Boom in half-wild cats worries protection group

Bengal cats, like other hybrids, are a cross between domestic and wild cats. Keystone / Vadim Ghirda

Swiss animal protection group PSA is concerned about a booming trade in hybrid cats, which are half-wild and more difficult to look after, with a rising number being abandoned to refuges.  

The association advises people against keeping these cats and is calling for a stricter legal framework, it said in press releaseExternal link on Monday.

In Switzerland, the most common hybrid breed is the Bengal cat. With 12,500 individuals currently registered, their population has doubled in the last four years, according to PSA. Imports of these animals have quadrupled in the same period, with nearly 400 being imported in 2022.

These attractive, exotic-looking animals are the result of crossbreeding between domestic and wild cats. PSA says they need more freedom and movement than domestic cats, so it is difficult to keep them indoors. Outdoors, however, their great ability to hunt and regular conflicts with other cats can also be a problem.

According to PSA, some owners find themselves “overwhelmed”, and the number of hybrid cats taken in by shelters, mostly Bengal cats, has increased sharply.

Mating a domestic cat with a feral cat is prohibited in Switzerland, the association notes, and an animal with a feral component of more than 50% is considered wild under the law. Imported cats come from foreign breeders, whose conditions for breeding and keeping the animals are “often disastrous”, it says.

PSA is calling for amendments to Swiss law to toughen obligations regarding the breeding and keeping of hybrid cats.