Wanted: A new home for a one-of-a-kind feline in Mexico.
The Sphynx cat, which doesn't yet have a name, is about 1 year old and has spent weeks in the Mexican city of Juarez under the care of animal rescue workers after police found him in a prison, where it suffered mistreatment at the hands of a criminal gang.
Gang members even tattooed the cat's furless skin.
Though several kinds of Sphynx cat breeds exist, the distinctive mutation that causes their hairlessness is rarely occurring in nature. The breed has been mainly bred by humans since 1960 to serve as companions or for their aesthetic appeal to certain customers.
The cat's tattoos decorate both sides of its slender, grey body, and include the phrase "Made in Mexico."
Authorities say they are now looking for the right family to take the cat, which is not for sale, into their home.
"The cat is very sociable, and is in great shape, with no infections," Cesar Rene Diaz, ecology director for the city of Juarez, told Reuters.
A committee of city authorities will make the final decision about the adoption before presenting the cat to its new family in a ceremony on March 1.