The mystery of an exotic cat on the loose has ended with a fatal pickup truck collision on Vancouver Island.
A serval cat had escaped its Sooke home on Saturday, its second bid for freedom since this summer, reported The Province. Servals are from Africa but have been domesticated in Canada.
A photo of the exotic pet strolling down a residential street made the rounds of social media on the weekend.
But the cat named Samson met an untimely end when it was apparently hit by a truck on Sunday.
“I ran over this exotic serval cat last night,” Peter Henry posted to Facebook Monday afternoon along with a photo of the lifeless cat. “Kinda shocking when it jumped out in front of the truck!”
Serval cats can be good pets, Doug Nelson of Purrfound Cattery told Global News, but need to be controlled on a harness if they go outside.
Nelson, who owns four servals himself, sells them for about $7,500 with tracking collars.
"You [cannot] leave them run free outside at any time, not even in your back yard. They are not a dog and they will run into the woods and not come back," says Nelson's website.
The tall and slender servals can weigh 20-40 pounds and reach 40 inches in length. They generally eat small prey, like rodents, fish, and birds.
Don Brown, chief bylaw officer with the Capital Regional District, said servals generally pose no danger to humans, reported the Times Colonist.
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