Life’s a breeze for the 20 African wildcats at a serval refuge in southern Alabama.

Heated, 40-foot pens replicate the savannah. The menu has ground chicken quarters, deer and organ meat. No visitors allowed.

“They like to be solitary,” said Mechel Whitaker, director of the Serval Conservation and Educational Refuge. “They don’t do well in zoos.”

Two Baltimoreans recently moved in: Tazz and Meep, serval cats who caused a stir in December after they slipped out of a Reservoir Hill rowhouse and went scampering through the Baltimore streets.

Animal Control concluded an investigation last month, levying two $500 fines against the cats’ owner, Brandon Haw. He was cited for keeping wild animals in violation of the city health code. A former professional football player, Haw, 45, admitted to possessing the cats as house pets. He has declined requests for an interview.

The Banner learned about the fines this week after filing a public information request.

State law bans selling, breeding or keeping wildcats such as servals as pets. The law also bans keeping as pets hybrids, meaning servals bred with domestic cats, that weigh more than 30 pounds.

Known in pop culture as “lap leopards,” servals are native to the savannas of sub-Saharan Africa. The cats have been popularized as exotic and exclusive house pets by TikTok videos and celebrities such as Justin Bieber.

The cats can reach 2 feet tall at the shoulder and weigh 40 pounds. They are famous for their ability to jump 10 feet or higher from a sitting position and pluck birds from the air.

When Tazz and Meep escaped, one cat went darting over porch roofs and bounded up to neighbor Zach Cusson and his dog, Freddie. Cusson’s cellphone video of the surprise encounter captured interest online. It was lightly snowing in Baltimore, not exactly the weather of servals’ native habitat. They don’t like temperatures colder than about 45 degrees.

“I could just tell from the videos he was trying to find a place to get in,” Whitaker said. “He was going door to door, trying to get in.”

A star high school football player from Prince George’s County, Haw was a three-year starter at cornerback for Rutgers University and signed a free agent contract with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2004. He went on to play in the NFL Europe league before he settled in Baltimore in 2007.

Haw said he has a neurological impairment consistent with the progressive brain disease known as CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy. The disease has been linked to repeated hits to the head and concussions. He has sued the NCAA, accusing the college athletics association of failing to take reasonable measures to protect players.

His attorney Gregg Bernstein said Haw owned the cats for several years and cares deeply about them.

“He has treated the cats well and they have provided great comfort to him as he struggles with his disability,” Bernstein said.

After their escape, the cats were captured, one by Haw and the other by Animal Control. Haw voluntarily sent them to their new home in Hartford, Alabama. Opened in 2016, the refuge takes in serval cats from owners who find themselves in over their heads attempting to house-train a wild African cat.

The serval refuge is raising money to build a new 5- to 10-acre enclosure that Whitaker hopes to stock with rabbits for the cats to hunt.

The Baltimore newcomers are adjusting well, Whitaker said. Tazz has enjoyed his newfound space and solitude. Meep prefers a cushy bed indoors.

“He will beat down the door to try and come in,” Whitaker said.