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.
Your argument makes a correlation that has no basis in actual fact other than an opinion that you hold to be true. You don’t like hunting, I got that; but you are now sitting at home, attempting to damage his chosen profession by posting inflammatory pictures that YOU claim show he can’t love animals at all; all from the safety and anonymoty of your own computer. Obviousky he didn’t have attachment to the animals he hunted, but to imply that he holds all animals in the same regard is an uneducated conclusion.
You made it clear that you approved of the Stuckis, because they helped you build this site, and you claim to have helped them build A1S, did you ever ask Mr. Stucki if he had been hunting for a feline creature before? The answer may surprise you, but I’ll let you ask him that, if you can locate him.
Cats should be bred, which you obviously agree with because you have patronized the same establishment you know are criticizing; and the only undeniable portion of your argument is that it is nothing but the opinion of a handful of people based on an even smaller number of pictures.
Again, I appreciate your dislike of hunting, but you cannot hold your assertion as truth based on your prejudice.
Please, are you serious? I do not like any sort of hunting but I can understand if someone needs to hunt so they can feed their family. Seeing pics of a man
and his family on Safari and knowing that he promotes trophy hunting and actually accepts money to take others out to murder animals is a far cry from someone who hunts animals that will feed their family. They are not just hunting to kill for the fun of it. Good for him if he raises the breed standard but what if he has a few that are not breed standard and he cannot sell them. What if one of the serval’s or even a savannah decides to scratch or bite him or a member of his family or his staff? A person who murders innocent animals and takes money to help others do for shows no regard or love for nature or
the life of the animal. It is not a huge stretch of the imagination that if one of these animals angers him or he no longer wants it around and he cannot make any money from the animal that the animal will be in great of being killed by his hand or by his order. Your arguments are just silly and outrageous. We have all seen several pics of the carnage that he and his hunts have caused. I do not drink but seeing pics of people having a drink does not make me think that they are alcoholics. Drinking alcohol and the slaughtering of animals are nowhere in the same category. If you have noticed, there are more than one or two people who are upset about this and this is not judgement, this is reality, he is a murderer. Just because he had the money to buy the cattery does not make him a good person. He bought the cattery with BLOOD MONEY! Money he made organizing killing missions. How would you feel if your dog was out playing in your own backyard and someone came and shot him and lead missions of people to do the same. This same person proudly displayed pics of their kills on a website wearing big smiles, so proud of their hunting skills and then one day you noticed that the same person bought a huge dog breeding kennel???? The same man who killed an innocent dog who was minding his business in his own yard? TO me and many others, what he does is no different! If he had hunting pics up, where he killed a turkey or a deer or other animals that he planned to feed to his family, I do not think anyone would have an issue with him. I am a business owner and because I have been very successful in my business.I built and developed my business from the ground up and due to my success, I have been a victim of other business owners who are jealous and who cannot compete on a level playing field so they chose to manufacture lies and post them on line to try to hurt me and my business. None of them have managed to hurt me. My business is doing better than ever but the lies they told really bothered me because I care about my reputationand I have worked so hard to get where I am. Because I know how competing businesses can be, I would NEVER spout off about something that I did not research first and the research I did into Martin M. Engster the new owner of A1 Savannahs left me feeling traumatized and heartsick. Looking at the pics of all those beautiful dead animals, killed by his hand and or the hands of those who paid him to organize their hunt just made me sick. They were all so disturbing and the worst and most disturbing is the pic of him holding the dead wild caracal. This family is being supported from blood sport including killing wild cats for fun and now they plan to make money off of selling hybrid cats. It looks bad for the cats, very bad. How would any reasonable person believe that he is compassionate and cares about the emotions and physical needs of these beautiful animals if he is out making money killing other animals for trophys? To the person above who wanted to give an example and compared a person having a casual drink or the person who eats meat or has leather goods, here is one for you……
Should a person who has killed a child and proudly posted pics of the dead child and helped other child killers do the same be allowed to open a daycare? Talk about the fox watching the hen house. True animal lovers all feel the same. In my opinion and apparently, many others we do not feel that this family purchased the cattery because of love of the cats or passion for the breed or to correct all that some of you claim were issues with the previous owners. It appears that this is nothing more than a business venture to him. I do not deny that we should all be able to earn money or that breeders should not make money for all of their hard work. Some breeders truely care about their breed and pour their heart and soul into their animals and they research and spend hours socializing and caring for the needs of their animals. They spend enormous amounts of money on their animals and many even donate time to rescue programs and education and laws to protect the animals. Their animals are a part of their families and they carefully screen potential homes, they do not just sell to the first person who has the money. They want to be sure that their babies will be in the right home. Breeder like this deserve to make money for all of their hard work and care. They do not always make money off of every litter due to the large amount that they spend an the best food and vet care and other essentials as well as things that they buy just to enhance the life of their animals, toys, treats soft beds and so forth. I bought my first Savannah about 6 months ago and I am in love with this breed. I plan to add another one to my home in the next year or so. I know all of these things because I did a great deal of research into breeding and care of these animals before I chose to drop a huge amount of money. I wanted to make sure I was not buying from a person who raised these kittens just to turn a buck. I wanted to make sure they truely loved and cared for the breed and that the animals were being treated with love and respect. I will only buy my next kitten from a breeder such as I have described above. I will not line the pockets of the new A1 Savannah owners to help them fund more hunts to kill more beautiful wild animals across the globe and I hope others see all of the bad press and do the same.
I am not saying that he is not a good manager etc.. All I am saying that his liking for hunting is not a good qualification for a cat breeder and secondly I dislike hunters very strongly. In my article that is all I said. I have made no comment on his skills as a breeder because as you say I can’t. I don’t know him and I made that clear. You have no reason to criticize me.
In my opinion the only person fit to breed cats (if one accepts that cats should be bred) is someone who is sensitive towards a cat’s well-being. If a person likes to shoot cats and other animals then they can’t be sensitive towards a cat’s well-being. That has to be undeniable.
Michael, have you done any research whatsoever as to his standards? Or are you (likely) making your determination based on a couple of pics online and your personal opinions? Did you know he has a staff of several people, two of which are full time, and do nothing but care for the animals? Did you know that Mr. Stucki left many of the animals in poor health, and actually the cattery has improved significantly since Sgt. Engster has taken over?
I’m guessing not.
So, for all of you claiming that a murderer cannot also be a loving, devoted cat owner/cattery owner, you’re vegan right? No leather, meats, or animal products at all for you, because that’s murder, and if you murder one thing, you must be a cold blooded killer across the board, right?
Hunting may not be your thing, and you may rightly have an issue against it, but I dare say that if we were to dive into each and every one of your social media pages and take a look at all your pictures we might find one or two that we could judge you and your entire life on? Oh, you drink alcohol, you must be an alcoholic and shouldn’t be allowed near children or defenseless animals, because people who drink alcohol are all inherently bad people, right? It’s the same type of argument.
You don’t like that he hunts, guides hunts, and raises the breed standard for Savannahs? Cool, why don’t you call him up; cough up the same amount of money he did, and give the animals a “better” master? Oh, that’s right, because then you wouldn’t be safe at home anonymous behind a keyboard.
For any of you lambasting him for pictures he has online, I dare you to post your social media profiles for enhanced scrutiny.
Very sad that money came first with them, it must be a blow to you.