Blog: Mark 18 March to stand up for servals!

Lawrence Bates, CEO of the Wildheart Animal Sanctuary, writes for BIAZA about the success of the survival campaign so far and what’s left to do to stand up for cat welfare…

On March 18th this year, we have even more reason to celebrate World Serval Day as DEFRA have now recommended the banning of the hybridisation of Servals with domestic cats, as well as the import of hybrid cats, into the UK.

Savannah cats, are created through the forced breeding of a Serval with a domestic cat, with the offspring fetching thousands of pounds.  Coveted by celebrities, they have generated a huge fanbase on social media, leading to ever increasing numbers being kept as pets across Europe.

This practice is barbaric and wholly unacceptable in modern day Britain for a number of reasons.  Firstly, Servals and domestic cats are 2 species that do not naturally want to mate, so they are often forced into a confined area where there is little choice for the female. With Servals being 3 times the size of a domestic cat, mating can lead to injury or even death of the domestic cat, especially as the process is repeated multiple times to ensure success.

Even if the mating is successful, differing gestational periods between the 2 species leads to miscarriages, still births, dystocia and malformed offspring.

Secondly, breeding leads to a whole new generation of animals that are not fully domesticated and can therefore suffer from inadequate welfare standards when kept as pets. 

Being closely related to their wild forebears Savannahs retain many wild characteristics and behaviours which makes them unsuitable in a domestic setting. These issues include an increased threat to native species, a fact which has led to the banning of these cats in other countries.  In addition, they are aggressive and more prone to attacking family members, other pets and neighbouring animals and they will also spray significantly more than normal domestic breeds, which leads to distressing situations for the cat and owner.

For these reasons there is an epidemic of Savannah cats being abandoned or sent to rescue organisations across Europe, who have reported that they are overwhelmed by the demand.

In 2021, The Wildheart Animal Sanctuary launched World Serval Day, to shine a spotlight on the issues, raising public awareness and asking people to do 3 simple things;-

1. Don’t buy a hybrid cat, such as a savannah as a pet
2. Don’t like or share social media posts containing Savannah cats
3. Don’t buy cats or kittens online, especially from social media sites

Thanks to the tremendous support of BIAZA collections and other NGO’s, World Serval Day has grown rapidly to an audience of millions globally.

This attention led to DEFRA undertaking a research study throughout 2024, focusing on the welfare issues surrounding this trade.  They concluded that the welfare of these animals could not be adequately met in a domestic setting and recommended 2 key actions to government;-

1. Legislation should be enacted banning any further deliberate breeding of domestic cats with any non-domestic felid species, or breeding with first two generation hybrid cats (F1 and F2)
2. Legislation should be enacted banning the importation of any domestic wild cat hybrids, with the exception of low hybrid generations of Bengal cats (generation F5 or later)

This is a tremendous step forward for the campaign, so Wildheart are heading back to parliament this World Serval Day to now meet with MP’s and ask them to back these recommendations into law.

You can get involved too, by sharing a post or story about your Servals on World Serval Day this March 18th, helping to raise awareness with public and encouraging your MP’s to back the ban.

More information can be found at https://wildheartanimalsanctuary.org/world-serval-day/

- Lawrence Bates, CEO of the Wildheart Trust Sanctuary

All blogs reflect the views of their author and are not necessarily a reflection of BIAZA's positions