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"The death of an exotic African animal that was struck by a car on a major thoroughfare in Roseville has sparked a controversy over pet ownership.The animal, named Portia, was a 14-year-old African serval that lived both outside and inside the home of a Roseville woman, who kept her as a beloved pet.On July 2, Portia jumped over the home's back gate and lived in the woods for seven weeks, until she was struck dead by a car on Sierra College Boulevard.\"I've had her for 14 years,\" Portia's owner told KCRA 3 on Friday.In an exclusive phone interview with KCRA 3, the cat's owner asked to be identified only by her first name, Ann.Owning an African serval is illegal in California, unless you have a permit, something Ann admitted she did not have.\"She's an indoor/outdoor cat. I've had my fences reinforced. It's very safe,\" Ann said. \"She sleeps on the bed just like a normal house cat.\"\u00A0But Portia was more than just a house cat, according to Ann.After jumping the backyard gate, the cat lived by herself for seven weeks in the wild.\"She was seen by many joggers,\" Ann explained. \"They would call and see her laying in the grass and she was very happy. And I'd run out and try to get her and she'd be gone.\"On Aug. 19, Portia was struck by a car and killed, her body sprawled by the side of Sierra College Boulevard.Ann was devastated, but wild animal experts told KCRA 3 they were not surprised by what happened.Keeping an African serval can be very challenging, because their nature is to attack or to flee, according to Dr. Jackie Gai, an exotic-animal veterinarian.\"They're not good domestic pets because they're not good domestic animals,\" Gai told KCRA 3. \"These are wild animals with instincts. They are potentially dangerous to people and to little children.\"Gai works with the Performing Animal Welfare Society, located in Galt, where an African serval named Paka lives in an outdoor metal enclosure.Paka is kept away from humans, but Gai said she does get calls from desperate owners who need help with their African servals.\"In order for me to see them, I actually have to anesthetize these animals to get my hands on them,\" she said. \"They're not cute and cuddly. You can't just pick them up. You can't do a physical exam like you can with your pet cat. I actually have to use a dart gun to immobilize them.\"But Portia's owner, Ann, said her African serval was domesticated and housebroken.\"This was my beloved pet,\" she said. \"She was not in an enclosure and out growling and biting people. I mean that's just not their thing.\"But Janice Clark, the animal sanctuary manager at PAWS, told KCRA 3, \"These animals are very dangerous and should never be disrespected in that way. And because they are dangerous, you can't ever predict what they're going to do.\"It's easy to find African servals for sale on the Internet. They may look cute in the pictures, especially when they are young, but they can grow to be 35 pounds.Keeping them in a home can be risky for both the animals and the owners, who could face fines and penalties.Animal experts told KCRA 3 that if people really want to have an animal at home, it's far better to adopt a rescue dog or cat because they are fully domesticated and make nice pets.Adopting such animals, they say, will probably help save their lives, too.\u00A0"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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