When the Tatzenhilfe animal protection association in Kassel, Germany, received the call, it seemed like an ordinary mission.
The reaction was from a wild animal
The man who asked for their help reported that he found a kitten running free in his garden and caught it. But the kitten's reaction alarmed him.
Animal rights activist Vanessa Mara Pauluzzi said that the cat "reacted in an unusually aggressive way when it was caught", so much so that it is not explained how the man managed to get the animal into the carrier.
Daniela Klimsa, Tatzenhilfe's president, also looked at the animal. The feline was so tiny, not even the size of a hand but it was suprisingly very combative. She immediately noticed that it was by no means an ordinary abandoned stray cat!
It was a wild cat
In fact, the kitten was a wild cat, a strictly protected species, who was about nine weeks old.
"The kitten had a muzzle and ears different from a normal domestic cat, a thicker tail, and also its behaviour was very atypical for a common cat," explains Daniela.
By law, he shouldn't even have been caught. He is now in a wild animal sanctuary in Thuringia, where he can live in a protected outdoor space.
