Bengal breeder Judee Frank has managed to crossbreed a Serval and domestic cat, producing the first Savannah (named Savannah) on April 7, 1986. Judee Franks Savannah attracted the interest of Patrick Kelley, who had been interested in exotic looking domestic cats for many years and purchased one of Savannah's kittens in 1989. Patrick Kelleys enthusiasm and vision for establishing a new domestic breed based on the Serval / domestic Cat cross prompted him to research what steps would be needed to be recognized and accepted by an official feline registry. Armed with that information, obtained from Leslie Bowners at TICA (The International Cat Association), Patrick approached numerous breeders of Servals and encouraged them to attempt the development of this new breed. Initially, no breeders were interested. But Patrick persisted and finally convinced one breeder, Joyce Sroufe, to join him in founding the Savannah breed.