The caretakers of the Siberian Lynx on Wednesday downplayed the attack in the Buckhead kennel, but the 911 call showed a terrorized woman who was the target of it while feeding the cat.
A friend of the victim, Rachel Hightower, called Atlanta 911 shortly after the attack at noon Tuesday. The friend, who had come along for the feeding at the state-licensed kennel, said she didn’t see the attack, which reportedly resulted in minor injuries, but she was there for the aftermath.
“The next thing I know she is down on the ground and she is screaming,” the friend told the 911 operator. “It was a Siberian Lynx and it was attacking her and it cut her head open and she’s bleeding a lot.”
The friend, identified only as McKenzie, spent time comforting the 21-year-old Hightower as they waited on paramedics to arrive at the Paces Valley Road home.
The lynx was one of several African Asian and American wildcats at a private kennel. Caretaker Dave Laws, who said he normally feeds the animals, blamed the frightening experience on human error. Hightower should have not entered the cage when feeding the critters, he said.
“It was just just minor scratches – no stitches,” Laws, who was in Nashville Tuesday, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Wednesday. “It was a very brief incident. The cat never left his enclosed area….The neighborhood was not threatened.”
Laws assurances to the neighborhood are understandable. Neighbors have voiced concerns about the caracals, servals and lynxes — both Eurasian and American — that are bred at the private kennel, said Lt. Wayne Hubbard who handles licenses for such facilities for the state Department of Natural Resources.
“If it was out in the middle of Wilkes County, nobody would care but being where it is can cause a little problem,” he said. “If the municipality allows it and the facility is suitable, then we’ll license it.”
State laws don’t require animal handlers to be certified as long as the owner is licensed, Hubbard said. The licensed owner, Fred Boyajian, owns nine exotic cats — four Siberian lynx, one Canadian lynx, two African servals and two caracals also known as the desert lynx and native to Africa and Asia, according to DNR records.
Laws didn’t understand why Hightower had entered the cage because he said she had been there before during feedings.
Attempts to reach Hightower for comment Wednesday were unsuccessful. But on the tape, the shaken woman can be heard taking responsibility for the accident; she told police the adult lynx attacked after she entered the cage.
Atlanta Officer J. Latosky wrote in his report that when he arrived “Ms. Hightower was sitting on a brick wall and had blood all over her head, arms and t-shirt” being treated by paramedics.
The wildcats were a source of drama after a series of escapes a decade ago. Boyajian has been licensed by DNR to raise exotic cats for more than three decades.
In December 2007, the City of Atlanta cited his exotic cat breeding operation for code violations because he did not have a business license and a municipal judge fined Boyajian $1,000 and ordered the removal of the cats, prompting DNR to withdraw his “Wild Animal” license, according to court papers.
In 2009, Boyajian sued in Superior Court, stating the city ordinance was unconstitutionally vague, he wasn’t in a money-making enterprise and the city had never required a business license since he started breeding in 1977. The city zoning department also had approved the kennel design when he moved to the residence in 1994, the lawsuit said.
In 2009, Boyajian was the sole licensed breeder of wild cats in Atlanta except for the Atlanta Zoo, the lawsuit noted.
On his web site, Boyajian explains he sells cats to other breeders and exhibitors and his cats are generational — none are removed from the wild. Laws said breeding helps sustain the species in case it becomes threatened.
“They are not house pets,” Boyajian said on the website. “Although they can be very loving, they can also inadvertently be destructive and dangerous. We will not sell them to inexperienced owners, without permits, or for use as house pets.”
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