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EXOTIC SAVANNAH CAT BANNED FROM AUSTRALIA
By News Desk | August 18, 2008
Well, it’s official, if you want an exotic Savannah cat you cant own one in Australia. The Federal Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, banned the introduction of the Savannah cat into Australia claiming that it poses a grave threat to the biodiversity and environment. Garrett used his power under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Acts 1999 to change the title of domestic cat to banning any cat with genes deriving from the Serval, which is an African wildcat. During the public commenting period there was a total of 549 submissions and of those 526 were against the addition of the Savannah cat to their country. Feral cats are already a problem enough for Australia and if the Savannah was introduced and got into the wild to reproduce it could have devastating affects. The Savannah cat is two to four times bigger than a normal cat and has some passed on instincts from the Serval, which poses it as an even bigger risk. I being an owner of an exotic cat, the Bengal, which is a hybrid of a domestic cat and an Asian Leopard, would like to defend the Savannah cat but find it hard considering over in Australia they do not have the predators that could control an issue of them producing in the wild and becoming feral. In American we do have larger predators and most of our feral cat issues are not related to an exotic breed. Even though I would enjoy being the one to stand and fight for fellow exotic cats, I believe Australia made the right decision for their environment.
Story By: Cortney Smith
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