In this picture of a cat, we see Seb Jones from Manchester, UK, holding a pet serval. For me, it is an irritating photograph. What I see is a man who wants to look macho. He’s achieved that image through bodybuilding. He’s added to that image by adopting a medium-sized wild cat called a serval which you may well have heard about. He wants an exotic creature to dress up his machismo. The cat is an accessory to his obsession with image. Cats should not be accessories to a human-centric and self-indulgent lifestyle.
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And I am one of those people who disagree with the idea that servals can become pets. Sometimes it might work out reasonably well provided the owner has the facilities and the time and knowledge to make it work. But even then, it’s wrong. It supports the idea that wild cats exist to be used by humans for their entertainment.
Usually, purchasers of servals as pets are unaware beforehand of the potential pitfalls. They see an exotic creature and some people like to think they can live exotic lifestyles. They are reaching out to live like billionaires. We see a lot of exotic lifestyles on social media. People want to be somebody. They want to stand out. The tend to live beyond their means. They live off credit. They want it all instantly but they can’t earn the money to meet their aspirations.
And money is a major factor in living with a serval. You have to have reasonable funding because they require quite a lot of upkeep. What about a veterinarian for instance? I don’t know how a veterinarian in the UK would respond to treating a pet serval. They will probably cope but there will be some veterinarians who won’t. And food?
And you’re likely to have a serval that is stressed. When cats are stressed the can behave badly in the eyes of people and can become ill. Why should a serval become stressed when adopted? Because there’s far more wild cat character within a serval than there is within a domestic cat. And, to be honest, there’s quite a lot of wild cat within the domestic cat already.
You have a wild cat in your home, confined to the home. When they go out, they have to be on a lead. This is highly constricting to an animal that normally enjoying 100 km² of open space across an African landscape. This can lead to stress. And it is very difficult to remove that inherent behavioural trait from a serval. There are many stories of servals escaping their confinement within suburban homes. And then they get killed on the road or someone shoots them. Failure.
How many servals are relinquished to specialist cat rescue centres? Some are relinquished to cat breeders. Breeders of Savannah cats need servals because the F1 Savannah is a male serval x domestic cat cross. And some Savannah cat breeders breed servals as pets. I don’t like it. Breeding servals are kept in confinement in a breeding establishment. They may be in a cage 24 x 20′ all their lives. Not good. Especially when you’re supplying people like Seb Jones who wants to dress up his lifestyle with an exotic accessory.
Seb Jones and family
As I have been rude about Seb Jones I think I owe it to him to add a few words about his life and his cat. The Sun newspaper reported on this on December 4, 2017. I mention the date because Mr Jones believed that his serval was the first pets serval in the UK at the time. I would doubt that actually.
The cat’s name is Anubis. They say their wild cat is chilled out and that it has settled into family life very well. Anubis sleeps on the bed at night. They have three young kids but despite that they felt that the serval was no problem. They didn’t see any danger. Apparently, Seb has always had exotic animals as pets. The kids aren’t fazed by the cat. But the cat hisses sometimes. That can be intimidating which is not what you want in a cat companion.
They say that Anubis consumes mice, rabbits and chicks costing £20 per week. Kelly, Seb’s wife, is surprised at how wild the serval is. She said that he was hand reared but clearly is still wild. What did I say about looking after a serval?
They say they have to keep the garden secure to keep them in. But if you look at the picture of the garden, the wall around it is nowhere near tall enough to confine their cat. A serval could negotiate that in one leap. They took out insurance in case Anubis escapes and causes mayhem in suburbia. They do their best to keep Anubis inside the home. What did I say about keeping serval is confined to the home? They find a way to escape that’s what I said.
Wisely, Kelly says that she supervises her kids when they are with Anubis. He has scratched her in the past. When a serval scratches you, you feel it. They’re quite strong, much stronger than a domestic cat.
Some irresponsible people who adopt serval’s de-claw their cat. This is reprehensible and unforgivable. It’s compounding one wrong with another. You can see that I disagree with servals as pets; far better to leave them to live their lives in the wild and not to breed them.
