From Hybrid Beginnings In 1986, the first kitten that would be recognized as a Savannah was born—Miracle. Born to Ernie, an African Serval, and a Siamese Queen, owned by Judee Frank—this kitten was a complete surprise and lived up to her original name. Miracle would eventually be renamed Savannah by Suzi Mutascio, the Serval’s previous owner. While nobody knew whether Savannah would eventually produce, Mutascio paired the cat with a Turkish Angora and on April 5th, 1989, the first known F2 Savannahs were born—although the breed still did not have a name at the time. At this point in time, the breed was simply a hybrid—without a breed standard and dedication to creating a breed, the Savannahs could have simply become the Doodle of the cat world—a mix of two extremely different heritages with no guarantee of results. However, two people would step in and start ushering the breed towards recognition—Patrick Kelley and Lorre Smith-Lemire. Kelley would set the ground work. He had been introduced to the cats Mutascio was producing and fallen in love. He would eventually bring home an F2 from Mutascio’s breeding—Kitty. Instead of breeding her to a random cat, he thought long and hard and decided an Oriental Shorthair would help replicate the features he loved.—long legs, large upright ears, etc. Finding a breeder who would allow him to purchase a stud for such reasons was difficult—cat breeders diligently protect the purity of their breeds. Yet Kelley persevered and found an OSH to pair his Kitty with. In the meantime, Kelley was actively campaigning to find other breeders willing to work with this new breed. In particular, the breed needed people to produce F1s. This was a difficult ask—owning an African Serval was not legal in a lot of areas (particularly in California which is where Kelley lived) and Kelley would need to find someone with an unaltered Serval who was willing to attempt breeding to domestics. Joyce Sroufe would eventually accept the challenge and in 1994, another litter of F1s were born—eight years after Miracle’s birth. Sroufe would continue to breed throughout her lifetime and would be one of the first to produce the later generations, including the elusive fertile male. To Make a Breed 1996 would turn out to be a big year for Savannahs—as it would officially be known as a breed and start to shed its hybrid stigma. Kelley, along with Stroufe and Karen Sausman, a Bengal breeder, submitted the first breed standard for the Savannah to The International Cat Association (TICA.) While this year was a huge step forward for the Savannah, the breed would immediately face its first official challenge—TICA introduced a two year moratorium on the introduction of new breeds at that time, which then extended into a four year moratorium. During this time, Lorre Smith-Lemire, a Bengal and Savannah breeder, began to actively campaign for the breed—introducing her own Savannahs to every judge and board member she could. Finally, in 2000—when the moratorium was lifted, the stage was set to advance the breed due to Smith-Lemire’s and Kelley’s diligence. The breed standard was revamped, resubmitted, and the Savannah cats were finally accepted as registration only within TICA—a step forward in breed advancement. In 2001, Savannahs would be accepted for exhibition only and finally in 2002, the first Savannah cat, Sophie owned by Smith-Lemire, would enter the show hall to charm judges and the crowd alike. Spots in the Show Hall Now the heavy lifting for the breed would shift to the Savannah cat exhibitors as the breed was introduced throughout the country and even world. Two breeders on the west coast, Brigitte Cowell and Kristine Alessio, could be found in the show hall with their Savannahs almost every month educating not only the public, but the judges. Even with TICA’s acceptance, the judges were fickle—Cowell recalls her first ring being particularly challenging. Judges were unsure what to make of this breed—was it truly domesticated or simply wild cats in disguise? On the other side of the country, exhibitors were also working hard for the breed—Donna Lawver, Carol Streit and Pam Flachs to name a few. Regardless of region, each exhibitor had to learn to deftly navigate the different personalities in the show hall. Yet the new breed rings were also exciting and fun as Savannah exhibitors finally had the opportunity to educate judges on the breed they had fallen deeply in love with. The Savannah exhibitors continuously impressed in the show hall—ensuring they brought the best cats each weekend (sometimes choosing personality over perfection in order to charm the judges.) Finally, after proceeding through the Preliminary New Breed rings to the Advanced New Breed rings, the Savannahs would be accepted into Championship with TICA in May of 2012. Nowadays, spectators can see Savannahs in TICA show halls throughout the world. There is a national 501c3 Savannah rescue as well as a Savannah Cat Care Fund, created to help owners with unexpected vet bills. While only a handful of people were mentioned in this history, let us be clear—creating a new breed was a labor of love and it required a community of Savannah cat lovers to ensure the breed became recognized and accepted within the show hall. Acknowledgements: https://www.savannahbreedsection.com/ https://savannahcatassociation.org/ https://starrlightphotography.com/ And in particular, thank you to Patrick Kelley, Lorre Smith-Lemire, Brigitte Cowell, and Paige Dana, for answering my questions about our breed history!
2 Comments
10/9/2024 05:53:56 am
Relatively speaking, they're def not as old as one would expect! I still remember the day we celebrated getting into the championship rings!
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AuthorTrish Savannahs has been an active member of the purebred cat community since 2005. Since working with Savannahs in 2007 and a brief stint with the Lykoi, she has honed her knowledge and skills about all types of feline issues. ArchivesCategories |