DNR: Midtown Cat Can't Be a Pet

ATLANTA -- A wild cat captured in Midtown Atlanta Thursday morning is a male serval, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources said.

The animal was originally identified as an ocelot by officials with Fulton County Animal Control. Officials with the DNR said the two breeds are extremely similar, but that the animal appears to be a serval.

The serval is a wild cat, native to Africa. Servals are not permitted to be kept as pets in homes in the state of Georgia. The animals may be kept on permitted wildlife preserves or public facilities.

The animal is expected to be transfered to the DNR. The DNR will place the animal in an appropriate facility.

The spotting of the serval, named Ozzy, caused a stir in the 11Alive Information Center early Thursday morning, with viewers calling about a possible leopard in the Midtown Atlanta area. One look at the 30-pound spotted cat and it was hard to call it anything else. But that's where the mystery began.

It turns out that the serval ran off two days earlier while under the supervision of his caretaker. The rare cat's owners were out of town, Fulton County Animal Control officials said.

Ozzy was finally captured kicking and clawing by Animal Control workers after astonished onlookers saw what some thought to be a leopard near the Georgia Tech campus.

"We were driving right across 14th street when we saw what looked like a wild cat," said Nassar al-Haroun. "We got a little closer and we saw the spots on it and we said, 'Okay, that's a wild cat.' We stopped the car and we stuck our heads out the window and we just stared at it for awhile. We just couldn't believe that it was just a wild cat in Atlanta."

After an extensive hunt, officers were finally able to get the struggling cat into its truck for a transport to the Animal Control shelter.

"He's pretty docile right now. He's in defense mode. He's scared. He's in new surroundings, but for the most part he's pretty cool," said Jason Slaughter of Fulton County Animal Control.

It turned out Ozzy was not far from his home and was basically hiding in the bushes close to his own backyard when he was spotted.

The cat was spotted near the Georgia Public Television Station at 14th and Holly Streets around 1 a.m. Thursday morning. When Fulton County Animal Control officials arrived on the scene, they said it was not a leopard, but, at the time, had no idea what it was.

Several Atlanta Police officers helped the animal control officers catch the feline. Since airing the video Thursday morning, 11Alive received several calls on the cat conundrum.