Exotic cat captured in Lincoln is the talk of the town

The serval first spotted by Martin Pierce and Mary Jo Haggerty outside their door (note the domestic cat in the foreground who is not feeling welcoming). See more photos below.

(Editor’s note: see an update on Bruno here.)

Lincoln has some interesting animals on its farms and in its woods, but none so exotic as the serval cat that was captured with the help of the MSPCA and several Lincoln residents.

The saga began on December 28 when Partridge Lane resident Martin Pierce posted a photo on LincolnTalk of an unusual-looking stray cat that he and his wife Mary Jo Haggerty saw outside their front door, “looking all over the place like he wanted to come in,” Haggerty told CBSN-Boston. They called the MSPCA, which advised them to feed the car or leave food at the same time every day and call when he returned.

In the ensuring days, there was much speculation by more than a dozen residents on LincolnTalk as to the species of the animal; bobcat was ruled out early and Pierce’s neighbor Vic Saleme speculated tongue in cheek that “perhaps someone threw the ocelot out.” Eventually there was agreement that the animal was a serval — a wild animal native to sub-Saharan Africa. In North America, they can be seen only in zoos and wildlife rescue facilities (Animal Adventures in Bolton, Mass., has had one in the past, though it’s not clear whether the serval is still living there).

Nothing more was heard for a few days until January 3, when Saleme wrote the cat was back and he left some food for it (“he loves Tyson chicken nuggets,”) he wrote. More than a dozen residents pitched in on LincolnTalk with referrals and suggestions for how to trap the animal.

The next day, he was spotted again by Saleme and Deerhaven Road resident Khinlei Myint-U, and two MSPCA staff members with a humane trap rushed out to Lincoln. Earlier that day, Saleme captured a video of the animal that’s now on the MSPCA-Angell’s Memorial Hospital’s Facebook page (the organization also posted the story of his capture on Instagram).

“I drove up and he was just sitting in the driveway. I couldn’t believe how lucky we got,” Alyssa Krieger, Community Outreach Manager at MSPCA Boston, told NBC 10 Boston. She and a helper were able to catch the serval after attracting him with a little bowl of Meow Mix (which she held in a hand gloved in a bite-proof gauntlet). He bolted into Pierce’s garage and she was able to grab him using a thick blanket before putting him into a cage and loading him into their van.

“I think he was just, like, ‘I’m so cold! I’m from Africa!’” Krieger told NBC 10. The cat, which has been nicknamed Bruno, was quite the media star — he was also the subject of a piece on WCVB-TV , WJAR-NBC 10 in Providence, R.I., and articles in the MetroWest Daily News and its associated papers as well as Boston.com, which also has Saleme’s video.

After Bruno was taken to Angell Memorial in Boston, veterinarians found he was about a year old and was quite thin, weighing only 19 pounds (healthy adult servals weigh 20-40 pounds. One of his back legs had been broken in two places some time ago, possibly from being hit by a car. Staff will evaluate his quality of life and pain level to to see if he can continue to manage as is, or if he would be more comfortable if the leg were amputated.

Krieger speculated that Bruno was an escapee from a home where someone was keeping him illegally as a pet to breed Savannah cats. It’s therefore highly unlikely that the owner will be identified.

The MSPCA will work with the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife to find Bruno a permanent home in a zoo or sanctuary once he’s ready. in the meantime, since the organization is nonprofit, they set up an online fund for people to donate toward his medical care. Anything raised beyond the cost of his care will be used to treat homeless animals or to support financial aid for those who need it at Angell Memorial.