![](\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/dowbrigade\/civvit.jpg\")
When
\n dear old Mom informed us that she intended to replace her last cat, the
\n recently departed Jeema, with a 30-pound wildcat hybrid,
\n our first though was to check her medication. Mom has a way with animals,
\n and we always had a few in the house growing up. But she has always been
\n partial to off-beat, exotic pets, which may explain, in part, why she’s
\n hung in with the Dowbrigade so long.<\/p>\n
Jeema, for example, was one of those completely hairless
\n cats, with wrinkled, gray elephantine skin, looking like a huge rat
\n with Hutchinson-Gilford syndrome (premature aging). Indeed, she
\n recently died
\n prematurely from
\n some rare feline blood disease. Personally, we couldn’t imagine getting
\n warm and cuddly with such a bizarre-looking creature.<\/p>\n
We were therefore a little skeptical of the 30-lb cat
\n plan, until we looked on Google, and found that they do in fact exist. Called
\n Savannahs, they are the offspring of a wildcat – the African serval
\n – and a domestic house
\n cat. They have been successfully bred and domesticated, and are now commercially
\n available.<\/p>\n
\nThe cats – which can cost from $4,000 to $10,000 –
\n are visually striking with their long necks and oversized ears, and
\n they can be intimidating. They look like little leopards and grow to
\n more
\n than twice the size of normal cats. They love to leap and splash in
\n water, and they don’t mind taking long walks on a leash. Some people
\n describe
\n them as dogs in cats’ bodies.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nThis from an
\n article<\/a> in the New
\n York Times<\/a>. They
\n are also illegal to own in New York City and a growing array of jurisdictions
\n around the country (but not, unfortunately, in Down East Maine, where
\n Mom lives). <\/p>\nObjections to the Savanna seem to be more on principle
\n than due to any proven danger from the cats. Still, we are not entirely
\n comfortable with the idea of dear old Mom living with a half-wild predator.
\n Plus, there are disturbing
\n ethical implications:<\/p>\n\n"Breeders are creating animals for commercial purposes
\n that would never exist in the natural world," he said. "These
\n hybrid species are threats to the environment and potentially to the
\n families who think they are buying a family pet and could be purchasing
\n a wild animal."<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nActually, poor hairless Jima is looking better and better
\n in retrospect.<\/p>\nfrom the New York Times<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When dear old Mom informed us that she intended to replace her last cat, the recently departed Jeema, with a 30-pound wildcat hybrid, our first though was to check her medication. Mom has a way with animals, and we always … Continue reading