Are you fur-real? Cougar scare just a big house cat

Savannahs can grow up to 55 cm long

It's a bit of a funny tail. Some Vancouver residents got a scare Wednesday when they thought they saw a cougar wandering the streets of the Shaughnessy neighbourhood.

The sighting — extremely rare for the city but not for the suburbs like Port Moody or Coquitlam — prompted several calls to Vancouver police.

But it turns out it was just a big house cat. Police said it was a Savannah cat, which is a house pet that can grow up to 55 centimetres long.

Claw-enforcement stepped in, corralled the kitty cat, and returned it to its owner.

ASHLEY FRASER/ FILES Savannahs like Timone, at left, can grow up to 55 cm long. One similar to Timone was mistaken by residents on Wednesday as a cougar.