SAVANNAHS IN CANADA
About Permits, CITES, USA Imports and Alberta --What is the
true story?
TRUE AND FALSE
Savannahs and Bengals
are allowed as pets in every province
TRUE But there are restrictions on generations allowed in some provinces
The Exotic Animal Act in Canada has prevented the breeding
and importing of servals
FALSE: This act does not address servals. They are not
included as an exotic animal of concern in this legislation. But there are
still some restrictions in certain areas on the breeding, owning, exhibiting,
importing and exporting of servals and their hybrid counterparts, Savannahs.
There is no restriction on owning Savannahs in Alberta as
nothing is in writing.
FALSE Because you cannot find this legislation online
easily, does not mean it doesn't exist. Savannah cats are restricted and cannot
be owned as pets in Alberta unless they are F4 or lower generations. They must
be registered in TICA (The International Cat Association) and the owners need
to be able to prove by pedigree that there is no serval blood(or other wild cat
blood) in the animals pedigree for 3
generations.
If you bought a
Savannah from someone else in Alberta and it is F1,F2,or F3 you will be exempt
from this law because the cat was bred in Alberta
FALSE: the person who sold you the cat is in violation and
so are you. The cats can be seized and disposed of by the Alberta Fish and
Wildlife Branch.
Serval Cats are wild animals
FALSE: Serval cats were domesticated and used for hunting by
the Egyptians 5000 years ago. Many Serval cats live "wild" in Africa
and these are WILD CATS, but there is a small percentage of them that has
remain domesticated as pets for many
generations.
Just like parrots and budgies there is a large percentage of
them living wild and another percentage of them that lives as companions to
humans.
Serval Cats are perfect pets
TRUE and FALSE: Many owners find servals to be the perfect
pet and accustom their lifestyle to include the unusual requirements of a
serval as their compainion for 20 years.
Some owners also find Large snakes to be the perfect pet? or
loud macaws!
It is a personal choice, but with any pet be sure of your
choice before you make it and be prepared to alter your lifestyle to include
your pet for it's entire life span.
A pet should not be
disposed of because you have a child, a new boyfriend or you want to take a job
overseas.
You cannot bring a Savannah cat from the U.S. to Canada
without a Canadian CITES permit
FALSE: I am not sure why some breeders have this information
on their websites but it is NOT true. Canada requires only a rabies vaccine on
the cat to bring it into the country. The U.S. has export requirements to take
the cat out of their country so you will need a US CITES export permit PLUS
fish and wildlife paperwork, but Canada
has no restrictions on bringing it INTO Canada. Just make sure you have the
paperwork required to get it OUT of the states.
It takes months and months to get a Savannah from the US to
Canada
FALSE: It takes about 7-8 weeks to get an the export permit
IT costs thousands of
dollars to import a cat from the states
FALSE:
It costs $100 U.S. for a cites permit and $250 for a fish
and wildlife inspection, $150 for USDA health certificate. Then the cost of
flight, carrier and Duty based on the value of the kitten and broker fees,
about $250-$350.
© WildStreak Savannahs & Teresa Adebahr