Cleveland police confirmed Monday that officers responded to a call in the Central neighborhood Sunday night that alleged a cheetah was on the loose. (The call was conveyed on the NE Ohio Scanner Twitter account and became a mini viral sensation.)
But according to police and Cleveland’s Division of Animal Care & Control (ACC), the creature was merely a large house cat, thought to be a “Savannah Cat.“
A Cleveland Police spokeswoman told Scene that ACC spoke with a caller, who said they sometimes saw the cat on a leash being walked by its owner. The breed was not known, but ACC believed it to be a large domestic cat.
As such, neither the police nor ACC took custody of the animal. Those fearing a sequel to the Zanesville exotic animal escape of 2011 can rest easy.
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This article appears in Jun 15-28, 2022.
