FECT! CATS KEPT OUT!

HE’S

raw meat such as mice, birds, chicks and rabbits and he is fed every three hours.

‘Anubis eats the bones and skin off any animal and it’s no surprise he’s classified as dangerous,’ Kelly says.

‘If threatened he’d attack anyone that came into our home and there’s no doubt that his bite could be fatal.

‘At home I’m definitely his favourite and we’re not scared of him,’ she insists. ‘Even the children aren’t fazed. They’re used to us introducing them to strange pets.’

However, the mum-of-two admits the family has installed CCTV in his enclosure and has taken out public liability insurance in case their pet happened to escape.

And while he’s a beloved pet, the family are already planning on breeding from Anubis.

Servals can cost anything from $1300 to $21,000 depending on the particular specimen, and keeping one as a pet comes with responsibilities.

‘Anubis needs a lot of attention and has to be given daily exercise on his lead,’ Kelly explains. ‘He lets us know what he wants by hissing at us and we now know which hisses mean he’s happy, angry or hungry.’

When Anubis isn’t feeling sociable, he will go into his enclosure, which is built off the back of their living room, to spend time on his own.

But many evenings, he’ll come into the house to say hello.

‘Anubis is tired in the evenings and will often come indoors after spending the day on his own,’ Kelly says.

‘We wouldn’t leave him alone with the children during the day but at night he’s a completely different cat. Once we trust him enough we’ll build a cat flap in the door so he can come in and out as he pleases.’

Despite Anubis being hand reared in the UK, he hasn’t lost all his natural hunting abilities.

‘We’ve all been really shocked by how wild Anubis actually is. He climbs up the fences and loves having fresh raw meat to chew on,’ explains Kelly. Anubis is still growing. ‘He’s already taller than our four-year-old daughter – it’s crazy,’ Kelly says.

Anubis is allowed to be out in public places as long as he’s kept securely on his lead at all times and he even enjoys a car ride to the local shops.

‘We get people pointing and staring at him whenever we are out and about,’ Kelly says.

‘He’s so popular that it’s almost impossible to enjoy a family day out without people flocking around us.

‘Seb loves posing with him on social media and he has almost 10,000 Instagram followers.’

Kelly has a word of warning for anyone else thinking of adopting a serval.

‘I’d advise anyone thinking of having a serval as a pet to do their research first. They’re a huge responsibility and need a lot of care,’ she says.

Native to Africa’s tropical savannas, the African serval is a medium-sized cat with large ears and spotted fur. Captive African servals are kept as pets in the USA and in zoos around the world, including in Australia, and they have the potential to thrive in parts of Australia if introduced into the wild. African servals can eat native species and attack humans. The serval is a prohibited invasive animal under the Biosecurity Act 2014. It is an offence under Australian law to import or possess an exotic animal and its progeny if it is not on the live import list.