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Cat lovers aim to legalize part-wild felines

Denise Flaim | Animal House

February 14, 2008

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Meet Mazi the Savannah and Nix the Bengal. They - and many of their kind - are illegal in New York. At least for now.

In recent years, a spate of breeds founded on crosses between wild and domestic cats have become intensely popular, in part because of their exotically patterned coats. Bengals (whose ancestry leads back to the Asian leopard cat) are now one of the most popular breeds at shows sanctioned by The International Cat Registry, or TICA, which recognizes breeds with "wild blood." Savannahs, based on the African serval, are inching up in popularity. Lesser known are Chausies (pronounced "chow-sees"), derived from the jungle cat, and Safaris, from the South American Geoffrey's cat.

In all these breeds, first-generation offspring - called F-1s - result from crossing a wildcat and a domestic. Subsequent generations, which are almost always bred to domestic cats, are similarly labeled: F-2, F-3, etc. Once a cat is an F-4 - that is, has a great-great-grandparent as its closest wild relative - TICA labels it an "SBT," short for "studbook tradition," meaning it can compete in the show ring and is considered fully domestic.

Back to Nix and Mazi, both F-1s owned by Kara McCormick of Suffolk County. In 2005, the state's Environmental Conservation Law was amended, making all hybrid cats like them illegal. A later amendment limited to this any wildcat offspring that is an F-5 or lower - in order words, more closely related to a wildcat than great-great-grand-kitten.

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Nix and Mazi are legal, only because McCormick applied for a permit from the Department of Environmental Conservation to have them grandfathered in. But she has made it her mission to change the law to accept "early generation" hybrids. And she's gotten some traction: Assemb. Marc Alessi (D-Suffolk) has sponsored a bill that exempts hybrid cats from being defined as "wildlife"; it is currently in the Assembly's Environmental Conservation Committee.

The current law's proponents acknowledge there have been no recorded attacks involving hybrid cats of any generation, but that the sorta-wild things raise questions about humane care and disease transmission. (Although what person who pays $3,000 for a rare Savannah is going to let it roam outdoors? It's beyond me.)

"Obviously, the ASPCA opposes owning wild animals as pets," says attorney Stacy Wolf, the group's legislative director, who worked on the amendment that set the fifth-generation rule. "And that line has to be drawn somewhere."

But where, exactly? Not surprisingly, the folks who actually live with these cats have a very different perspective.

"F-1s are no more wild than any other generation," says Brigitte Cowell, rescue coordinator of the Savannah Cat Club. "Where they do differ - and why I don't think they are an ideal pet - is the level of intensity and persistence in doing what they want to do. It's not aggression, it's energy."

Even McCormick concedes that banning F-1s is at least understandable from a political standpoint, given that they are only one generation removed from the wild, though, she says, hers are pussycats. Also, legalizing F-1s could encourage the breeding of hybrids, which is a moral sticky wicket for some animal lovers - the DNA that dares not speak it name.

"They are cats," says McCormick of her desire to repeal the prohibition against early-generation cats, in particular F-2s through F-5s. "They use a litter box, eat regular cat food, live indoors with their owners, coexist with 'regular' cats and go to a regular vet."

Certified cat behavior consultant Marilyn Krieger of Redwood City, Calif., who is the coordinator for California Bengal Cat Rescue, and who owns both Bengals and Savannahs, agrees.

"If the cat is socialized, even the early generations can be quite wonderful cats," she says. "And I don't think it takes any more socialization than with any other cat."

Misunderstandings can arise, Krieger notes, because of the cats' "wild look" and vocalness. F-1 Bengals can inherit quirks from their leopard-cat parent: Some will defecate in water, and their voices are huskier, akin to a smoker's cough.

If there is one serious caveat to owning early-generation hybrid cats, it has nothing to do with any damage they could do to humans, but rather the converse: Bonding closely with their owners, they react poorly to variations in their environment.

"I get a lot of the early generations in," says Cowell, referring to her rescue work, "and it's very sad, because sometimes when I find a great home, they will crash - they don't do well with a lot of change.

"You want to make sure it's a very stable home, and that it's a lifetime commitment," she concludes. "As any cat should be."