Feral Thoughts

Maryland Savannah causing concern

Amongst all the attention this week in Australia regarding the banning of the Savannah cat, a parallel story has been running in the United States. Students at the University of Maryland reported sighting of a cougar, causing a nationwide burst of attention. It turns out not to be a cougar at all but a Savannah cat (probably). It has now been captured on film, but continues to roam the campus. It hasn't caused any problems, and is most likely someone's escaped pet.

Savannah Cats banned from Australia

Brilliant news today with the announcement by Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, that Savannah Cats will not be allowed into Australia.

The Minister has used his powers under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 to amend the definition of domestic cat to rule out cats with genes from the Serval.  Good on him.  I'm not sure of the details yet, but that should be enough to discourage others contemplating bringing exotic "pets" with wild genes into the country to think again.  The potential cost to Australia's environment is simply too high.

Apparently, the Department considered 549 submissions, and 526 of these supported a ban - that's an extraordinary response to a wildlife issue.  It shows people value our unique environment and don't want it put at further risk.

Battle of the petitions

The snake people started a petition to the Minister for the Environment calling on him to review the import of Savannah cats (which he has done, presumably before receiving the petition).  The importers of the cats started one a few days later.

It's running 10 or 11 to 1 against the cats at the moment.  However, I'm giving my award for the best comment to a lady that is pro-Savannahs  She reckoned it was all a storm in a tea cup and concludes that it "is people I'd be more worried about.  And wicked kids" (my emphasis).

I reckon there has to be a story in that.  Bet it involves rock-throwing.

Anyway, the link to the petitions are below:

This one if you don't want the cats:

http://www.gopetition.com.au/petitions/savannah-cats/signatures.html

And so I don't get accused of one-sided bias; this one if you want the cats:

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/support-savannah-cat-breed/signatures.html

The comments are interesting.

Thank you Minister!

Australian Government Minister for the Environment, Peter Garrett, has announced a review of the import of Savannah cats.  This is a terrific outcome.  Our main concern was that these animals could simply come in as "domestic" cats with no risk assessment of their potential impact on the environment.  This is exactly the outcome we asked the Minister to ensure occurs.  Good on him for acting so quickly.  His media release is reproduced below.

IMPORTATION OF SAVANNAH CATS UNDER REVIEW

Environment Minister Peter Garrett has initiated a review of the potential impacts of hybrid Savannah cats, which could see the cats banned in Australia.

Mr Garrett said a draft assessment report had been released to assist considerations about the potential impacts of the cats on the Australian environment and whether they should be prohibited from import, under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).

“I’m really concerned about the potential threat to the environment from the importation of the Savannah cat and we will be looking very closely at this.  That’s why I have asked my department to undertake the proper assessment process as quickly as possible,” Mr Garrett said.

“Savannah cats are a cross between a Serval, which is an African wildcat, and a domestic cat and they can grow much larger than normal domestic cats.

“This report looks at the risk of Savannah cats becoming feral if not properly contained, and notes that there is potential for these cats to easily adapt to the Australian environment.  Estimates suggest there could already be up to 12 million feral cats across Australia and they are already one of single biggest killers of Australian native animals.

“This report suggests that the potential breeding-in of wildcat genes to existing feral cat populations could see them develop even better hunting skills.

“I will not hesitate to use the powers available to me under the EPBC Act to prohibit the import of Savannah cats if it is necessary to protect the environment.”

The draft assessment report is available for public comment for 20 business days, closing on 17 July 2008.  Details of the invitation to comment and how to respond are available on the DEWHA website at:

http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/trade-use/invitecomment/index.html

“I encourage interested parties to provide comment on the report so I can ensure I take all relevant information into account,” Mr Garrett said.

The department will review all comments received and any additional information provided in preparing the report.  It will then be provided to the Minister for consideration.

Vets, RSPCA and Rural Lands Boards lead the way

Australia's peak group for animal welfare, the RSPCA; the Australian Veterinary Association and the NSW  Rural Lands Protections Boards have all come out saying we don't need hybrid dogs and cats in Australia.  These are people that know animals.  They all believe the risk of allowing wild-domestic cross animals into Australia is too high.

