The Bengal cat started out as a hybrid of the Asian Leopard cat and a Domestic Tabby cat. The development and interest in creating this mixed breed began in the early 1960’s in the United States. Hunters would trap the Asian Leopard cats for pelts and were selling their cubs to pet stores as novelty pets. A woman by the name of Jean Mill studied genetics with her main focus being on cross-breeding cats. Mills believed that with the creation of this mixed breed she could eliminate the amount of poaching being done involving the Asian Leopard cat.
Jean Mill was one of the greatest influences in the development of the Bengal cat and here is how it all started. Mills decided to take a female Asian Leopard cat home with her in hopes of cross-breeding her. Around that same time she was to bring this wild cat home Mills had also taken in her neighbor’s male black Tabby Cat that they didn’t want anymore. The two cats bred making a litter where only one female had survived. It took Jean about 20 years until she was able to breed a line of Bengal cats that weren’t sterile or had illnesses. In 1982, Jean Mill decided to mix the Asian Leopard cat with an Indian Mau domestic cat. She was very successful with this cross-breed creating the “Millwood Tory of Delhi” lineage that still exists today.