My name is Chet.  I raise exotic animals as a living; I have a special license that allows me to do this.  I have lions, tigers, a cheetah, and my newest acquisition, a serval, which I got only about a month ago.

Servals come from Africa.  They are a medium sized wild cat with tawny fur marked with solid-black spots all over (like a small cheetah or leaopard), big, amber-to-brown colored eyes, a keen sense of sight, hearing, and smell, long, slender legs, and big, rounded ears.  They are efficient hunters, thanks to their keen eyesight and hearing, and can leap upwards to 10 feet into the air vertically and 13 feet horizontally.  They are beautiful.

Kigali came into my life from another man who could no longer care for her; he knew I took in abandoned or abused exotic animals to raise and rehabilitate; therefore, he said that maybe I could care for Kigali.  I gladly accepted the offer.  Kigali has been in my life ever since.

Kigali is a rather friendly cat in nature, but since she is a wild animal, I have chosen not to become too close.  I want her to retain her wild ways; to acclimatize her to the human way of life would only threaten her and/or her species.  She has plenty of room to run around and I feed her a regular diet of lizards, birds, insects, frogs, rodents, and small mammals such as mice, gerbils, or hamsters.  I know she can probably turn on me on a dime so I have learned to establish boundaries with her and respect her intuitions.

Kigali can be rather affectionate and loving in nature, but she only does it with me.  When others come to see her, I have her on her leash at all times; I don't want her attacking other people, possibly injuring them badly with her sharp claws and teeth.  She is incredibly fast and can sneak up on a person when they least expect it.

I am with Kigali at all times, as well as with my other cats, to ensure people's safety when they visit.  I have people who help me; that way, I don't have all the responsibility resting solely on my own shoulders.

I have to keep telling people that even though she is my pet, it is not a good idea to have wild cats to own as a pet unless you have a license to raise them; you have to know the animal inside and out, frontways and backwards.  Their moods are so unpredictable and as a person who works with these wild cats, I don't want to have a lawsuit on my hands lest something were to happen.

Well, Kigali is chirping sweetly; she must be rising to greet the day.  Lazy thing; she slept in this morning!  I will write in here another day with another Kigali update; I am sure you would like to know how she is faring in her new home.  Hopefully she will continue to recover from her past and maybe I can loan her out to a zoo, where I am sure she would be much happier in the long run.  That is the goal, but right now, my main job is to rehabilitate her.