The following information is from a British veterinarian who also breeds Bengal cats. He hoped to import a Savannah cat from the US to breed in the UK.  As a vet he thought this would be an relatively simple matter. However, there is a lot of red tapeand several agencies and Government departments involved - none of who seem willing to speak with each other to resolve apparent conflicts in the law relating to cats carrying wild blood.

After about a week of various phone calls, DEFRA (Dept of Farming and Rural Affairs) eventually said it was acceptable to import a Savannah as long as it was F2 or more - i.e. the wild ancestor was grandparent, not parent. The PETS section of DEFRA said that as the cat was effectively a domestic cat it could be imported under the PETS scheme to allow the quarantine period to be spent in the breeders home in the US. This all sounded encouraging so the would-be importer contacted the breeders who told him that it was simply a matter of getting a CITES permit as all cats with wild blood in them had to have one.

The British breeder went back to DEFRA who sent me to their CITES section who said it was no problem; the cat itself wasn't an endangered species and it just required a CITES import licence. He checked with PETS again with this new information and they thought it would be okay, although the CITES and PETS schemes are separate and seemed proud that they didn't communicate with each other.

At the last minute he received a call from the Dangerous Animals Act section who appeared from nowhere to announce that any animal with wild blood of any F generation requires a wildlife local permit meaning it must be kept in secure premises with double cages, etc. This act, they said, also applies to all Bengal cats. They did mention that it was under review, but that could mean anything! If a breeder wants to keep foundation stock (a full blooded wild cat) then this must be kept in accordance with wild animal legislation - but Bengals and Savannahs are not full-blooded wild cats.

He phoned the Bengal club with this information and was told that something had been going on for the last year and it was true that they were trying to include all 15,000 British Bengals in the act. The club thought that nothing would come of it but didn't rate a British breeder's chances of importing a Savannah in the foreseeable future. This would also apply to Chausies, the various "Lynx" breeds (bobcat hybrids), Machbagral etc. There is a danger that it might be applied to breeds which were once reputed to have Bobcat blood, even if those claims have later been dismissed or withdrawn.

From experience this person (and myself also) know that the Bengals have a gentle disposition and are carefully bred to maintain that temperament. The Savannah is bred to have a similar temperament and received favourable reports from breeders in the USA and also in Germany.  However this does not seem to have any bearing.  In fact, there are feral (domestic-gone-wild) cats in Britain which are far more wild and some domestics and ferals in Scotland which may have a higher percentage of wild blood due to interbreed with Scottish Wild Cats!

The only thing out of all this is that if anyone wants to get information from the UK authorities, one has to check and double check with the same departments several times before you get to the correct information. In short, the bureacracy is a mess, the various authorities don't fully understand that that the hybrids are a long way removed from a wild animal and are fully domestic cats and no-one seems in any hurry to sort any of this out! My own personal experience suggests that the various bodies think that the issue will go away if they procrastinate for long enough!

With regard to Savannahs and other hybrid cats, the official response from DEFRA mid 2003 states:

DEFRA still don't seem able to get their facts right - the Savannah is a hybrid with the Serval; the Bengal cat is a domestic breed more than 5 generations removed from the Asian Leopard Cat. DEFRA currently consider the Savannah to be wild, not domesticated, despite its breed-statuslisting in recent cat encyclopaedias. Despite this, one F3 Savannah has apparenlty been imported into the UK, possibly the importer simply documented it as a domestic cat with no details of the hybrid ancestry.

As the situation now stands (2006), the responsibility lies with the importer's Local Authority to stipulate which generation is domestic and which require wild animal licences. This was most recently tested with the Savannah breed in the UK. Most consider the F4 generation onwards to be domestic, Previously some breeders imported F3 hybrids as domestics. Owners of F2 hybrids require a wild animal licence. Breeders working with F1 or wild species require appropriate licences and accommodation for their cats.

It should be stressed that the hybrid breeds are several generations removed from a wild ancestor, just as modern domestic cats are many generations removed from the ancestral wild ancestor. Despite alarmist articles, tabloid scare stories and urban myth, the later generation hybrid breeds are no wilder than any other domestic cat - in fact many of the hybrids are bred with good temperament in mind. Those tales of £100,000 Bengals which are 90% wild cat and must be kept caged do the breeds a disservice - they are not strictly Bengals, but are foundation cats used in breeding Bengals (and most Bengals do not cost tens of thousands of pounds; those who are happy to pay such prices show only that fools and their money are easily parted!).