Cat hybrids Australia will not admit — including Bengals since March 2026

Last verified: 2026-08-25

The answer

Non-domestic cat hybrids are not allowed into Australia. The department names:

• Savannah — domestic cat crossed with serval (Felis serval)
• Safari — domestic cat crossed with Geoffroy’s cat (Oncifelis geoffroyi)
• Chausie — domestic cat crossed with jungle cat (Felis chaus)
• Bengal — domestic cat crossed with Asian leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis)

…and any crossbred offspring derived from them. The department’s own wording is that the list “includes (but is not limited to)” these breeds, so being absent from it is not permission.

Bengals: changed on 1 March 2026

As of 1 March 2026, Bengal cats are no longer permitted to enter Australia.

This is recent enough that a great deal of pet-travel advice online still describes the older position, under which some Bengal generations could qualify. If you are working from a guide, a forum thread or a shipper’s page written before March 2026, assume it is wrong on this point and check the date on what you are reading.

If you own a Bengal and are moving to Australia, this is not a paperwork obstacle to solve. It is a closed door, and it needs a different plan for the cat.

This is not a biosecurity rule

Like the dog breed bans, this restriction comes from environmental-protection law, not from the biosecurity rules that govern the rest of the import. The authority is the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW), reachable at exotic.species@dcceew.gov.au, and they are who to ask about hybrid animals.

Your import permit comes from a different department. An import permit is not a determination that your cat is not a prohibited hybrid.

Risk after arrival

If an imported cat is identified after arrival as possibly being a hybrid, DCCEEW may investigate further.

That risk falls hardest on cats that look like a hybrid without being registered as one — spotted or rosetted coats, unusually large size. If your cat’s appearance invites the question, get the position confirmed with DCCEEW before you begin a six-month preparation, not after your cat is in quarantine in Melbourne.

What this page does not tell you

• How hybrid status is determined, or what generation of descent (F1, F2, F5…) changes. The published rule reaches crossbred offspring without naming a generation limit.
• Whether your individual cat qualifies as a hybrid — only DCCEEW can answer that.
• Australian state and territory rules, which may restrict ownership separately.
• Dogs, which have their own list on dog breeds and hybrids that cannot enter.