With its air of a little cheetah, the Savannah has enjoyed growing success in recent years. The popularity of this cat, however, poses a threat to the wild feline from which it comes, the serval in this case.
Galawebdesign
Originally from Africa, this species is, in fact, crossed with various domestic cats to obtain litters of Savannah kittens, and this, since the creation of the breed in the 1980s in the United States.
Today, growing demand is fueling the traffic in servals, some of which do not hesitate to pass them off as Savannahs in order to sell them. This is what denounces Tonga Land of Welcomean association based in Saint-Martin-la-Plaine (42). A call relayed by France Blue Wednesday, September 7.
Tonga Land of Welcome indicates on its page Facebook to have collected 10 servals in a few months “. Most of these animals being sensitive seizures under ongoing legal proceedings “, because from individuals.
She recalls that the serval is not a domestic animal and that its possession is prohibited in France. As explained above, some breeders take advantage of the confusion between this wild cat and the Savannah to fool buyers and make a profit, knowing that kittens of this breed are sold at very high prices. We thus observe a worrying increase in animal trafficking to which the association expects a firm and rapid response from the government.
The need to “legislate without delay on the case of the Savannah cat”
In his post, Tonga Land of Welcome is addressed, indeed, to the Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and to the Minister of Ecological Transition Christophe Bechu notably. She asks them to legislate without delay on the case of the Savannah cat, as Great Britain has been doing since this spring ».
For the Loire organization, this worrying trend is partly fueled by social networks and the misleading content (videos and stories) circulating there. ” Anyone can show off and publicly display themselves approaching or cuddling a wild animal “, she denounces. When in reality, ” either this is not done within a legal framework, or these particular contacts are made elsewhere than in France where the law may be different ».
Tonga Land of Welcome / Facebook
By doing so, the influencers in question “ encourage, voluntarily or not, individuals to keep these same animals. »
To read also: The touching reaction of a cat who sees his master soldier coming home after a long absence (video)
Tonga Land of Welcome / Facebook
The association announces that it wants to set up a genetic data bank on the serval with the help of zoological parks that are members of theAFdPZ (French Association of Zoological Parks). The objective of this approach is to come to the aid of the felines seized, trace the networks and help stop the traffic at its source.