Oakley, Ohio - The Ohioan authorities were called in for a wild rescue: a serval with cocaine in its system needed to be fished out of a tree. The poor animal is now recovering at the Cincinnati Zoo.

As Fox 19 reported, the big cat was in its owner's car when he got arrested back in January.

But the terrified serval jumped from the vehicle and climbed up a tree, in a desperate search for was safety.

Unsure how to proceed, the police called Cincinnati Animal CARE to help them get the "cat" out of the tree.

Cats Cat's tragic secret uncovered by X-ray – how could he live like that?

"They weren't sure what they were dealing with," Ray Anderson of the Cincinnati animal care facility was quoted as saying, with authorities initially thinking it was a leopard.

Servals are native to sub-Saharan Africa and can be three times bigger than your average house cat. They can jump seven feet in the air and can be ferocious.

Getting the scared 30-pound serval out of the tree was no easy feat.

"Obviously, the cat didn’t want to get out of the tree... and our officers were working really hard to make sure they didn’t lose the cat in the process," Anderson said.

The rescue was successful, but the poor creature did end up suffering a broken leg.

Dogs Dog misbehaves until owner pulls out the big guns: "I'm gonna tell Grandma!"

The serval is now being cared for by the Cincinnati Zoo medial team. They were the ones who ran the toxicology report with a surprising result: "Positive for cocaine."

No one is entirely sure exactly how the drug ended up in the serval's system, but for now, a full recovery is all that matters.

"He’s doing well, and the next step will be for our Cat Ambassador Program team to work with him and determine if he’s a good fit to be an ambassador animal. He will likely be behind the scenes for a while," the zoo said in a statement cited by Fox 19,.