Story By:  Ana Marjanovic, Sub-Editor:  Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News 

Video Credit: CEN/VGdanas

This is the moment a wild cat native to sub-Saharan Africa is filmed roaming the chilly woodlands of Croatia.

The wild cat, identified as a serval (Leptailurus serval), was filmed in the hills near the northern Croatian capital Zagreb and the footage was posted on YouTube where it has been viewed 90,000 times.

The wild cat, categorised as ‘Least Concern’ on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), is said to have a price of around 10,000 USD (7,600 GBP) on the black market.

According to local media, a serval escaped from its owner in Slovenia where it was being held in captivity before being spotted by hunters in the woods in August.

Experts believe the African cat, which is now roaming the woodland between Zagreb and Sisak in the Croatian region of Turopolje, is the same one that escaped from Slovenia and will have a hard time surviving the Croatian winter.

Servals are active in the day as well as night, and the carnivore preys on rodents, small birds, frogs, reptiles and insects.

A major threat to the species’ survival is the devastation of its natural habitat, mostly in sub-Saharan countries except for rainforest regions.

The trading of its skin still takes place in countries includes Benin and Senegal but is largely on the decline.

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