“Sarez Zeus” The Worlds Most Expensive CatC. Esmond Gay10th January 2004In 2004 there was a massive amount of superb publicity about Sarez Zeus, our £100,000, 90% wild blood F1 - and to this day he is still plastered all over the internet if one “googles” his or my name. Many people have requested more information about him and how we bred this unique little cat and this article has been written to address this. I would like to start off by explaining how we find the very best homes for our F1’s (ALC x Bengal) to show just how vigilant we are about finding the best homes possible. Everyone who enquires about ANY of our kittens is first “taught” about the breed by us. And when one is selling F1 Bengal’s, the breeder has to be even more responsible and therefore any parties wishing to purchase an F1 baby have to follow the criteria listed below; 1) All occupants of the F1’s new home must have some experience in the keeping of small wild cats/hybrids. As well as this we interview each prospective client sometimes for up to 9 hours straight. We watch their reactions and note how interested they really are. If we feel that they may just be buying the kitten on a “whim” or just because they’ve seen Sarah, myself and my cats in the press, we won’t sell to them. We watch how they interact with the kittens and of course we question them about their own routines such as work and holidays – we don’t like our cats being left alone. Eventually it becomes clearly evident whether or not the visitor will make a good home for one of our babies. If we feel they will, then we continue to chat to these people and “train” them in the proper care of kittens. If we feel they will not be good homes then we very politely pretend that we don’t have any kittens available at the present and this eliminates any embarrassment for either side. Our kittens are all individually priced. We do not have a set price for say “F2’s” or “F3’s”. Our prices depend on the colour and the quality of our babies as well as the different generations. And how much it has cost US to breed the kittens is also brought into the equation especially F1’s which over the years have cost us many hundreds of thousands to breed. Thus, no two kittens from the same litter ever have the same price. The £100,000 price we asked for “Sarez Zeus” was not “outrageous” as it cost us £250,000 to breed him over a 10 year period. A major ex-breeder sold us our first 50% wild blood male F1 (non-tame) nine years ago and we happily paid £35,000 for the privilege. Soon after, we purchased his remaining two F1’s for the same price (each). I paid those prices willingly because I adore early generation Bengal’s and as with Zeus, no others could be obtained in Britain due to their outstanding rarity. Soon after purchasing our own 50% wild blood F1’s, we spent further tens of thousands of pounds purchasing a number of ALC’s from zoo’s and wildlife parks in the UK, knowing that we’d be very lucky even if we just got one to hybridise. We worked night and day and after some years we succeeded in breeding a number of 50% w/b F1’s (inc. 9 females). We had done better than we expected and anyone else who’s succeeded in hybridising, has an idea of just how tremendously difficult and expensive the 1st part of this project was. But as it’s only ever been done in the USA so no one in the UK does actually realise just how expensive the process is. From that brand new British ALC (Bengal) line which we had created, we started on the 2nd part of this project and subsequently bred Zeus’s Grandmother ‘Sarez Eppie’, the ONLY Snow Marble F2 in GB. We were offered £20,000 for this cat when she was young, but declined due to Zeus’s breeding program. We were hoping that little Zeus would be a female who we could have bred from and as such we wanted the 90% F1 to carry all the colours of the Bengal breed. We mated ‘Sarez Eppie’ to one ALC and created an F1 who we named ‘Sarez Pow Wow’, and she had approx 75% wild blood. We were then offered £35,000 for her, but again we declined because of this specific project. This 75% F1 was mated to another one of our Leopard Cats and the result was Sarez Zeus, the world’s first and only 90% wild blood F1 ever to be bred. This work IS important to the Bengal breed as a whole as our hybridising ALC’s were unrelated to each other and unrelated to all other hybridising ALC’s in Europe and the USA – our ALC’s brought totally new blood into the Bengal breed. It may sound ‘easy’ in writing, but in reality it completely dominated our working, social, personal and financial lives for nearly a decade. Most late generation Bengal’s have stunning pelts and breathtaking rosettes – but very few retain the unique wild head and facial features of the ALC (compare a photo of an ALC to an F4 on the internet). I simply did what I personally felt was right in order to eventually duplicate the ALC’s wild head and other features into a late generation Bengal. And I never judge any other breeder who, for example, outcross the Bengal to other types of pedigree cats (even though I don’t agree with this), nor do I judge those who only concentrate on the far easier ‘late generation’ matings. The way in which other breeders work is their business – likewise, others should not pre-judge me nor criticise my work unless they are in full knowledge of the facts. Sarez Zeus may well cost his new owner a great deal of money to purchase, but the money from all our Bengal’s is spent on two very worthy causes. To date we have spent about £325,000 on our non-profit making wild cat conservation program and their enclosures and well over £300,000 on our sanctuary for abused animals and their facilities. And we’ve spent even more than that on our Bengal and Sphynx breeding programs and their facilities. In September 2003 Zeus appeared on national TV seven times in two days and was filmed by many different film crews, playing happily with my fiancé and my 3 year old daughter (each time in front of 8 strangers with all their lights and an array of camera equipment). He behaved impeccably and worldwide audiences got the chance to see a high wild blood early generation, play like a domestic cat. Simultaneously articles and 100’s of photo’s appeared all over the national press and magazines. Zeus’s superb public behaviour could help the acceptance of early generations by unwilling authorities such as FIFE, the GCCF and some other UK councils. This can only be beneficial for other breeders who wish to retain and use early generations within their own breeding programs. And as Zeus, a 90% F1 Bengal has been seen all over the world behaving like ‘an adorable pussycat’, then the general publics acceptance and trust in later generation Bengal’s is also reinforced. E.g. if an 90% F1 can behave so well when