Ginger’s Passing

July 22, 2026

We recently lost Ginger Asian Leopard Cat (ALC). She may have been one of our smallest residents, but the loss has been felt deeply.

Ginger’s passing was very unexpected. One day, keepers noticed that the ALCs hadn’t eaten as much food as normal, and the next morning, Ginger clearly didn’t feel well. She had thrown up and was acting lethargic. She was moved to her indoor enclosure so that keepers could monitor her. She showed no interest in food and continued to decline, even with injectable medications. We knew it was time to get her under anesthesia to get a better look at what was going on. We did find a broken canine tooth, which we were able to remove. Unfortunately, that was not the only problem we found while Ginger was sedated. Her bloodwork showed elevated kidney values. We woke her up knowing that we likely had limited time left but hoping that removing the problem tooth would ease some of her discomfort. Sadly, that was not the case. Ginger did not bounce back the way we had hoped, and we made the decision to euthanize her. When keepers went to bring her up to our vet center to say goodbye, they found that she had passed on her own. We sent her off for necropsy to see if we can learn anything that will help our remaining ALCs, but we are still waiting for results.

At only 6 years old, Ginger was young to have passed from kidney failure, but this is unfortunately, not uncommon with unethical breeding situations. Ginger was rescued from a breeder in Texas. The owner unexpectedly passed away while under investigation for improper care of wild cats, leaving 24 Asian Leopard Cats and 20 Bengal hybrids in need of immediate rescue. We took in three of those ALCs in the fall of 2023, Ginger, Pepper and Clove. All three of them were shy and more comfortable in a quiet off-tour enclosure where they didn’t have to see large groups of people.

Ginger was, by far, the most social of our ALCs. She was a very inquisitive little cat who liked to investigate what her keepers were doing. She was the first to come over for food and play with new enrichment. This did not detract from her wild nature though. Ginger would also chase teaser enrichment and hunt any wildlife that made the mistake of wandering near her enclosure, including opossums that were nearly the same size as her. While we respect the cautious nature of our remaining ALCs, we certainly miss seeing Ginger’s big eyes and raggedy ears running over to see if we have anything interesting for her when visiting her enclosure. These unexpected losses hit our team pretty hard, but we’re grateful that we have the opportunity to know these animals and give them the best life we can for as long as they are here.

With a heavy heart,
Kathryn Bertok
Assistant Director