A large, rare and endangered cat captured in a Chicago suburb now has a 'purr-fect' home in a Wisconsin sanctuary

 

SHARON, Wis. (CBS 58) -- It was 7:15 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 15, and Christine Jenkins was starting to make her morning coffee. 

But when she looked out of the window in her quiet Hoffman Estates neighborhood, what she saw staring back at her was something she never imagined.

"I'm like, Oh my God, it's right there!" Jenkins told CBS 58's Ellie Nakamoto-White. 

A tan, large cat with long ears perched atop its head had scurried its way onto her deck -- but it didn't look like the typical housecats in the northwestern Chicago suburb.

"Well, on the weekend, I saw on Facebook and on the Nextdoor app that there was this caracal in our neighborhood, and I had never even heard of it. I had to read about what it was," Jenkins recalled. 

The caracal is a rare and internationally protected endangered feline that is native to Africa and Asia. As for how it got to Illinois? That remains a mystery.

"I told my husband, take a picture and call 911," Jenkins said. 

Minutes later, Hoffman Estates police and local animal control arrived on scene.

"They were very quick, and they followed it, and it ended up going underneath another neighbor's deck," Jenkins said, noting it took hours to capture.

"They pulled it out by its neck, and they had the cage ready, dropped it in the cage," Jenkins said. "It was kind of nutty. For probably 20 to 30 seconds, running, you know, thrashing all around the cage, and then it settled down."

When the cat was rescued, many in the neighborhood wondered, where would it go?

"We got a call from Hoffman Estates Police Department asking if we would accept a caracal," said Jill Carnegie, the owner and founder of Valley of the Kings Sanctuary and Retreat in Sharon, Wisconsin. “People here in the States breed them. They generally have to have a USDA license to own them. In many states they have to be county or city approved to own them.”

Carnegie and her team packed up the car and drove to rescue the animal, which she lovingly named "Kabokey."

“She’s a little baby, she still has her baby teeth," Carnegie said. “Our vet saw her yesterday and he said she looks super healthy, so it looks like we’re all good.”

Kabokey is now in a quarantined room for the next month or so, as she acclimates to her new surroundings.

“So, all we can see is basically just a couple ears and sometimes a little face," Carnegie said. “She’s going to be fine; she’s calmed down a lot, she ate her dinner last night.”

When she's more comfortable, Kabokey will eventually move into a larger enclosure on the sanctuary's property.

“My 51 years that I’ve been doing this, I treat them definitely like family," Carnegie said. “All of their needs are met. Food, friends, and toys. And when you’re in the hospital, what do you look forward to, right? Visitors, food, and TVs. So, it’s basically the same. You treat them as if they’re furry people.”