In the South African port city of Port Elizabeth, a dock worker was in for a surprise when he entered the workplace restroom.
To his astonishment, he found a huddled furball nestled inside, seemingly still. But just as he approached, it let out a sudden growl…
This unexpected encounter occurred in August 2023, during a brief break from the dock worker’s duties. As he entered the restroom, he was met with a startling sight behind the toilet: an unidentified furball.
The sight sent a chill down his spine, leaving him momentarily frozen in disbelief.
The only thing he could see was fur. But suddenly, it started growling. That’s when the worker realized what it was – a wild caracal.
The caracal looks a lot like a lynx, but they are actually not closely related. A caracal can grow to about 65 centimeters long and weigh up to 20 kilograms, primarily living south of the Sahara Desert.
In a panic, the man slammed the door shut and immediately called for help, which arrived in the form of Arnold Slabbert, who works in the region rescuing wild animals.
In suburban areas, sightings of caracals are relatively rare. While they are adaptable and can sometimes venture into human settlements in search of food, they typically avoid heavily populated areas.
Slabbert is accustomed to rescuing wild animals that have found themselves in trouble but had never before had to rescue a caracal.
“There’s tons of containers and big ships there, so it’s the last place you would expect to find a caracal or a lynx hanging around,” Slabbert told The Dodo. “The fact that she didn’t get run over or killed in that initial run through the port, which is active 24/7, is quite amazing.”
Most likely, the poor caracal had been chased by people and fled down to the port.
After a lot of maneuvering and tinkering, Slabbert managed to capture the caracal and enclose her in a cage.
“The caracal took up a fair amount of space inside that toilet,” Slabbert said. “No one was prepared to go in there and take a picture.”
Less than half an hour later, Slabbert could release the caracal back into the wild, where she belongs. She was transported to the protected lands of Port of Ngqura.
There, the gentle creature could once again embrace her natural habitat, frolicking amidst lush vegetation and indulging in her favorite foods.
“She was pretty nervous,” Slabbert explained. “You could see that she was very confused as to where she was exactly.”
Nevertheless, the beautiful creature let out an ecstatic screech – almost like she was thanking her rescuers for saving her.
