B.C. seeks to claw back future ownership and breeding of exotic cats
VICTORIA — The British Columbia government is proposing to ban the breeding, sale and future ownership of all exotic and non-domestic cats, including servals, ocelots and European wildcats.
The proposed changes would add the cats to the list of about 1,200 animals already designated as 'controlled alien species' under the provincial Wildlife Act.
A statement from the government issued Tuesday said the changes respond to 'long-standing concerns' from animal-welfare organizations and wildlife experts about public safety and environmental risks that such animals pose.
The government said the changes would also benefit the animals themselves by creating standards for their keeping.
The proposed legislation would allow current owners of such cats to keep them until their deaths, provided they apply for free permits.
Provincial law already prohibits the ownership of large cats such lions, tigers, jaguars, leopards and cheetahs.
While details of the proposed legislation are still emerging, the proposed ban fulfils a long-standing demand from the B.C. Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Sara Dubois, chief scientific officer for the SPCA, said in a January 2023 letter to the Regional District of Nanaimo that local bylaws covering exotic animals, including servals, are insufficient.
She said the SPCA had asked the provincial government 'many times over the past decade' to include servals and other exotic species on the Controlled Alien Species list. Dubois also pointed to a provincial campaign signed by 8,000 people after the SPCA seized 13 serval cats from a breeder in Kamloops in 2019.
'The vast majority of the public supports exotic animal bans, knowing it is cruel and dangerous to keep wild animals (whether they originate in Canada or other countries) as pets,' she said.
Dubois had sent her letter to regional officials after local authorities captured two African serval cats in October 2022 following their escape from a rural property near Qualicum Beach, but only after one of the animals had killed a domestic cat, the other several ducks.
'The recent escape of two servals in the Regional District of Nanaimo was shocking for the community, but sadly it was not surprising to us,' Dubois said. 'Despite being born in captivity, these exotic cats are not domestic animals, as domestication takes thousands of years of breeding to achieve.'
This report by Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press, was first published July 8, 2025.
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