, as there’s no need to invade the territory of the animal and challenge their dominance or stress them out.

Even through the fence, we have succeeded in training many behaviors, like asking our lions and tigers to receive food by sitting calmly instead of pacing back and forth, or asking Ariel to reach up on the fence so we can get a good look at her whole body, checking for anything out of the ordinary.

“But what about cleaning?” 

Great question – when we go into the big cat pens to clean, we always make sure to either lock them out in the yard so we can safely enter their den box areas, or we lock them inside in order to pick up after them in the yards. After all, it’s much easier to focus on setting up exciting enrichment when you don’t have a 400 pound tiger following you around.

A healthy respect 

When working with exotic cats, or any wild animal for that matter, it’s vitally important to maintain a healthy respect for their wild instincts. Even if that cat has spent time living in a home as a pet, they’re still wild – sleeping on a queen sized mattress doesn’t remove their instincts – and we keepers keep that in mind. And for this reason, WildCat Ridge will always be a no contact, no pet facility.

 

 

 

Posted by Rebecca Siemens in Blog