NEIL ARNOLD: Curiosity Killed The Cat!

I have known Neil for fifteen years now, since he was a mod schoolboy with ambitions for adventure and I was an earnest young hippy who merely wanted to start a club for people interested in unknown animals. Nothing much has changed over the years; we are just both a tad older....

I read with interest Scottie W’s recent West Virginia Bengal cat post and thought I would share with CFZ readers a piece I wrote in January 2009 concerning two exotic-cat incidents, which occurred in Philadelphia. At the time I was writing weekly articles of weirdness for Phillyist.com.

On October 10th, 2008 it was reported that a man from southern Lancaster County (Pennsylvania) had been attacked by a large, unidentified cat at dusk, just outside his home in Quarryville. Samuel Fisher claimed that after seeing the cat, firing at it and then chasing it, he found it injured and the animal turned on him. Evidence is now lacking although neighbours claim the beast may well have been a mountain lion. Although, is it any surprise the unfortunate animal responded the way it did after being pursued for no reason? Although dismissed by wildlife authorities, the cougar may still exist on the fringes of the city of Philly and throughout Pennsylvania, despite the fact the last specimen was allegedly killed in 1874.

On November 25th in Willistown Township, Chester County, another exotic cat was fired upon. This one didn't escape. Rumour spread that the spotted cat - a serval, which is native to Africa - was killed on a farm on the Garrett Mill Road. The Pennsylvania Game Commission claimed they'd received a call from a farm manager on behalf of a smaller farm, stating that some wild cat had been attacking chickens.

According to state law, the farmer was permitted to kill the animal in order to protect his livestock and the following day WCO Scott Frederick visited the farm, took the body of the serval and transported it to the South-east Region Office in Reading.

The owner of the ‘beast’ had been identified and the ownership of the animal questioned and put under investigation.

Proof of such prowling animals is not exactly in abundance, hence the mythical status these cats, especially the cougar, have brought among themselves but tracks, fresh kills on livestock, eerie screams during the night and countless eye-witness reports seemingly point to the existence of this predator, which officials have dismissed for decades. However, during the mid-1990s a small cougar flap took place in Philly, particularly around Delaware and creeping into the suburbs of Philadelphia. Such animals, although denied, have vast territories of several hundred square miles and often live up to their reputation as being elusive, hence their nicknames 'ghost cat' and 'shadow cat.' However, one such cat was killed on the outskirts of Philly in 1967.

Further proof of such cats hit the headlines in 1996 when an animal resembling a cougar was filmed and shown on Philadelphia area television