Video: Breeding Half-Wild Cats: The New Yorker Recently, in a piece titled "Living-Room Leopards," Ariel Levy explored the crossbreeding of domestic cats with their more feral cousins. "For the first time in history," she writes, "humans are trying to reverse, at least aesthetically, the process of domestication. The result has been voguish hybrids like the Savannah cat, a cross between a domestic and a serval, an African native that preys on gazelles and springbok. For many breeders, the practice is a lucrative one - as Levy notes, "People pay as much as thirty thousand dollars for the privilege of owning a hybrid that looks as if it could prowl the wilderness." But the proliferation of half-wild house cats is controversial. PETA denounces the practice. Inbreeding causes complications. And, Levy reports, "The Cat Fanciers" Association does not recognize Bengals or any other hybrid breed. In New York State, it's illegal to own a Savannah, unless it's at least five generations removed from a wildcat. Should such muscles, such stripes, such spots, be allowed to lounge on one's couch? Is it safe? Meanwhile, catteries continue to breed and ship half-wild cats around the world. As one breeder in the article, Judy Sugden, proudly proclaims of her product, "I am an artist! ... And I have designed and built a cat." In April, the videographer Tanner Herriot travelled to A1 Savannahs, a cattery in Ponca City, Oklahoma, which specializes in - what else - the Savannah. The owner, Martin Stucki, and his wife, Kathrin, are currently holding more than a hundred and twenty cats. In the thirty-five years that the cattery has been open, over five thousand felines have come and gone. In the video above, the manager of A1 Savannahs, Laura Williamson, sheds some light on their process. Video by Tanner Herriott, Sky Dylans-Robbins, and Kristina Budelis.