The big cat that had spooked residents in a tough neighborhood on Detroit's East Side in recent weeks and attracted national attention is dead, the Free Press reports today, confirming partial reports in other media outlets.
According to a story by Tammy Stables Battaglia, "The body of 'Chum,' a 25-pound, 3-year-old Savannah cat, was found in a trash can on Detroit’s east side Monday evening, said Laura Wilhelm-Bruzek, founder of Paws for the Cause feral cat rescue based in Chesterfield Township.
"A neighbor near Joann and Bringard, just south of 8 Mile, shot the cat days ago, she added. The all-volunteer non-profit cat rescue and advocates for feral cats had been searching for the cat since Saturday."
The cat’s owners, who live in nearby Eastpointe, called the group on Monday, Wilhelm-Bruzek told the Free Press. They said the cat, which was not micro chipped, had accidentally escaped about a month ago through a window. They are devastated at their cat's fate.
WDIV-TV anchor Devin Scillian first reported the cat's death on the station's 11 p.m. news Monday, but provided no details.
For the last month, residents of the neighborhood around Joann and Bringard -- near E. 8 Mile and Schoenherr -- have reported seeing an animal up to four feet tall and as long as big dog prowling the streets. Local reports of the big-cat sightings made national news in the past few days. On Tuesday morning, the Today show reported the story, with the hosts marveling over a photo of the cat.
There had been no reports the cat harmed or menaced anyone.
Experts speculated the animal could be a Savannah cat, a hybrid breed that is a cross between an African serval and a domestic house cat.
Neighborhood resident Paul Hatley told the Free Press last week he ran into the animal recently and the encounter left him unhinged.
“It wasn’t normal,” said Hatley, 14. “It didn’t run away like normal cat. It just stared at you. . . . It was scary.”
Joann and Bringard is also a violent neighborhood for humans. The neighborhood sits in Zip Code 48205, which George Hunter and Mike Wilkinson reported a year ago in the Detroit News is the city's most murderous:
"At least 38 people were shot and eight died from the first day of summer, June 21, to Aug. 21, in the 48205 ZIP code, a 6.5-square-mile slice of the city north of Coleman A. Young International Airport roughly bordered by Eight Mile, Hoover, Conner and Kelly.
"That's more shootings and deaths than any other ZIP code in the city, according to a Detroit News analysis of crime data provided by police. The neighborhood of 44,000 residents accounts for 6 percent of the city's population, but was home to 15 percent of its murders and 13 percent of its shooting victims."
