A Civet Is NOT A Big Cat

 The question asked on a big cat group was whether a civet counted as a big cat or not? I am now going to start banging my head on the wall.

North Weald, Essex.

A civet is a small, lean, mostly nocturnal mammal native to tropical Asia and Africa, especially the tropical forests. The term civet applies to over a dozen different species, mostly from the family Viverridae. Most of the species's diversity is found in southeast Asia.

Above: a civet. There are many types of civet and this image is used as a visual.

The problem is that we seemed to be getting a grip of the exotics trade back in the early 2000s but then regulations were scrapped and now we have people breeding meerkats, porcupines, raccoons and raccoon dogs amongst many. Much of the trade is slightly dodgy as noted before. 

Cages and property should always be secure and often people buy thinking it will all be easy. Put some food in, clean the cage....but animals are not dumb and if they see a chance to escape they are gone. Sadly, as with a lemur shot by a farmer in the 1990s ("it looked odd") humans eventually kill escapes with guns or cars.