No Owner Steps Forward For Exotic Cat

The exotic cat has a new home near Grand Rapids at Boulder Ridge Wild Life Park — a place that's already planning to hold a contest to give it a name.

An owner failed to claim the 35-pound African serval within the four days under law and Livingston County Animal Control worked with state and USDA officials to find the animal a suitable home, said Debbie Oberle, animal control director. She said the county picked the park because of its track record over individuals who said they had experience with servals.

"This place was licensed by the USDA," Oberle said in an email to Hartland Patch. "It had to go to someone that was licensed and inspected to be sure they could care for a big cat. So more than just experience was needed."

Oberle said the park was the most interested and was willing to take care of the animal immediately — something that was necessary because the county animal shelter isn't equipped for exotic cats and the animal wasn't doing well.

Rick DeRidder of Boulder Ridge said the cat had diarrhea, was bleeding from the mouth and emacated, but has since improved since arriving, where there are two other servals. He said the park is planning a naming contest on its Facebook page with the winner receiving a pass to the park.

DeRidder, who goes by Rick "the reptile guy," said the facility is not a typical zoo with 80 acres that's designed more like the wild. It has only one small walkway with a bird aviary, petting zoo and reptile house. Guided tours are necessary to see most of the park. The park, which is in Alto, is opening daily to the public for the first time in its 20 years Saturday.

"We have more of a natural setting," he said. "We have tons of room here."

DeRidder said the animal, which animal control believed to be a female although he says it could be a male, is not domesticated, either, and that wild servals are solitary animals. He said the typical domesticated serval breed is a Savannah cat — which is the offspring of a serval and a domestic cat. This cat, he said, is not a Savannah, describing it as "pretty aggressive" and dangerous.

"This was a cat you couldn't put him in the house," he said.

But the decision to send the cat to a zoo is not without its critics. Some Hartland Patch users commented on the original story about the animal by advocating for an experienced private serval cat owner to get the animal, instead.

"A zoo would not be able to provide the type of lifestyle that this particular serval has had," said Sara Comstock, president of the Serval Conservation Organization and in PA. "I can guarantee you, without a shadow of a doubt, that once in a zoo, this serval would be forgotten, only to see a caretaker twice a day to be fed."