Weird cat-like creatures found in South Africa in 2017. What were they?

Back in January 2017 it was reported that bizarre cat-like creatures had been found behind a cupboard in a home in north-western South Africa. The photograph shows us that they are indeed bizarre-looking. But what is equally bizarre, for me, is that there was no follow-up story telling us more about these creatures. Sometimes I believe that they were a prank. A photo-editing exercise to jazz up the news on a quiet day. You know how people are taken in my stories of weird creatures.

Weird cat-like creatures found behind cupboard in South Africa. Image in public domain.

Were they domestic cats bred by somebody in the home? They might be a hybrid cat which looks a bit like an Oriental Shorthair. The very slender body and large ears points to the fact that they were Oriental Shorthair siblings but that's a wild guess.

The news media described them as 'half-rat, half-cat' creatures. I guess I can go along with that description. In the photograph they appear to be wet and black. What is sad is that when they were discovered 4 of them were killed immediately and the remaining 2 were taken to the SPCA to be investigated. They believe that they were an unusual cat breed but they didn't report back to the public via news media.

And to kill 4 of the 6 is ridiculous. It was obviously done out of fear and ignorance. But they were living creatures and I presume they were sentience animals and therefore you don't just kill them because you're frightened. You do your best to do the right thing which is to gently investigate and protect them if you can.

It's a very mysterious story which needs to be cleared up. The point is though that the world does not produce weird and wonderful new creatures that have never been seen before. Perhaps, you might find a weird creature in the deep darkness of the ocean which has never been seen before. But you don't find an animal behind your cupboard in South Africa that is entirely new to the world! Therefore, this is an animal that already exists and it does not look like a rat but it looks more like a cat.

The best guess is that these were young, black, Oriental Shorthair cats or an example of clever photoshopping. If anybody has information about this find, please write a comment to enlighten the world!