Sand Cat: America's Invisible Zoo Animal

Arizona Docent

Arizona Docent

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15+ year member
Regulars on this site know that I am a wild cat fanatic and often travel to find obscure small cats. Sand cats, though not present in large numbers, are present in several zoos in the USA. However the public does not have access to a lot of these.

Phoenix Zoo opened a new exhibit a couple years ago, but it is only visible up close in an event building that is only open for special events. A portion of the outdoor section is visible from a distance, but I have never seen the cats out there. The Living Desert Zoo recently removed their small animal cages and now their sand cats are kept off exhibit. San Diego Safari Park recently started working with the species, but also in an off exhibit area. EFBC's Feline Conservation Center was the only breeder for several years, but their sand cats are all kept off exhibit. El Paso Zoo (which did have them on exhibit) no longer holds the species.

This begs the question, where can Americans actually see sand cats? Not many places. Here are the few I know of (gleaned from posts on the Sand Cat SSP Facebook page). They appear to be indoor exhibits (except Hawk Creek), which I personally am not a fan of, but at least you can see them. Does anyone know of others?

Birmingham Zoo
Buffalo Zoo
Chattanooga Zoo
Cincinnati Zoo
Erie Zoo
Hawk Creek Wildlife Center
Kansas City Zoo
Lincoln Children's Zoo
North Carolina Zoo
Utah's Hogle Zoo

And coming in 2022: Reid Park Zoo (my local, very excited)
 
Rosamond Gifford zoo had them. They replaced Fennec foxes in 2008. When I went to the website to check if they were still there. They are not on the mammal list but Fennec foxes are back on the list so I think they are no longer there.
 
pachyderm pro said:
I believe you mean the black-footed cats in the Deserts Edge exhibit. There haven't been sand cats at Brookfield any time as of late, but Lincoln Park held the species until the last year or two.
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Ah okay, thanks @pachyderm pro. I get both those two zoos and two species mixed up regularly.

Where were the sand cats in the zoo? And what replaced them?
 
In the US I have only ever seen this species at Chattanooga, Cincinnati, and Living Desert (off-show now as you posted). Outside of the US I have seen them on-exhibit at four zoos: Berlin Zoo, Exmoor, Jihlava, and Magdeburg. They do not seem to be an overly common species all around.

Interestingly I have seen Sand Cats listed for sale recently in the US pet trade.

~Thylo
 
They're very easy to see in the side-by-side exhibits in the small mammal house at the Smithsonian National Zoo. Last time I got there just after they were given some mice, so I got to watch them play, stalk, etc.
 

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I remember sand cats at San Antonio in the 1990s, along with some other American zoo rarities like pacarana and aardwolf. Any idea when they stopped having them there?
 
I have a picture of a sand cat in Lincoln Park zoo back from 2016.
 

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A male Sand Cat named Newman just went on exhibit at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. He is housed in Nairobi Village, adjacent to the Black Footed Cat (where the Fennec Foxes used to be). I’m excited to go visit him, as I’ve never seen this species before!
 
Edit to my original post: Reid Park will not get them in 2022 as they are going with fishing cats instead (just as good in my book). Interestingly I was told sand cats are now available from breeders in the private sector (non-AZA) which I found surprising. I know EFBC Rosamond (the only breeder for a few years) is ZAA and not AZA, but I didn't know of any others outside AZA.
 
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