When a squad of federal and state law enforcement agents with guns and bulletproof vests entered a single-story brick home in Buffalo, New York, on July 5, 2018 they were searching for business records of a suspected criminal enterprise.
Experts trained to handle dangerous exotic cats congregated in a sunroom pungent with the odor of cat urine. Wearing blue latex gloves, the wildlife handlers carefully collected two young caracals distinguished by their long, black-tipped ear tufts; four juvenile servals, copper-colored with handsome black spots; and an adult savannah cat, a cross between a serval and a house cat. The homeowner, Christopher Casacci, 38, a short man with buzz-cut black hair, watched as the handlers hauled the cats away in plastic carriers
