Imagine for a moment that the UK was breeding wild wolves with poodles and selling their hybrid puppies on the internet. Sound a bit ‘off ’ for a nation of animal-lovers aspiring to be world leaders in animal welfare? Yet here we are in the 21st century with a growing legal trade in breeding exotic wild cats with domestics to create ‘trophy’ pets.
What are Savannah cats?
Savannah cats are a cross between a serval (a wild felid found in Africa) and a domestic cat. They sell for vast sums of money, but owning such an animal comes with a host of challenges that can result in harm to children, native wildlife, and to the cats themselves.
The story of the savannah cat started back in 1986, in Pennsylvania, USA, when a male serval bred with a domestic Siamese.
Bengals and chausies, the equivalent hybrids of leopard and jungle cats respectively, were already on the scene by this time. However, it wasn’t until 2001 that The International Cat Association formally adopted the savannah breed, enabling it to be exhibited at shows and to compete against domestic breeds. This sparked a surge in the keeping and breeding of these animals, which now fetch up to £20,000 for a first generation (F1) kitten. The ‘F’ (filial) number indicates how many generations an individual is from its original serval parent.
What are servals?
For anyone not familiar with servals, they are undeniably exquisite felines. Lean and long in the leg, they sport a composite, honey-coloured coat of black spots morphing into stripes that lead up to their crowning glory – a pair of fennec-fox-like ears.
Servals are shy, medium-sized cats that favour the grassland and marsh habitats of their home in sub-Saharan Africa, where they prey on an assortment of amphibians, reptiles, rodents and birds. They’ve been known to take down larger prey, such as impalas, and even the odd flamingo. As successful generalist predators, they’re adaptive and unfussy when it comes to including new species in their diet. Their impressive kill-rate of 50 per cent is twice that of the lions that share their landscape and five times that of a domestic cat.
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Protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendix II, servals are not currently endangered in the wild, but they’re certainly not problem-free. Their territories are being anthropogenically degraded, causing a decline in available prey.
They’re also poached for their body parts, which are highly valued by the medicinal trade, and their skins are sold in local markets. At the moment, wild servals are not targeted for the savannah pet trade, but if demand rises above supply, it’s possible they could be in the future.
Can people have servals as pets?
It’s not hard to imagine why people might fantasise about forming a relationship with an exotic animal resembling a juvenile cheetah with super-sized ears. Back in Tutankhamen’s time, servals were considered sacred and consequently whisked from the wild to accessorise the homes of high-ranking Egyptians.
Thousands of years on and servals are still coveted as pets, but here in the UK, a Dangerous Wild Animal Licence (DWA), which is issued by local authorities, is required to own one.
Is it legal for people to own a savannah cat in UK?
This licence is also a prerequisite for ownership of an F1 savannah cat, but from F2 onwards (cats with a serval grandparent) no such restrictions exist.
“The purpose of the DWA is to regulate those species that are judged to be particularly dangerous to the public should they escape,” says a Defra spokesperson. “It was considered that F2 and F3 savannah cats, as predominantly domestic cats, were no more dangerous than other common pets.”
Across the Atlantic, in 2019, pop star Justin Bieber allegedly paid US$35,000 (£28,000) for two sibling F1 savannahs, named Tuna and Sushi. They soon started popping up on his Instagram feed which, at the last count, had 233 million followers. Meanwhile, another savannah cat known as Stryker has clocked up 6.3 million likes.
Savannah cats are synonymous with aspirational lifestyles and the social media age is catapulting them into worrying territory. Several digital platforms, from Facebook to Instagram, allow posts offering F1 and F2 kittens for sale, and with a more affordable price tag of £1,000–£2,000, lower generation savannahs are making tracks into UK homes too. Quantifying the scale of the trade is challenging because it’s unregulated, but according to Born Free, there were 64 servals and 65 savannah cats living in the UK in 2020 (and 38 bengal cats).
A significant number of these individuals are being held in captivity for commercial breeding, with female domestic cats forced to mate with male servals up to twice their weight. Due to the biological discrepancy in the average gestation periods of domestic females (63 days) versus serval females (74 days), F1 litters are hard to produce, with premature birth a significant issue.
Of those that survive into adulthood, the females are fertile but males are typically sterile until the third or fourth generations. So, the breeding process itself is wasteful and begs the question of what happens to all of the F1 male savannahs that cannot contribute to the trade. These individuals may live to 20 years old and must be kept locked up to comply with DWA licencing – which, in turn, opens up the debate as to whether zoo- standard enclosures, which are not currently a legislative requirement, should be considered.
