Born
March 23, 2012
Rescued
November 26, 2019
Died
July 30, 2026
Blondie’s Story
Blondie came to call Carolina Tiger Rescue home on November 26, 2019. She, along with 12 other servals, was rescued from a backyard breeder in British Columbia, Canada. The servals were kept in RVs with no ventilation, no natural light, and unsanitary conditions. The cats were confiscated by the SPCA of British Columbia and taken to a holding facility until they were able to be rehomed to accredited sanctuaries in the United States. Blondie very quickly made it known that she preferred living alone. She enjoyed living in a quiet spot in the back of the sanctuary. She was a picky serval and made the keepers play a daily guessing game of what she wanted to eat each day.
Blondie’s Passing
August 19, 2026
Not long after Blondie arrived at the sanctuary, we knew that her care was going to be complicated and require a bit of perseverance from our animal care team. We knew pretty quickly that Blondie was going to have some gastrointestinal issues – likely from Irritable Bowel Disease. While this can be managed with medications, this is a difficult disease to to manage in a wild animal. As you might imagine, a cat that doesn’t feel great doesn’t always want to take meds and a serval isn’t going to be pilled like a house cat. We needed her to take medications willingly. Knowing that, our animal care staff were committed to being creative and patient. Medications almost always followed trying different meats and treats to see what she was interested in eating on any given day. Sadly, we knew that her life wouldn’t be as long as many of our servals. When her quality of life became compromised, we made the kindest decision to let her go.
Despite having a chronic condition, Blondie was 100% serval. She had opinions about everything and wasn’t shy about sharing her thoughts. She was always curious about who was visiting, what they brought with them, and what was going on in the sanctuary around her – even though she did appreciate being in the quieter area of the sanctuary.
Animals that have chronic conditions have a special place in our hearts. These are animals that we have had to spend more with, talked about regularly in keeper meetings, and been late leaving the sanctuary as the keepers work to them to take their daily medications. Blondie was no different. Her loss was felt by everyone, particularly those that cared for her on a daily basis.
I’m thankful to have such a dedicated group of people taking such incredible care of the animals. Whether it is freezing cold and rainy, or hot with 100% humidity, they do what they need to in order to care for the animals. I’m always humbled by the work they do, day in and day out.
With a grateful heart,
Kathryn Bertok
Assistant Director