There are two African Serval breeders in Nanaimo, both advertising kittens for about $2800. It would be interesting to know whether these people file tax returns for this income, given that one litter can produce $20,000 worth of kittens!
This link provides some good information on African Servals.
http://www.patzmeow.com/africanservalcare.html
I found this part worth noting:
"A serval may bond with you and never bond with another person for the rest of its life. This may make it hard for the serval if you decide that you cannot care for it anymore. Not many people want to spend decades caring for an animal that they can’t have a relationship with. Bear this in mind and realize that a serval may live up to 20 years. The serval will depend on you for that length of time. Some servals may be able to bond with a new owner but that is not guaranteed."
Here is another link about keeping larger exotic cats as pets:
http://www.wildaboutcats.org/require.htm
This is an excerpt about keeping big cats like tigers as a pet:
"The most important information you will need is on handling and training. This comes from experience. No matter how tame your cat, he can kill you if you do the wrong thing. Your behavior is very important to safety. Raising, handling, and training a young cat properly will make or break your ability to handle them after the first year. And even then there's no guarantee that they will be handlable upon maturity. Check yourself to be sure that walking and petting your cat is not the reason that you are getting one. Handling them for one year as a younster is not worth having to house and feed them and not being able to touch them for the next twenty years. Yet this is always a possibility, even if you do everything right. You must be prepared for the fact that you may not be able to handle your cat at all except maybe a quick careful rub through the fence. More often than not, this is the case. These are wild animals! Domestication takes thousands of years, not a few generations. See if you can volunteer somewhere that has big cats to learn all you can about behavior (yours and theirs). It may save your life, someone elses, and make for a happier cat. Also for safety you should get a CO2 fire extinguisher (not Halon) to keep next to the cage. If there's ever an attack or excape, a blast of CO2 is harmless but will spook a cat enough to get away or direct them where you want them to go. Even though the enclosure won't take up much room on your property, it will be nice to have that large buffer zone around your cat. Several acres is preferred. You do not want it visible to the public. If it is, build a wall. Once word gets out, people will come. Out of sight, out of mind. If they are tempted they will approach the cage and stick their fingers in, get bit, and sue you. Always have locks on both cage doors. Unfortunately it is not uncommon that angry people that don't approve will give you problems and/or poison or shoot your cat if they can get to it. You must have a perimeter fence on your property."
I don't believe politicians have a choice: they must ban the trade and keeping of wild exotic animals as pets. Even the people selling them admit they are WILD animals, and repeatedly warn potential owners that they are not to be treated like a traditional domestic pet. Not to mention the fact that keeping WILD animals confined in this manner is terribly cruel.