Ashera's cat - myth or sensational reality?

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

In 2006, a message spread around the world that produced a bombshell effect in the world of animal lovers: the American company Lifestyle Pets, as a result of synthetic crossing of the genes of an African serval, a wild Asian and an ordinary domestic cat, brought out a new breed. Referring to the eastern origin of the new race, it was named after the Babylonian goddess Astarte (in English Asher). Photos of these "divine" felines in a very short time became leaders in the number of clicks on the Internet. First of all, the size of the “pets” was striking: the average Ashera cat reached a length of one meter and weighed about 14 kilograms. The dimensions of a large dog were complemented by hefty fangs and a leopard color.

The company that bred the largest domestic cat in the world claimed that the nature of the representatives of this breed is the friendliest: they love to rub against legs

at the owner, purr, cuteplay with children and never bite the postman or house guests. Lifestyle Pets assured that the animal loves to walk on a leash, like a dog and, moreover, it is hypoallergenic, that is, it can be kept by people who have a physiological rejection of cat hair. For a long time the whole world was crazy about these kitties, and the price from 27 to 125 thousand dollars did not at all scare away those who wanted to buy a real usher. According to the company's rules, a cat could only be purchased after a deposit of $6,000 was made, after which the owners were obliged to deliver the animal only after six months.

The hype continued for about two years, until in 2008 a certain Chris Shirk from Pennsylvania (USA), a breeder cultivating the Savannah breed, recognized a photo posted on the Internet, which allegedly depicted Asher's cat, his pet. Chris stated that a Lifestyle Pets employee bought the animal from him to fraudulently inflate the price of Savannah. The latter breed is also notable for its rather large size, since it was bred by crossing a serval and a domesticated Bengal cat (and this latter, in turn, is a descendant of a wild Bengal cat.

US Fish and Wildlife, contacted by Chris Shirk, conducted an investigation with DNA samples. U

2 Savannahs from the Shirk nursery had blood samples taken and delivered to an independent forensic laboratory in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. A laboratory DNA test confirmed that the Asher cat claimed on the Internet is a direct descendant of these Pennsylvania Savannahs. The news thatthe new-born breed is just a fiction, excited felinologists, and especially those who have already paid for their purchases an amount equal to the cost of a new car.

Lifestyle Pets has published an assurance that the case with Shirk is an exceptionally private case, which happened through the fault of an unscrupulous employee of the company, and that Usher's cat really exists as an independent synthetic breed. However, prices for representatives of this race have fallen very much. Even for kittens of a very rare Royal variety, in which caramel-colored backs are not black, but orange leopard spots, they give no more than 22 thousand dollars.

Be that as it may, whether it is an independent breed or especially large Savannahs, the Ashera cat also has its adherents. Agree, many would like to walk on a leash through the streets of a real mini-leopard. The already mentioned Royal is especially popular - since no more than four kittens are born in the world during the year, and the Snowy (absolutely white) species of this synthetic race. Such animals are not only a sign of luxury, but of real prestige.