under the intense stress of constant photo shoots and filming, a well bred F4 should be seen as ‘bomb proof’. Our cats have featured in over 60 TV programs and have been written about in the press well over 90 times since we began breeding 10/11 years ago. Our cats have always behaved impeccably and coupled with their quality, our cats have been superb ‘public representatives’ of the breed - showing the British public just how beautiful and friendly all Bengal generations can be. The Bengal Cat is now the most popular pedigree feline in Britain - and any other breeder honest enough will verify that our previous publicity has helped to enhance the breed’s overall popularity. Also, celebrities and royalty purchase one in 6 of our babies (both early and late generations), and because they’re familiar TV faces, each of these sales brings yet more GOOD publicity to the whole breed – this, and the public seeing/reading about our cats so frequently, benefits the kitten sales of most other UK breeders. The majority of the general public do not go to cat shows nor do they regularly read cat magazines – but they do read national newspapers and they do watch TV. Yet sadly few breeders will admit how the publicity that our cats have received has helped them as well - even though it is plain common sense. Some individuals within the Bengal fancy have wrongly stated that F1’s, F2’s and F3’s “do not exist” as ‘Bengal cats’. These people state that F1’s, F2’s and F3’s are in fact Asian Leopard Cat hybrids and are ‘…not part of the Bengal breed in anyway whatsoever…’ Statements made by these people (and clubs such as the Bengal Cat Club of Great Britain) concerning early generation Bengal’s are totally wrong and I have taken the liberty of copying a letter written by Jean Mill proving this. The letter which was sent by her to ‘Cat World Magazine’ by Jean Mill reads as follows: “I am the originator of this beautiful spotted breed of domestic cat and have been involved from 1980 with their acceptance into various cat registries both in the USA and abroad. Because there is a non-domestic feline in the Bengal cat ancestry (the tiny, shy Asian Leopard Cat, Felis Bengalensis), I have worked with concerned governmental agencies worldwide from the beginning. The first three generations of Bengal’s (F1’s, F2’s, F3’s) ARE classified as “Foundation Bengal’s” (NOT HYBRID LEOPARD CATS - as stated by the Bengal Cat Club of Great Britain!!). They are some what shy retiring cats, but they are no more vicious or aggressive than Siamese or other domestics adoptable at the cat pound. In the USA, Bengal’s of all generations are accepted by our “Department of Agriculture” and do not need a federal license. Even our strict “California Fish and Game” regulations do not require any license for Bengal’s. Of the various sub species of Leopard Cat, Felis Bengalensis Bengalensis is listed in CITES Appendix one as endangered. Last fall, I visited Esmond Gay’s cattery in England and met all his cats including “Baby Gem”, “Leopardette”, “Occie” and his other breeding F1’s. I also saw his stunning Asian Leopard Cats. All his cats were beautiful Bengal’s or pure bred ALC’s! It is most regrettable that the well justified fear of wolf hybrids has been fanned to include a fear of our tiny, purring early generation Bengal cats by people who have never even see one before! Before passing any judgement/regulations on them, I would urge detailed acquaintances with GB early generations, because in the USA, the breed now numbers over 10,000 as house pets. I would also urge a telephone call to your nearest zoo curator who would confirm that even the wild Leopard Cats are neither aggressive nor ferocious, but fearful and shy – as is the wild rabbit. Crossed with a friendly domestic cat (such as “Sarez Pow Wow”, “Zeus’s” mother), the resulting mixed species kittens (F1’s) are independent and aloof – but no more dangerous than traditional family cats. Jean Mill 1412 Covina Hills Road Covina, CA, 91724 Personally, I would rather listen to the above words of advice from people such as Jean Mill, who actually created the Bengal breed for us all to enjoy. Her words are so much more accurate and make much more sense than those spoken by some British breeders and clubs such as the Bengal Cat Club of GB, who condemn these stunning early generation cats, even though they have never even seen an F1 in real life before! Zeus and our other F1’s and early generation cats are some of the most remarkable and stunning pedigree cats that have ever been bred. Without early generation Bengal’s, the breed would simply be ‘another spotted breed’. The continued use of early generation Bengal’s by us ensures that in the future we will be able to breed F4’s who have the wondrous wild look of an F1 like Zeus. C. Esmond Gay 10th January 2004 Addition;Our Bengal breeding, our wild cat rescue and our wild cat conservation work was truly exhaustive and stressful and so in 2004 Sarah and I decided to retire. We had achieved all of our goals within the Bengal fancy and some of our many goals for our wild cats and we wanted other parties to continue with that work. Pauline and Frank Turnock of Gayzette Bengal’s brought our entire collection of Bengal’s and Sarah and I thank them with all our hearts for providing them with such a good home. Within this collection Pauline owns “Sarez Little L’s” F1, F2 and F3 progeny and thus occasionally sells the half brothers and sisters of our magnificent cat “Sarez Zeus”. She also owns “Sarez Apollo” who is the 2nd ALC ever to hybridise – this astounding success was achieved by Sarah and myself just after the above article was written. I personally remain in very regular contact with Pauline and Frank and intend to do so for decades to come. We are EXTREMELY close and every other day emails or phone calls flow between us. I continue to offer them my full support and advice on all topics of the Bengal and also wild cats. I closely follow Pauline and Franks breeding programs and their many successes and achievements - but without intruding. Behind the scenes and behind the public eye, I will always be there for them… and the stunning cats that I once so proudly owned. And by being here for them, means I never really lose my beloved cats… I am also actively helping and encouraging them to hybridise from another non-endangered species of wild cat of which they now own a number - but only time will tell if that program is successful – to date the creation of this new breed of pedigree is SO complex that it has only been achieved in very small numbers within the USA. But such is their expertise with cats and with my support behind the scenes, if anyone outside of America can accomplish it, then its Pauline and Frank! So watch this space… C. Esmond Gay |