Big Cat Has Detroit Area Residents On Alert
DETROIT (WWJ/AP) - Stray dogs are a common sight in Detroit. What about a big cat?
According to reports, many residents on the city's northeast side have seen what appears to be an exotic cat, perhaps as tall as four feet, roaming the streets.
Officials with the Michigan Humane Society said they have received several calls about the animal and workers are out in the city, trying to find the feline.
Antwaun Asberry, a 6-foot-5 Detroiter, told the Detroit Free Press the cat's tail is longer than his arm.
"I was like, what the (expletive) ... I don't know what it is. I just want it gone," Asberry said. "He walked like he ain't scared of nothing... This thing is out here, bro."
Fourteen-year-old Paul Hatley said the cat, which apparently has large black spots and stripes, stared back at him when he saw it a few days ago.
"It wasn't normal," he said. "It didn't run away like a normal cat. It just stared at you. It was scary."
Officials say they aren't sure where the cat came from, or if its exotic or domesticated. The Humane Society said if the animal is found, catching and subduing it will be quite the task.
Neighborhood association leader Vondell Boyer said he and others are starting to wonder what will happen when the cat runs out of rabbits and other small animals to eat.
Just a few hours later, a second big cat siting was made in the nearby Warren area.
Cynthia Hogan lives near 13 Mile and Van Dyke she told WWJ that the cat she saw laying down in her neighbors back yard was a long as her 85 pound Doberman (Pinscher):
"My dog was barking and I looked - I thought it was a small deer - it had the spots on it, but it's head didn't look right and it didn't have the big ears," she said. "It was a large cat, it didn't look like a bobcat - I was able to see if it had the tuffs on its ears and it wasn't big like a cougar - it wasn't as meaty as a cougar ... I have no idea what this was," said Hogan.
Hogan said that when she and her dog got close to the cat it simply got up and walked toward the Red Run Drain.
RELATED: New Estimates: 50,000 Stray Dogs Roam Detroit
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