Our Radio Room received an unusual call of a young cheetah or leopard trapped between a stone wall and wire fence on the outskirts of a town. To add to the confusion, blurry images sent by the owner of the compound showed an animal with white and black stripes, features belonging to neither of those species.

When our rangers arrived at the scene the mystery was soon solved.  The trapped animal was a serval, a seldom-seen species of cat found across much of Sub-Saharan Africa that specializes in hunting birds and rodents.

Together with a team from the Kenya Wildlife Service, the serval was captured, put in a bag, and taken a short distance to the Kimana Sanctuary, whose long grass plains are an ideal new home.

Elsewhere in Kenya, this animal would likely have been killed on sight, but because of our close relationships with communities, we were the first port of call. And with ranger teams spread across the ecosystem, we can respond quickly to incidents like this one, ensuring a safe and beneficial outcome for people and wildlife alike.

: Joshua Clay