Tribute to Zoul the Serval

3/1/1997- 10/29/2011 Arrived at Big Cat Rescue 4/29/2011

Zoul let us know, as most do, that something was terribly wrong when he stopped eating. We took him to the vet for testing and found that he had moderate to severe kidney disease, fluid in his lungs, and one of the worst cases of spondylosis the vet had seen. Yet, he had shown no signs of this painful and debilitating condition. Zoul was not able to wake up from the sedation, despite the heroic efforts of his caregivers, and sadly passed away in his sleep. Though he only lived here with us at Big Cat Rescue for 6 months, we had all grown to love him and will miss him.

ZOUL'S RESCUE STORY

A woman in NY was battling cancer, her sister had run off leaving her with her three children ages 6-17 and her home was in foreclosure…. she also had five servals living in her basement!

She would never be able to rent an apartment to keep her five servals and was left no choice but to try and find them a new home. After careful consideration, we decided that we were able to rescue the 5 servals and immediately went into action. All the servals currently at the sanctuary live alone, which they prefer as they’re solitary by nature, so in order to house 5 servals in one enclosure we had to get creative. We joined two existing enclosures together which made one huge 3000 sq ft space that the servals could roam around in and enjoy.

On top of joining the enclosures together, we added platforms, den boxes, hideaway areas and we were told they had a waterfall as kittens and loved it, so we also added a pool! We received the import permits, loaded the van with carriers and equipment then started on the long drive to New York while others finished preparing the enclosure.

We arrived in Cohoes, New York, just north of Albany, to a typical residential neighborhood. The 5 servals had been kept in the basement of the house which had been converted into a living room and, except for a few escapes over the years including an incident where one of the owners was bit and hospitalized for a week, they’d never spent any time outside. There were 4 males, Santino, Doodles, Zoul and Zimba and 1 female Zouletta, all 5 had been declawed and were between the ages of 12 and 14 years.

All the servals, except for Doodles, are related and had been purchased from a pet store in Latham NY, Doodles was added to the serval pack at a later date and ironically belonged to a man in Florida whose wife told him to choose between her and the cat!

It was a kind of a bizarre and an uneasy experience to walk into the basement area and see the 5 servals hanging out in front of the fire, by the TV and on top of the hot tub! It is hard to imagine that these cats spent much time out of their concrete floored cell because the furniture and hot tub cover were not chewed and these five love to chew! But most of all it was just sad to see these 5 wild cats in such cramped unnatural conditions. The owners obviously loved the cats and had planned on them being a part of their life, they’d constructed a caged area with a drain in the floor so they could clean more easily and shut them off into the area when they had company or weren’t in the house. The cats weren’t living in filthy conditions, it was obvious they’d been fed as they all looked overweight, the owners recounted stories of them playing on pool tables and with their air hockey game, but it didn’t change the fact that their ignorance had led to the cats living on concrete in these dungeon like settings for over a decade….

Of course, life has lots of surprises and circumstances change and the owners are now unable to afford or house the servals any longer…

So the rescue began…

With the help of the owners, we managed to get four of the five servals into the carriers quite easily, but Doodles wasn’t impressed with these strangers invading his territory and wouldn’t go into the carrier even after we tried using food to lure him in, so he had to be netted. Sedating cats is always the last resort, certain cats can react badly to the drugs, so we never do this unless it’s absolutely necessary…

With all 5 servals safely loaded into the BCR van and the last tearful goodbyes said, we began our long drive back to Tampa. We drove straight through the night and over 20 hours later arrived back at the sanctuary! More staff members were waiting to help unload the cats. We weighed all the servals on the way to their new enclosure, they weighed between 31 and 42lbs. Ideally, they should have weighed between 20 and 30lbs.

We lined the carriers up and prepared them so we could simply unlatch the doors when we were out of the enclosure. Santino, easily recognizable with his old injury of a broken ear, was the first to emerge from the carriers and explore. One by one, the other servals finally began to follow his lead and introduced themselves to the outside world and their new home. - Jamie Veronica

I've been writing my story since I was able to write, but when the media goes to share it, they only choose the parts that fit their idea of what will generate views. If I'm going to share my story, it should be the whole story. The titles are the dates things happened. If you have any interest in who I really am please start at the beginning of this playlist: http://savethecats.org/

I know there will be people who take things out of context and try to use them to validate their own misconception, but you have access to the whole story. My hope is that others will recognize themselves in my words and have the strength to do what is right for themselves and our shared planet.

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