HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. (WLS) – A potentially dangerous prowler in a Chicago suburb neighborhood was finally captured Tuesday, only this suspect happens to be a rare, endangered large cat.
A caracal was captured by Hoffman Estates police after prowling the neighborhood near Hilldale Golf Club.
“The moment I saw it, I thought to myself, I have no idea what that is. It’s not normal,” homeowner Jan Hoffman-Rau said.
Hoffman-Rau owns the home officers surrounded just after 8 a.m. Tuesday.
One of her neighbors called police after spotting the animal on their back patio.
The cat retreated under Hoffman-Rau’s deck as police closed in and eventually, the officers used a tranquilizer rifle to sedate the animal.
“This is a first for us. It’s nice that the neighborhood doesn’t have to worry about a cat,” said Deputy Chief James Thomas, with the Hoffman Estates Police Department. “Everybody can walk their dogs and continue their daily life.”
It took about a dozen officers more than two hours to finally corner this felonious feline. But once they did, it was all over.
The cat is now in custody and headed to the Valley of the Kings Sanctuary and Retreat, a sanctuary for exotic animals in Wisconsin.”
“It’s a very young cat. I would say probably eight months to a year old is all,” Jill Carnegie, a representative for the sanctuary said. “So it has to be someone’s pet that they had and let go. They’re not pets.”
Carnegie drove for more than an hour to pick up the cat. She said it’s fortunate for neighbors and the caracal that it was caught.
“They can kill a small child. They can kill your cats. They can kill your dogs,” she said. “And usually as they grow and if they’re aggressive, people can’t handle them and so they dump them.”
Instead, the caracal capture has a perfect outcome.
“A happy ending. Yes. It’s gone out from underneath my deck,” Hoffman-Rau said.
Caracals are native to Asia and Africa.
It is legal to own them as pets in some states, but South Carolina, Idaho and Iowa all require the owners to have a permit.
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