Is a Savannah cat a good pet?
Aside from the inherent welfare implications involved in producing a savannah, there is the issue of how to psychologically cater for a confused cat that is neither one thing nor the other, with one paw in the wild camp and the other in the domestic. These unfortunate hybrids invariably find themselves cooped up in apartments and houses, their natural hunting instincts triggered by the slightest stimuli.
Some people may recollect the case of armed police being summoned to ‘Billionaires Row’ in Hampstead, London, in 2020, when a savannah cat escaped, causing panic in the neighbourhood. Justin Bieber’s wife, Hailey, referred to their cats as “psycho”; he, stating the obvious, described them as “half wild”.
And that’s the point. These are not just high-maintenance moggies, they’re altogether different animals. Energetically hardwired, they need a lot more stimulation, enrichment and attention than the average cat. When allowed to roam, they are often accused of terrorising neighbourhood pets, so the only answer is often round-the-clock confinement.
“It can be extremely difficult to meet the needs of a savannah cat,” says RSPCA scientific officer Evangeline Button. “Providing an environment that meets the needs of these large animals is likely to prove extremely difficult, particularly in the average family home. Animals should only be kept in captivity if good welfare can be assured.”
Do savannah cats threaten and endanger wildlife?
And what about the danger to our native species? In 2008, Australia took the preventative action of banning all savannah cats of any generation following research that flagged up potential threats to their wildlife. In the USA, it is illegal to own F1 to F3 savannah cats in 12 states. Knowing that our resident domestic cats alone kill millions of birds every year, not to mention other bite-sized mammals, reptiles and amphibians, and given the prolific status of the serval as a hunter, there are increasing calls to follow in the Aussie’s footsteps.
Our Invasive Alien Species Order (2019) comprises 30 ‘alien’ animals, including coatis, racoons and New Zealand flatworms, that could, given the chance, thrive in the Britain and wreak havoc on our biodiversity. Given the savannah cat’s propensity to hunt and kill, perhaps it belongs on this list.
2023 might be the moment for some sort of change, as Defra is due to reassess the Animal Welfare Regulations 2018, a set of rules developed to “help improve welfare standards across a range of activities involving animals that are licensed by local authorities”.
“The 2018 regulations are due to be reviewed five years after they came into force (2023) and so this will be an appropriate time to re-examine the standards and associated guidance, and consider any changes,” said a Defra spokesperson. “During this review, we will consider whether there is a need to introduce licencing arrangements for cat breeders, including restrictions on the breeding of certain types of cats.”
In January, The Wildheart Trust, which has more than 40 years’ experience caring for exotic cats, provided refuge to two servals at its sanctuary on the Isle of Wight. Brothers Tafkap and Xirus had been smuggled out of the Czech Republic to France where they were being kept illegally as pets. Living in a bathroom and bedroom, they were suffering from malnutrition when they were discovered by the authorities. Both had deformed bones and Xirus had a broken leg. They received treatment at Animal Advocacy and Protection (AAP), a Dutch wildlife sanctuary, before making the journey here.
2,000 per cent increase in surrendered exotic cats such as servals and savannahs has recently been reported by AAP and the European trajectory as a whole is, unsurprisingly, upward. This trend has no doubt been escalated by the general surge in cat ownership during the pandemic – welfare charity Cats Protection cites that in the UK 800,000 cats were acquired for reasons directly linked to Covid-19. Predictably, the online savannah community chatter indicates that the boom of the past few years is already showing signs of doom. Stressed owners now returning to work can’t cope with their feline home-wreckers, can’t find the veterinary care they need, can’t risk them being left unsupervised with their child, dog or cat, and are struggling to see any alternative but to relinquish responsibility of them.
But where to? Zoos don’t want savannahs, as they’re only part-wild, and our over- burdened pet rescue charities aren’t set up for them either, because they’re only part domestic. Many unwanted savannah cats may simply find themselves with nowhere to go.
It’s not too late to avoid this looming welfare, conservation and ethical catastrophe, but success will depend on how we regard and treat cats with direct links to the wild.
Charlotte Corney is founder and trustee of The Wildheart Trust and Animal Sanctuary, where exotic and big cats are offered lifelong refuge
Main image: Savannah cat / Credit: Getty Images