The Sphynx cat, which doesn’t yet have a name, is about one year old and has spent weeks in the Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez under the care of animal rescue workers, after the 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.
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,” said Juarez ecology director Cesar Rene Diaz.
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.
Reuters