It really doesn't matter that the hybrids will be fifth generation away from their wild ancestors.  It is the new genes that matter.  At yesterday's State-wide Conference of Rural Lands Protection Boards in NSW, I showed data from CRC scientists that Australia's wild dog population is getting bigger.  Wild dogs in Southern Australia are 24% bigger than they were prior to 1970.  This implies that the genetic phenomenon of heterosis, or hybrid vigour, is occurring already in Australian wild dogs.  The delegates immediately passed a unanimous resolution to support the Invasive Animals CRC seeking changes to our importation rules.  The system that makes it legal for people to bring wolf-dog hybrids needs to change.  Maybe as many as half a million Americans own a wolf-dog hybrid for example, and we don't want them coming here.

http://www.rspca.org.au/mediareleases/MRShow.asp?ID=146

http://www.ava.com.au/news.php?action=show&news_id=325&c=0

An African Serval, the most efficient wild cat hunter in Africa.  Australia's quarantine regulations make it legal for a cat that is only five generations away from a purebred serval to come into the country.

In a 2007 paper in Science, Carlos Driscoll of Oxford University showed that domestication of the cat probably began 12,000 years ago and was completed 8,000 years ago.  New designer breeds of cat didn't exist 25 years ago.

Does anyone want hybrids here?

In several hours of radio interviews I've done in the past week, not one single caller has expressed a view favourable to Savannah cats, or hybrids in general. Overwhelmingly, the blog response online has been shock that fashion wild-domestic crosses can be imported to Australia.

Australians know that half the mammals lost to the world in the last 200 years have come from this country. They know we've made some awful mistakes. The RSPCA has come out reiterating its opposition to hybrid animal imports. If the UK, the states of Georgia and Hawaii and the City of New York can ban these hybrids, so can we. We have much more to lose.

An online herpetology discussion group spontaneously started a petition that has over 1000 signatures in a little over a day.

My job is really only the science and awareness-raising. But this generation of Australians has normally only been able to look back with regret at dumb decisions to bring animals in. We don't have the excuse of ignorance, so we should grab the opportunity to stop hybrid dogs and cats entering Australia.

Online petition - Review the importation and breeding of Savannah cats in Australia

F5 Savannah Cats are impressive

This You Tube video shows an F5 (five generations from African serval) leaping.  It's impressive and they are a beautiful animal.

Funny how the breeders are down-playing the Savannah's features in the media once attention has been brought on the subject.  Quite different to the tenure of their websites, which play up the superiority of the breed.

Will bigger cats lead to bigger prey?

At the 14th Australasian Vertebrate Pest Conference just finished in Darwin, the view from participants was crystal clear - we don't need these "Savannah" hybrid cats in Australia (or New Zealand for that matter).  Not one of the 300 plus delegates had a good word to say to me when they found out that these hybrids may shortly be for sale.

The last paper of the meeting, by Dr. Ricky Spencer from the University of Western Sydney was a fascinating, and disturbing, insight into the growth of wild dog/dingos in eastern Australia.  He presented data that dog/dingos are getting bigger.  He speculated that beyond about 21.5kg, these dogs may switch to larger prey.

What if the same is true of cats?

I had a worried call from Australia (and no doubt the world's) only koala chiropractor, Shane Wassington.  No joke.  He was concerned that if feral cats grow larger, they may become capable of taking on a koala - a species that has never really had to cope with a climbing predator.

We have no idea really whether bigger cats would engage in prey-switching.  But Spencer's paper shows new genes into a population can lead to growth in the population.  Savannah cats are bred to be big.  One of the importing companies says on its website it's "F5s" are more like "F3s" in appearance (ie more like a serval) and once they have the animals in Australia, they'll be breeding for serval appearance - that means big cats doesn't it?

Hmmm - for the sake of a designer cat to indulge fashion sense.

They mated a cat with a what????

The African Serval (Leptailurus serval) would normally react to a domestic cat by eating it, not mating with it.

But in America, cat breeders have successfully (if that's the word) forced mating of these two species and derived a new fashion pet - the so-called "Savannah" cat. 

Normally, I'd roll my eyes and sigh "only in America...".  But no.  Some fashionable pet businesses in Australia have decided to import this serval-cat new breed so they can sell them to Australian's with a lazy $5000 sitting around.

Apparently our biosecurity system never anticipated people developing hybrid wild-domestic crosses.  So this breed is allowed to come in as a "domestic" cat breed.  No formal consultation necessary with experts like those on the inter-government Vertebrate Pests Committee.

We need a rethink here.  I don't think these cats should be allowed into the country.  They are apparently twice the size of normal domestics and can leap two metres in a bound.  Those are genetic traits we don't want entering our feral population. 

We are also allowing people to profit from animal cruelty.  The practice of mating a 20kg wild African Serval with a domestic cat weighing maybe 5-7 kg should be condemned, not condoned.  Big Cat Rescue have a You Tube video that is pretty instructive about how dumb this practice is

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiLAcEp5Vng