A1 Savannahs has changed hands from Martin and Kathrin Stucki to Martin M. Engster and family. This was a two stage handover. At first, the Stucki’s sold a share in the business and then after a while the remainder of the business was transfered to the Engster family.
A1 Savannahs is probably the most high profile cat breeders in the world. Compared to the typical hobby breeder they are vast. The facilities cover many, many acres in all. They breed Savannah cats of all generations, F1-F5 etc. and servals. Some people like to keep servals as pets or to breed F1 Savannahs from them. The serval is a medium sized wild cat. They raised the world famous Magic (female F1 Savannah), the world’s largest domestic cat, Motzie, another famous Savannah cat (F2) and Titan (F1 male). The famous Savannah cat video: A Beautiful Relationship, shows Magic with Andreas Stucki, the Stucki’s son.
The entire complex is very impressive. It is a real business as opposed to the typical cat breeder who does it for money, yes, but not as a full-blown business.
The Stuckis are great people. Highly professional and great hosts. I stayed at their guest house for ten days on one occasion. A1 Savannahs have a detached house on the premises for guests, usually buyers, who travel from many other countries to see the cats. They supplied F1 Savannahs to the King of Morocco as I recall.
A1 Savannahs is not only a cat breeding facility but the Stuckis also called it a farm because there are lots of other animals. That is the general background.
For me, and this is a personal issue, the new owner, Martin M. Engster is not my sort of person – not at all. Although I have no idea what he is like as a person, I do know, from quick research, that he sells guns and organizes hunting trips, including international hunts.
He runs a business called “Centerline Firearms”. This sort of mentality and activity is the kind I detest, sadly. A know a lot of people like to shoot animals for fun and they like their guns. This is anathema to me. Truthfully, too, I don’t think a person who likes to shoot animals for fun (sport hunting) should be involved in breeding cats. Sorry to state that. It it not meant as a criticism of the Stuckis. It is just that I feel strongly about these things.
There are many people who feel strongly about cat breeding never mind sport hunting. But Martin M. Engster combines the two. Arguably there is no place for cat breeding while there are millions of homeless cats wandering around starving and living miserable lives.
I am sure Martin M. Engster is businesslike. How sensitive is he towards the cats? A person who likes to kill animals cannot, in my opinion, be sensitive towards them. This is not good.
There it is. A sad day for me really. Just another little negative.
I was not told the reason but probably because they simply wanted a change. They went Australia for a while and now I believe they live on a farm in a different state in the US.
Why did they sell their business???
You appear to be calling me an ‘ass’. That is unfair an insulting because all I am doing is expressing my opinion. Free speech. You can express yours too but don’t insult when you do it, please.
Just bought my first F3 Savannah from A1. Can not wait to pick her up. You ass!
Who is doing that? Not me. I am just saying that a breeder should be a hunter because their mentality is not correct.
Which comment are you referring to? My article did not state these things. I agree that some cat lovers are too dogmatic and too extreme in their views. There needs to be a balanced argument. I have a post on that subject:
https://pictures-of-cats.org/are-cat-lovers-too-serious-sometimes.html
Hi Stephanie. Thanks for commenting. I don’t who said he uses his cats in canned hunting. That as you say is obviously wrong and a crazy suggestion. Breeders are not responsible for homeless cats but there existence makes the cat homelessness problem worse for obvious reasons.
It must have been a comment which stated that. I don’t villanize breeders. I just say it the way it is. When over 2 million healthy adoptable cats are killed at shelters annually it seems wrong that breeders are creating more cats, don’t you think?