Cha Cha
(Deceased Jungle Cat)

Wildlife on Easy Street 2001

"Cha Cha came to Easy Street on 12/5/99 with Rambo.  She was bred by Sandra Cassalia.  Her owner had sent her to live with her daughter who died unexpectedly and her primary caregiver became the 12 year old grand daughter.  She and her relatives agreed that they did not want to see Cha Cha exploited as part of a hybridization breeding plan for profit and asked if she could come live on Easy Street.  Here she has a 900 square foot Cat-A-Tat with tunnels, grasses, hills, bushes, trees and flowers.  She is not as friendly as Rambo, but we have seen her cattitude improve daily with lots of love and space to be a cat."

Big Cat Rescue (present)

"Cha Cha came to Big Cat Rescue on 12/5/99 with Rambo. She was bred for the pet trade. Her owner had sent her to live with her daughter who died unexpectedly and her primary caregiver became the 12 year old grand daughter. She and her relatives agreed that they did not want to see Cha Cha exploited as part of a hybridization breeding plan for profit and asked if she could come live at Big Cat Rescue. Here she has a 900 square foot Cat-A-Tat with tunnels, grasses, hills, bushes, trees and flowers. She is not as friendly as Rambo, but we have seen her cattitude improve daily with lots of love and space to be a cat. Cha Cha can be quite deceiving with her small build and cute fluffy face. One of the ways she likes to entertain herself is to lie on her back with her paws spread out into the air coaxing keepers close to say hello, but when they get near, she will leap to her feet and charge the side of her enclosure hissing and spitting. Once she has startled her observer, she will then go back to her alluring position to await her next victim. In order to develop a more positive relationship between Cha Cha and her keepers, she is participating in the operant training program. This is one of her favorite times of the day."  

The Rest of The Story

We spoke to the breeder of Rambo, and this is what she had to say:

"I was the breeder of Rambo the jungle cat, that is the only part of Carole's story that is true. I sold Rambo to a lady in the Clewiston area who bred jungle hybrids. She had Rambo about 3 years when her daughter died suddenly and left an 11 year old girl for her to raise. The grandmother had her hands full and decided she was no longer going to breed. She found Carole through a pet shop owner she did business with and sold her the cat, along with her female jungle cat named Cha Cha who was bred by Sandy Cassalia.

Carole wrote a biography for Rambo saying I had sold an 11 year old girl a jungle cat and how dangerous it was. I had to have a lawyer write her a letter and I had my usda paperwork to prove the cat had been sold long before the granddaughter came into the picture.

Once I went to purchase some servals from Carole and she had a bunch of bengals in with jungle cats at Easy Street. Who knows, Carole may have used Rambo for breeding too!"

Carole could have been breeding Cha Cha with one of her other cats because she was already trying to breed two of her jungle cats together. She was trying to breed her female jungle cat named Shaniqua and her male jungle cat Tarzan with no success.

Shaniqua
"Shaniqua was purchased at an auction in September 1994. She was tame and was kept in the house for a long time, but Jungle Cats are hyperactive and she kept hitting her head on the ceiling fan. We were afraid she would kill herself and so we found her a mate and gave her an outdoor run.  She has been breeding Tarzan for years but has never conceived."

Tarzan
"Tarzan came to Easy Street in the Spring of 1995. We swapped another male Jungle Cat for him. His owner had purchased him for the purpose of breeding hybrids, but Tarzan hated domestic cats. He loves to eat and he adores Shaniqua. They have been breeding for years, but have never produced any offspring."

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