January 2008 Newsletter - United Burmese Cat Fanciers
January 2008 Newsletter - United Burmese Cat Fanciers
January 2008 Newsletter - United Burmese Cat Fanciers
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Editorial By Nancy L. Reeves<br />
The State of the Breed<br />
The opinions expressed in this editorial are strictly those<br />
of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of<br />
UBCF’s officers or its members.<br />
An Unexpected Turning Point<br />
One day last February, I found myself sitting at my computer,<br />
disgusted by yet another heated argument on one of<br />
the Yahoo <strong>Burmese</strong> lists. I finally had had enough of these<br />
venomous exchanges, tired of watching one group of <strong>Burmese</strong><br />
breeders expressing their opinions only to be harshly<br />
criticized by breeders on the other side of the argument. It<br />
should be no surprise to most readers of this newsletter that<br />
the primary issue involved in these discussions is one that<br />
has haunted our breed for decades: the lethal cranio-facial<br />
mutation, more commonly known as the <strong>Burmese</strong> Head<br />
Defect.<br />
That February day I felt it was time for a new forum,<br />
one where traditional breeders (those who choose not to<br />
<strong>United</strong> Bumese <strong>Cat</strong> <strong>Fanciers</strong><br />
<strong>Newsletter</strong><br />
Volume 1 Issue 1<br />
November 2007<br />
Editor: Nancy L. Reeves<br />
Art Direction & Printing: Art Graafmans<br />
Contributors:<br />
Leora Alden Kathryn Amann<br />
Carolyn Beard Hyla Carney<br />
Jo Whitman Diamond Prudence Dorazio<br />
Becky Drew Bob Gleason<br />
Art Graafmans Kristi Graafmans<br />
Willa Hawke-Rogers Larry Jelinek<br />
Barbara Kish Lynette Massow<br />
Jenny Nelson Nina Pearlmutter<br />
Margaret Stevens Shirley Storey<br />
Rose Wheeler Tim Wheeler<br />
Cover Photo Credits:<br />
All Photos © Chanan Photography<br />
work with the lethal gene) could freely talk without fear of<br />
criticism from contemporary breeders (those who choose to<br />
work with the lethal gene). So I set up a new Yahoo group,<br />
and invited the traditional breeders that I knew personally<br />
to join. They in turn recommended some of the breeders<br />
they knew. And those new members invited more traditional<br />
breeders. And so the list grew.<br />
Our first exchanges on the new list were hesitant – in<br />
fact I sensed the need to “seed” the list with topics that I<br />
hoped would spark discussions. When several weeks<br />
passed without much activity, I began to feel that perhaps<br />
this kind of forum wasn’t needed. But soon discussions<br />
multiplied, until a cathartic flurry of exchanges occurred.<br />
The floodgates had opened, and traditional breeders felt free<br />
to vent and commiserate over many years of accumulated<br />
frustrations. And the primary source of those frustrations<br />
was the Head Defect and the hoped-for development of a<br />
genetic test.<br />
“The Test”<br />
Being an optimist by nature, for years I have been waiting<br />
eagerly for Leslie Lyons and her team at U.C. Davis<br />
to identify the horrific lethal gene or genes that cause the<br />
Head Defect to occur, and which ultimately threatens our<br />
breed. My optimism, however, has become tempered by<br />
reality.<br />
My early assumptions were that developing a genetic<br />
test for the Head Defect would solve numerous problems<br />
within the breed and help heal the divided <strong>Burmese</strong> communities.<br />
I’m no longer so naïve. In fact, I have come<br />
to believe that “The Test” may, if not handled correctly,<br />
further divide us. Nevertheless, I still think this test is a<br />
critically important milestone for the <strong>Burmese</strong> breed.<br />
I make no claims to having a good understanding of<br />
genetics, and I find many aspects difficult to comprehend<br />
and explain. However, for me at least, there is compelling<br />
evidence that the gene or genes which produce the contemporary<br />
look and the accompanying Head Defect can not be<br />
separated, and once the Head Defect gene is found I believe<br />
it unlikely that there will be lines which can produce the<br />
contemporary look without the litter losses. The early work<br />
done by the Search Core group, which demonstrated this<br />
fact to many people’s satisfaction, and more recently the<br />
health survey done by Dr. Susan Little, which shows that<br />
after three decades the percentage litter loss has remained<br />
at 25%, leads me to this conclusion.<br />
Page 2 UBCF <strong>January</strong> <strong>2008</strong>