'Cougar' spotted in Vancouver neighbourhood was actually a large house cat: police
Police were called to a Vancouver neighbourhood for reports of a cougar sighting in the area. What they found was something else.
The Vancouver Police Department told CTV News Wednesday that officers were called to the Shaughnessy area Wednesday because of the sighting.
They searched the area the tip came from.
The "cougar" was seen near the intersections of two major streets, Granville and King Edward, a location not far from multiple schools.
They did manage to find the feline, but it wasn't a cougar after all. What they found, Const. Tania Visintin said, was a house cat.
To give some credit to the caller or callers, the cat wasn't an average size. It was a Savannah cat, a cross between a domestic cat and an African wildcat known as a serval.
Savannahs are among the largest domestic cats in the world, and have spots and stripes like the wildcat it shares some genes with.
According to a breed profile by pet food company Purina, these cats can grow up to 25 pounds and are sold for up to $25,000, though if the litter is not first-generation, the kittens sell for much less.
They can be trained to walk on a leash and play fetch, like a dog, but still have "strong hunting instincts," and the company advises against keeping them in homes with smaller pets.
Their heights vary, but Savannah cats can grow up to 43 centimetres tall.
They are much smaller than cougars, but given the wildlife in Metro Vancouver – no African wildcats, of course, but occasional bobcat, lynx or cougar sighting – it's understandable how the leap was made.
Video captured of the cat and sent to CTV News shows a tall feline shaped more like a wildcat than a traditional cat as it walks and runs. Its gait is more what an observer would expect to see of a wild animal than a house cat as well.
Police said they were able to capture the cat and bring it home, and added that there was no risk to the public.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
For the first time in report's history, Canada's air quality worse than U.S.
Air quality in Canada is now worse than in the U.S., according to the 6th Annual World Air Quality Report. Of the 15 most polluted cities in the two countries, 14 were in Canada.
A newspaper says video of Prince William and Kate should halt royal rumour mill. That's a tall order
Prince William and his wife Catherine have been filmed at a farm shop near their Windsor home, The Sun newspaper reported -- the first footage of Kate since she had abdominal surgery for an unspecified condition two months ago.
BREAKING Roy McMurtry, former Ontario attorney general, dies at 91
CTV News has confirmed that former Ontario attorney general Roy McMurtry has died.
Hertz CEO out following electric car 'horror show'
The company, which announced in January it was selling 20,000 of the electric vehicles in its fleet, or about a third of the EVs it owned, is now replacing the CEO who helped build up that fleet, giving it the company’s fifth boss in just four years.
'You ask for your money, they disappear': Ontario man loses $17K to AI crypto scam
A Toronto man is spreading the word of a cryptocurrency scam that lures victims using AI-generated news sites after he lost $17,000 in investments.
DEVELOPING Canada's annual inflation rate ticked down to 2.8 per cent in February, defying expectations
Statistics Canada says the annual inflation rate edged down to 2.8 per cent in February.
High thoughts: The habits of Canadian cannabis users are revealed in a new StatCan report
Statistics Canada has conducted a series of surveys to measure the impacts of legalized cannabis since the Cannabis Act took effect in 2018. The latest one, the 2023 National Cannabis Survey, sheds light on users' preferences and habits last year.
Demand soars for solar eclipse glasses in Canada. Are they worth buying?
The demand for total solar eclipse glasses used to safely view the rare celestial event has been ramping up as sellers, along with astronomy and eye-care experts in Canada, warn that viewing the eclipse with the naked eye is dangerous.
Trump says Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and their religion
Former U.S. president Donald Trump on Monday charged that Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and hate 'their religion,' igniting a firestorm of criticism from the White House and Jewish leaders.