F1 Female Savannah

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    I want to breed these cats one day!

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    1. corvidae 75 months ago | reply

      I'm not concerned about people taking their hybrids and releasing them into the wild (although I'm certain there are nutbars that will attempt this- and probably not in Africa), I am concerned over the possible future need for captive breeding programmes to call upon privately owned servals. If the wild serval population was suddenly wiped out by some unforeseen catastrophe, we would need as many pure animals from which to repopulate the wild. The problem with domestic hybrids, is often owners have no real idea what percentage their 'hybrid' is, or even if it's a hybrid at all. This is a common problem in wolf hybrids, and if it's not already, it will be in savannahs. There have been problems of this nature amoung many animals that became extinct in the wild- they wanted to release them back into the wild, but no pure strains remained. High percentage hybrids may not survive in the wild (and didn't in the case of the Alpine ibex in Switzerland).
      If servals and cats do not readily breed, perhaps that should be a hint that they should not be bred!
      I simply do not see any real reason, beside aesthetics (=selfish) to breed such pets.

      The RSPCA, NCDL, Humane Society, IUCN (international union for conservation of nature) wolf specialist group are amoung those organisations strongly apposed to wolf hybrids, which I see as no different.

    2. Saveena (AKA LHDugger) 75 months ago | reply

      I can see your concern now.

      I think it will be a long time before we have Savannahs that are undocumented. They are just too darn expensive right now for people to be backyard breeders. It may happen sometime in the future, but there are also a lot of people who have pure Servals... not to mention breeding programs that go on now in zoos.

      If you want to go down the hybrid argument... what about mules? Why is no one opposed to mules or other equine hybrids? Or avian hybrids? Or fish hybrids? The reason is that they pose no threat to humans. Organizations are generally opposed to canid and felid hybrids because of the dangers that are inherint in the wild counterpart. And on many levels I agree with these concerns. However, I feel that the breeding of pitbulls, rottweilers and other fighting type domestic dogs poses a greater risk to the general populace than any hybrid.

      Mind you I'm not saying there is anything wrong with pitbulls, rottweillers, or any other fighting type dog. The problem lies with the people who want to own this type of dog so that they have a "mean" dog. I live with a rottweiller/chow mix that could be more dangerous than any wolf hybrid strictly for the reason that he LOOKS so domestic. He's a good dog and has never hurt anyone, but the potential is there just because of his breed.

      And I know that the danger to society isn't the only reason that hybrids are frowned upon. There are people who are purists of nature that belive we shouldn't be tampering with species.

      Everyone has an opinion and to them their opinion is correct. I don't fault anyone for wanting to keep a pure strain for future restocking purposes. On the other hand, I don't have any problems with hybrids either. OK, I'm not fond of the genetically modified veggie and grain hybrids, but that's an entirely different story. ;-)

    3. Londonist Lindsey 62 months ago | reply

      lovely shot - used to illustrate a post on londonist.com today about a UK Savannah Cat breeder. Duly credited and hooked up - many thanks!

    4. Saveena (AKA LHDugger) 62 months ago | reply

      Thank you very much!

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