Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Nothing worth doing is easy.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” is supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

Washington Post’s Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

Motown is Joe-Town!

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you don’t.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Cat Blogging / Sorta-Respite Open Thread: ‘Cocaine Cat’

Sorta-Respite Open Thread: ‘Cocaine Cat’

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The way we live now... Per NPR:

… Unlike the movie, this story isn’t set in the 1980s — it happened earlier this year. It was only made public recently for legal reasons, explains Ray Anderson with the Cincinnati Animal Care shelter.

“Coming on the heels of the Cocaine Bear movie, we’re not surprised it has gone viral,” he told NPR via email.

The protagonist of this particular tale is a serval named Amiry.

The big cat was kept as a pet and escaped from his owner’s car during a police stop in January, according to Anderson.

That’s when Hamilton County Dog Wardens (a division of Cincinnati Animal Care) got calls about what was thought to be a leopard spotted up in a tree.

Responders were able to retrieve Amiry and bring him back to the shelter, where the medical team called in an expert (whose credentials include working on the “Tiger King” case and the Zanesville tragedy) to identify his species.

The expert suspected Amiry was actually a serval, a long-legged, big-eared wild cat that is native to sub-Saharan Africa and illegal to own in Ohio. To confirm that, the medical team took a DNA sample — and also tested him for narcotics.

Why did the shelter test Amiry for drugs in the first place? The short answer is a capuchin monkey named Neo.

Last year, local animal control seized the monkey from his Cincinnati home after a veterinarian who saw videos of him believed he had ingested Xanax and/or cocaine and was in need of medical care.

Neo tested positive for amphetamines, underwent treatment and is now “safely in an undisclosed location,” according to Anderson. His owner was indicted on animal cruelty charges.

Since then, Anderson says it’s become standard protocol for the shelter to test for narcotics for any animal that is more “exotic” than the usual household pet.

“Of course, we also test for narcotics on any dog or cat displaying behaviors that would lead us down that path,” he added. “Amiry was extremely agitated at the time he was with us, which is understandable given what he had been through that morning, but we were able to sedate and treat before transporting to the [Cincinnati] Zoo.” …

Amiry is doing “very well” there, and Anderson said the zoo is hoping he can become a member of its Cat Ambassador Program, which aims to educate visitors about the importance of wild cat predators and raise money for cheetah conservation efforts…

Amiry’s owner willingly signed Amiry over to animal authorities and has cooperated with their investigation, Anderson said, which is why they are not pursuing charges at the time.

“His owner was cooperative and paid for Amiry’s care until all ownership transfers were finalized, which is when this story went public,” Cincinnati Animal Care noted in a Facebook post on Thursday…

Poor Amiry. Some of the testing was to confirm that Amiry is not a Savannah cat, a modern domestic hybrid which is legal in some states, including Ohio. Servals have occasionally been kept as ‘pets’ since the days of the Pharaohs, but while they’re certainly appealing, I personally wouldn’t consider it a good idea!

Reader Interactions

21Comments

  3. 3.

    wonkie

    THe Wild Felid Center, about three miles from my house, is a rescue for the kind of cats that do not make good pets. Nearly all of their cats are former pets. That includes a leopard, two tigers, lots of serval cats, bob cats and so on.  I’m a volunteer at an adjacent rescue for domestic cats, but I’ve taken the tour of the Wild Felid center several times. It is just appalling how stupid people can be. And sad how many animals suffer because of their stupidity, WHo the hell ever thought a leopard would make a good pet? He’s scarier than the tigers.

  4. 4.

    Anne Laurie

    @wonkie: WHo the hell ever thought a leopard would make a good pet? He’s scarier than the tigers.

    Yes, but as a ‘lifestyle accessory’, sooo hard to top!  These days just anyone can own a tiger — consider that tacky dude from the Netflix series…

  6. 6.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    Fun fact: Servals can jump incredibly high, knocking birds in flight out of the air when hunting.  Various sites list the height attained as between 9′ – 15′ (!).

  7. 7.

    Anne Laurie

    @A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): Fun fact: Servals can jump incredibly high, knocking birds in flight out of the air when hunting. Various sites list the height attained as between 9′ – 15′ (!)

    Yup.  Even the Savannah hybrids are extraordinary jumpers — and climbers.  I’ve seen a steady trickle of ‘local news’ stories about serval/crosses leaping privacy fences & climbing out of caged enclosures their owners were sure were escape-proof… and we all know how hard it can be to contain even an ‘ordinary’ house cat who doesn’t want to be confined.

  10. 10.

    Captain C

    Servals have occasionally been kept as ‘pets’ since the days of the Pharaohs, but while they’re certainly appealing, I personally wouldn’t consider it a good idea!

    A Serval with the personality of an extremely mellow golden retriever might make a nice pet for someone with a good-sized yard.  I don’t know if such a thing is possible.

    (Bold is preemptive as I know how energetically goofy Goldens can get.  I would not want an energetically goofy big cat with pointy bits around the house.)

  13. 13.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Amir Khalid:  @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Tippi Hedren made a movie about lions called Roar

    They were encouraged to start collecting and training their own exotic beasts. Animal trainer Ron Oxley told them, “to get to know about lions, you’ve got to live with them for a while”.[This quote needs a citation] They started to raise a lion cub named Neil in their Sherman Oaks house and made sure that the animal slept in their bed.[82] Life photographer Michael Rougier documented their life in 1971 and photographed the lion with the whole family inside and outside the house, from Hedren’s daughter’s bed to the living room to the swimming pool.[83] After complaints from their neighbors, Hedren and Marshall bought a ranch outside of Los Angeles in Acton that would serve as the set for Roar. They got permission there to rescue and raise several lions, tigers, African elephants, and other exotic felines.[82][84]

    as of 2020, she still lives on that ranch/big cat preserve at age 90. Her granddaughter Dakota Johnson helps out. It’s a whole thing.

  15. 15.

    Ohio Mom

    @Betsy: He had a bad start but he’s in good hands now at the Cincinnati Zoo. I think he’ll be fine from here on out. It’s a very highly regarded zoo.

  16. 16.

    Ohio Mom

    It seems a fair trade not to charge this guy with owning an illegal animal because he gave it up so easily. It must have been an expensive purchase too. Although maybe the novelty had worn off and he was glad to get it off his hands.

    But what about the cocaine?

    All I can figure is he must be white. As a supporting argument, this took place in Oakley, which is a pretty white neighborhood.

  18. 18.

    Rugosa

    @wonkie:

     I can even see why an idiot would give tranqs to a wild animal they’re keeping as an accessory but how much more of an idiot do you have to be to either give such an animal cocaine or leave the coke where the beast can get at it?

  19. 19.

    Rugosa

    @Captain C:

     When you consider the damage a 7 lb domestic cat can do with its scimitars, I mean claws, a Serval with a temper would be downright dangerous as a pet. I suppose the Pharoahs kept them well fed.

  21. 21.

    VOR

    About a year ago I read an article which argued that we don’t really know how to build fences at zoos. We don’t know the limits of the strength of gorillas or large bears. We don’t know precisely how high some animals can jump. Enclosures are built to rules of thumb based on what seems to work, often relying on the animals to not fully test them. It was an interesting and a little troubling article.

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