Any time you want to find out if a particular animal is legal to have as a pet, you can check something called the Alberta Controlled animals list. It breaks down controlled animals by species, genus etc.
If it’s on the list, you can’t have one, except for rare cases where you have special permits and licensing. This is usually researchers, zoos, or other accredited animal management facilities.
Here is the animals list for your reference.
If you are not interested in scrolling through all those animals right now, here is what we can tell you about servals.
Can you own a serval in Alberta?
You can not legally own a pet serval cat(Family: Felidae) in Alberta, Canada.
They are listed on the Alberta Controlled animals regulation.
You would need special documentation and permissions, like a zoo.
Pretty much any large or medium sized wild cats is off limits in Alberta, including leopards, lions, tigers and so on.
The provincial government has deemed these to be unpredictable and dangerous exotic animals.
Restricted Wild Cats in Alberta:
Wild Cats:
- Serval (Leptailurus serval)
- Lynx (Lynx spp.)
- Caracal (Caracal caracal)
- Ocelot (Leopardus pardalis)
- Bobcat (Lynx rufus)
- Jaguar (Panthera onca)
- Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus)
In Summary
- You can not legally own a serval cat in Alberta, Canada
- They are listed on the controlled species list of Alberta
- They are restricted along with other medium and large sized wild cats
- They are deemed too dangerous and unpredictable
- Special permissions can be granted for researchers and zoos
