Article about half-exotic cat breeding and animal groups against it : Animal groups petition to restrict hybrid half-exotic cats as housepets | 89.3 KPCC
This is one of the most ridiculous articles I have ever seen. It is the typical smoke screen that animal rights extremists put out to dupe the public. They list a series of hypothetical problems that have no basis in reality. “The threat of hybrid cats that are released or abandoned, that can then breed with feral cats is a very severe threat,” said Lutz. Do you really think that someone who pays two thousand dollars for an exotic pet is just going to release or abandon it? Yea, just like Los Angeles has a problem because the streets are clogged with abandoned Porsches that the owners got tired of driving. The petition states that the pets pose a potential health risk to humans as well, citing that no known rabies vaccine exists for the cats. Of course there are no known cases of exotic cat breeds having rabies, but I suppose this is besides the point. Just use scare tactics regardless of whether or not they are based in fact. People with these expensive cats do NOT let them roam around outside where they can come into contact with rabid wild animals. Lutz said that homeowners who tire of their exotic pets have difficulty finding places to take them, increasing the risk of abandonment. He said that many shelters refuse to accept the hybrids and that many end up in big cat sanctuaries. Again, no basis in reality. I have been to several exotic cat rescue shelters and the only time I have ever seen a hybrid (first generation bengal) was because that facility had bred it on premises. I take it back, I did see a liger someplace, but of course that had nothing to do with small cats for the pet trade being discussed here.
Arizona Docent makes many great points. Exotic pets getting released into the wild and becoming a threat to local environment usually just happens with small, inexpensive animals like little reptiles and birds. It's not usually an issue with expensive animals. Yeah, it does happen, I've seen pricey purebred cats and dogs get abandoned on the streets, but not usually at super high rates. And even if they do get abandoned enough to become an invasive species... I'm curious, is a hybrid cat really going to be much more of a threat than a feral domestic cat? Even if they would be, unless they were being abandoned in MASSIVE quantities, the serval blood would get diluted pretty quickly. It's not uncommon for difficult to care for exotic pets to get abandoned, buuuut I don't see why that's a reason to ban the animal from private homes altogether. Normal domesticated cats and dogs get abandoned all the time. It happens especially a lot when a fad brings a breed into temporary style, or when a breed is purchased for superficial reasons and the new owners forgot to do any research on said breed. I see it a lot with huskies, for instance. People love 'em cause they look like wolves, but they're certainly not for first-time dog owners. During the purse dog fad, tons of chihuahuas were purchased and then abandoned. It would've been silly to suggest banning the breeding of chihuahuas because lots were being abandoned.
As far as I know (and can find on Google) Savannah cats (domestic x serval) are banned in Australia. The reason was that they are larger than a domestic cat and could hunt larger, native prey if they became feral. Having said that, Bengal cats are readily available in Oz already.
