Servals are medium-sized African wild cats kept in zoos and increasingly as exotic pets. Their welfare needs are complex and difficult to meet in domestic settings.
Serval welfare suffers tremendously in domestic pet situations. Their powerful hunting drive, territorial nature, and need for large home ranges cannot be met in a home environment. Servals kept as pets show aggression, escape attempts, destructive behavior, and stress-related illness. Even in well-run zoos, meeting their behavioral needs requires large, complex enclosures with ample hunting enrichment. The exotic pet trade drives welfare harm both during capture and throughout the animal's captive life.