It never gets boring in Nairobi…! Our caretaker (the one responsible to look after the house and to open the front gate) told me this morning when I was just about to leave the premises that there is a leopard in the trap and that he is going to kill it!! (Note: I had put a human trap outside of the house in search of my missing cat). Phew ..it was still early and I really had a hard time staying serious…the trap is about the size of a cat carrier box. Not sure how a leopard could fit in there but hey….it might just be a matter of perspective…
I went to have a closer look and saw a tiny cute little cat-like animal which indeed had a leopard pattern. It was very shy and I could easily tell it was still a kitten or cub. I thought I knew quite a bit about wildlife but this species I could not immediately identify. One thing though I was sure off…it was not a leopard ! 🙂
My caretaker was obviously very scared and still in killing mood. To calm him down I told him that it might be a rare species and that killing wild animals would be illegal and if he did so he could land in prison. He agreed that he didn’t want to land in prison and said that it is better if it goes to the museum instead 😉
I called the Kenya Wildlife Service to get advice as I wasn’t sure if it was an orphaned kitten that needed help. It turned out that it was a Genet cat of around 8 weeks and the advice was to let it go, which I did.
Not only did our caretaker make my day I am also very grateful to live in an area with frequent exotic wildlife spottings besides the proximity to Nairobi.
(Sidenote: Genet cats are not cats but they are related to the cat family. They are widely distributed throughout Africa and parts of Middle East and Southern Europe)
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