To the members of the: TICA Genetics Committee TICA Rules Committee Attached please find the Transfer New

Breed application for the European Burmese. In this application packet you will find our letter of intent, application form with requested supporting documentation, comparison table of three breeds, and additional letters of support. In this application, we refer to the European Burmese as EBU, and the American Burmese as ABU. We are requesting recognition of the European Burmese as a breed separate from the American Burmese for several reasons. In brief: 1. 2. Over the course of the last 60 years, the EBU and ABU have diverged significantly in conformation. Many associations refuse to recognize the ABU for registration or exhibition. Since the EBU and ABU are lumped together as a single breed in TICA, we are not able to effectively participate in associations worldwide. We wish to maintain, and preferably increase, our genetic diversity within the breed. Recognition of the EBU in TICA will help pave the way for our association to expand into other countries (one of the reasons why the Transfer New Breed program exists).

3. 4.

Wed like to first provide a timeline of events that will put the evolution of the EBU into perspective. It should be noted that the ABU and EBU have the exact same politicallycharged origin, but took different paths of evolution soon afterwards. 1930 Wong Mau (seal mink) arrives in San Francisco. 1936 Burmese is recognized in CFA in sable only. 1938 Burmese are exhibited in San Francisco, but exhibitors protested for their dismissal due to similarities to the Siamese being exhibited. Growing concern over outcrossing is becoming evident at this point. 1940 Burmese breeders in America outcross to Siamese to prevent extinction of the breed. 1947 CFA suspends Burmese registrations until Siamese outcross is halted. 1948 1st Burmese is exported to the UK. Outcrossing to Siamese continues there. This marks the essential bifurcation in conformation between the EBU and ABU. 1952 Burmese (of EBU type) are recognized in GCCF. 1955 First blue EBU born in UK. 1957 CFA reinstatement of ABU registry for sable only. First EBUs arrive in Australia from the UK. 1958 First EBU arrives to New Zealand from Australia. 1963 Blue EBU in UK escapes and mates with a red DSH. Black tortie kitten kept from resulting litter for EBU breeding program. Outcrossing to red

point Siamese continues for EBUs. 1970 Early in the 1970s, the Contemporary style of ABU begins to emerge. 1973 Red and cream EBU are recognized by GCCF. 1978 First tortie EBUs in Australia are born. 1994 EBUs recognized in Miscellaneous category in CFA (called Foreign Burmese for the first year). 2002 EBUs recognized for Championship in CFA. 2011 EBUs recognized for Championship in ACFA. **As one can see from the brief outline of events above, the EBU type has existed since the late 1940s. It is now globally accepted and is rapidly gaining popularity in America. In addition, the current TICA Burmese Breed Committee supports the premise of this application. With this perspective in mind, wed like to specifically address the four primary reasons for this application: 1. Over the course of the last 60 years, the EBU and ABU have diverged significantly in conformation. Since the late 1940s, the EBU has taken a significantly different route of evolution with regards to conformation. Selection for a semi-foreign body type, longer tail (to better balance the longer body length), and drastically different eye and head shape has created a distinctly unique breed. We have included a comparison table showing the differences between the EBU, ABU, and TO (please see attached). The EBU also has demonstrated a greater genetic and physical health record than the ABU, as evidenced by lower coefficients of inbreeding, greater number of kittens per litter, higher birth weights in kittens, lacking the GM2 mutation, and almost no incidence of HCM. 2. Many associations refuse to recognize the ABU for registration or exhibition. Since the EBU and ABU are lumped together as a single breed in TICA, we are not able to effectively participate in associations worldwide. A common misconception in America is that EBU come only from Europe. The EBU type is globally recognized, in which the name simply designates point of breed origin. In the same manner, not all Maine Coons are from Maine and not all longhaired substantial cats from Maine are Maine Coons. Since the ABU is not accepted in many associations outside of America, the name European is not used in front of the breed name. They instead refer to the breed as Burmese. For example, the Australian Cat Federation EBU type is simply called Burmese since they do not allow ABU. This is generally confusing to most Americans. In America, we can readily import EBU for our programs. However, breeders outside of America cannot import TICA cats back from us because their associations refuse to accept them (due to the lumping with ABU). FIFe is the only other major association which lumps the two breeds together. FIFe also wants to split the breeds, but each club is their own registering body. So a concerted effort to accomplish this is

much more difficult than in TICA. This inability to readily export cats from America due to this lumping leads into our reason in #3 below. 3. We wish to maintain, and preferably increase, our genetic diversity within the breed. The gene pool for EBU is large at this point. This proposal does not decrease the ABU genetic diversity in any way. By splitting the ABU and EBU in TICA, the doors to importation/exportation of our cats will be fully open and will further increase our genetic diversity. We would then recommend the Burmese breed section poll a vote to use European Burmese as an outcross let their membership decide if they wish to use EBU. In this manner, they can take advantage of our added genetic diversity to strengthen their dwindling gene pool. Conversely, the EBU would not elect to use the ABU as an outcross. This would allow us to maintain registration rights in other associations that dont accept the ABU (much like the TICA Scottish Fold allows the British SH/LH as an outcross, but the British SH/LH does not allow the Scottish Fold as an outcross). The TO already recognizes both the Burmese and European Burmese as outcrosses in TICA. 4. Recognition of the EBU in TICA will help pave the way for our association to expand into other countries (one of the reasons why the Transfer New Breed program exists). As TICA strives to become more global and sustainable, the recognition of the EBU will be in line with what other associations are currently doing. This helps pave the way for TICA to expand into other countries in which there is currently no presence which is, in part, the goal of the Transfer New Breed process.

The European Burmese Breed Section was established at the EO in October 2011 for the purposes of tracking our registrations and members in TICA. Many thanks go out to Leslie Bowers for helping produce such a seamless transition for our registrations. This current system allows for flexibility within the ABU group for their registrations, but not for the EBU (a one-way system). Under this system, an ABU owner who brings an EBU into their program may register the cat as a Burmese or as European Burmese (with the proper documentation). Conversely, an EBU owner may apply for EBU registration only by providing a letter of intent to the EO, a pedigree, and a copy of their current registration from one of the other associations that recognize EBU cats separately from ABU. An ABU cannot be registered as an EBU therefore, preserving the one-way registration system. A schematic below shows the current process in TICA:

American Burmese

Can only be registered as "Burmese"

European Burmese

Default registration is "Burmese"

European Burmese

Letter of intent, pedigree, reg from other assoc = "European Burmese"

We thank you for considering our application. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our working group chair, Heather Roberts, at puravidacats@yahoo.com or 530-368-0432.