Second serval sighting reported in Greenbank

Published 5:00 am Saturday, April 7, 2007

Wild cat seen near Keystone Ferry Terminal

MUTINY BAY — Debra Walen thought she was seeing things.

She knows there aren’t “wild” cats on Whidbey Island, but that’s just what she saw this week while driving to the Keystone-Port Townsend ferry: a cat stalking prey in the cattails near the road to the ferry.

“It was too big to be a house cat,” said the Freeland woman. “It was a serval.”

Walen’s glimpse of the elusive cat was the second in little over a week in the Greenbank area. Walen suspects that someone might be searching for the serval.

“I know darn well there aren’t wild cats on the island, so it has to be someone’s pet,” Walen said.

Merritt Clifton also saw a serval early one morning last week in Greenbank.

Both Clifton and Walen know exotic cats. Clifton is publisher of “Animal People,” a newspaper devoted to animal rights and welfare worldwide, and he’s an experienced animal tracker, as well. Walen happens to have two exotic cats of her own, and one is bred from a serval.

Her two exotic breeds are both bred from domestic houses cats; a savannah, named Teke, is bred from a serval and a Bengal, named Zsazsu, is bred from an Asian leopard.

“I recognized the wild cat right away. There is no doubt in my mind that it is a serval,” she said.

Walen said servals are very distinctive with long necks, small heads and oversized, oval ears. Servals have coats marked with black spots, freckles and stripes. In proportion to its body, servals have the longest legs in the feline family.

“That’s why I was so startled when I saw the serval,” she said.

Walen’s cats are about a third the size of their wild ancestors, about 8 to 10 pounds. “They are affectionate and mild mannered,” she said.

“They are fourth generation, so their great-grandmothers were domestic cats bred with wild cats,” she said.

Savannahs are smaller and more manageable than servals. But Walen said neither cat is the right animal for the casual pet owner.

Both cats are extremely active, intelligent and curious. They are independent, yet mild-tempered, much like a house cat.

“The savannah is a chewer. We don’t have a problem with her scratching the furniture, but she does chew and she is a climber,” she said.

Walen said Teke, the savannah, scales to the top of the kitchen cupboards and bookcases.

Walen pointed to a mat by the front door of her Mutiny Bay home that Teke had already started to work on.

“That’s fairly new and she has already started chewing off the corner,” she said.

Walen keeps her cats indoors.

“They are fairly well behaved and a lot of fun around the house,” she said.

“They retrieve like a dog and follow me everywhere,” she said.

Gayle Saran can be reached at 221-5300 or gsaran@southwhidbeyrecord.com.