by Zipora Hartov

Created on: April 25, 2008   Last Updated: November 28, 2008

$22,000 for a genetically engineered cat? This is the minimum price quoted on the Lifestyle Pets website.

Apparently there are 4 different types of the Ashera cat, and prices go up to $125,000. I can find no information on their website about how they are breeding this cat. I would like to have the technical hows and whys available. It would also be nice to be able to find more information on this company aside from their own website. A very secretive company, this one. When I Googled Simon Brodie, associated with Lifestyle Pets and the former owner of Allerca, there were a number of articles on him and Allerca,

"Allerca, a "designer pet" company that claims to have created a hypoallergenic cat" as reported by Penny Crabtree, Staff Writer for the San Diego Tribune on October 28, 2006. Mr. Brodie has a criminal record in his native United Kingdom.

She also reported that "Both Allerca and Brodie said Brodie no longer has an ownership interest in Allerca; he continues to serve the company as a consultant Brodie and Allerca are promoting what some business experts and cat breeders view as a problematic business opportunity a franchise in cats that costs $45,000 per "territory. Neither Allerca nor Brodie would disclose who owns Allerca or where the company is located, and they would not provide the names of scientists or breeding facilities involved in creation of Allerca's cats. According to a recently filed U.S trademark application, Brodie and Allerca reside at The Grande condo complex in downtown San Diego Brodie acknowledged to The San Diego Union-Tribune that he ordered several Savannah female breeders from a traditional cat breeder in August, though the deal did not go through. At the time, Brodie identified himself to the breeder as Campbell Francis and his firm as Monsenco Capital.

Brodie said Allerca's cat breeding experts asked him to acquire the Savannahs for the purpose of devising "the right formula" for the Ashera." There were a number of other articles, dating from around 2004, on Mr. Brodie, none of them adding to his credibility. Another fascinating article I found was in the January 2007 issue of TheScientist.com which called Allerca "a company with a shady past" and ""There's a lot of skepticism in the academic community about whether or not these cats are hypoallergenic," says Martin Chapman, a former professor of Medicine and Microbiology at the University of Virginia and the founder of Indoor Biotechnologies, a company that designs allergy tests."We've not come across any documented scientific study that this is a real phenomenon."

There is more scientific criticism of Mr. Brodie's former company in this article, which also raises doubts about the credibility of the "Ashera" cat and its hypoallergenic trait. While this may well be a hoax, the use of genetic engineering for financial gain is occurring at a time when many animals are becoming extinct due to human mis-use of natural resources and the general disregard for them and the habitat required for them to continue to exist. There is no way to justify either the breeding or financial use of money in this case.

I have always been against the ownership of exotic pets as most people do not have the training in animal behavior to understand and work with their own pets. Many of these are abandoned when it proves to be much work and a lot of disruption to the household. Don't we have enough to do rather than breed a "small leopard"? They haven't even been in existence long enough to study the temperament and determine whether they do have domestic traits rather than wild cat traits. Furthermore, how can one call a breed a true breed until it can breed true?

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