# Animal fancy > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Animal_fancy > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Animal_fancy.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_fancy > Source revision: 1346428923 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) "Dog fancy" redirects here. For the magazine, see [Dog Fancy](/source/Dog_Fancy). **Animal fancy** is a [hobby](/source/Hobby) involving the appreciation, promotion, or breeding of [pet](/source/Pet) or [domestic animals](/source/Domestic_animal). Fancy may include ownership,[1] showing, [animal sports](/source/Animals_in_sport) and other competitions, and [breeding](/source/Selective_breeding). Hobbyists may simply collect specimens of the animal in appropriate enclosures ([vivaria](/source/Vivarium)), such as an [aquarium](/source/Aquarium),[2] [terrarium](/source/Terrarium), or [aviary](/source/Aviary). Some fanciers keep [hobby farms](/source/Hobby_farm), or [menageries](/source/Menagerie) (private [zoos](/source/Zoo)). There are many animal fancy clubs and associations in the world, which cater to everything from [pigeons](/source/Pigeon_keeping) to [Irish Wolfhounds](/source/Irish_Wolfhound). Fanciers and fancierdom may collectively be referred to as *the fancy* for that kind of animal, e.g. the [cat fancy](/source/Cat_fancy). Animal fancy includes the keeping of animals considered [exotic pets](/source/Exotic_pets); a rapidly growing[3] example is [herpetoculture](/source/Herpetoculture), the keeping of [reptiles](/source/Reptiles) and [amphibians](/source/Amphibians). ## Organizations Some examples of international animal fancy organizations are: - [Avicultural](/source/Aviculture) Society, an organization for the keeping and breeding of all types of birds other than domesticated varieties, with various national chapters; founded in 1894. - [Fédération Cynologique Internationale](/source/F%C3%A9d%C3%A9ration_Cynologique_Internationale) (FCI), an international federation of many national [kennel clubs](/source/Kennel_clubs) (dog fancier and breeder organizations), founded in 1911. Not all prominent national clubs are affiliated, including the [American Kennel Club](/source/American_Kennel_Club). - [Fédération Internationale Féline](/source/F%C3%A9d%C3%A9ration_Internationale_F%C3%A9line) (FIFe), an international federation of many national [cat fancier and breeder organizations](/source/Cat_registry), founded in 1949. Many notable national clubs are not affiliated; the US-based [Cat Fanciers' Association](/source/Cat_Fanciers'_Association) (CFA) is not, while the UK has a FIFe affiliate it also has the competing [Governing Council of the Cat Fancy](/source/Governing_Council_of_the_Cat_Fancy) (GCCF). - International [Butterfly](/source/Butterfly) Breeders Association (IBBA), an organization for commercial butterfly "farmers", as well as hobbyists, founded in 1998. - International [Herpetological](/source/Herpetology) Society (IHS), an organization for both research regarding and propagation of [reptiles](/source/Reptile) and [amphibians](/source/Amphibian), founded in 1969. For many species of [domesticated animal](/source/Domesticated_animal) there are no international groups, but numerous unrelated national organizations, e.g. the [American Poultry Association](/source/American_Poultry_Association), and the New Zealand [Cavy](/source/List_of_guinea_pig_breeds) Club. They may commingle the interests of keepers of pet and show animals, and breeders of livestock and working animals (e.g. the [British Horse Society](/source/British_Horse_Society)), or focus on one or the other (e.g. the [British Show Horse Association](/source/British_Show_Horse_Association)). For some species, there are few multi-breed organizations, but many breed-specific clubs, e.g. the [Australian Stock Horse](/source/Australian_Stock_Horse) Society, the [Parthenais Cattle](/source/Parthenais_cattle) Breeders Association, the [Bernese Mountain Dog](/source/Bernese_Mountain_Dog) Club of New Zealand, etc. Single-breed clubs often exist regardless of the establishment of multi-breed groups, and may or may not affiliate with them, while national organizations often have subnational affiliates. Organizations at any level may combine the features of a [breed registry](/source/Breed_registry), a fanciers' [membership organization](/source/Membership_organization), a [competition governing body](/source/Sport_governing_body), a [trade association](/source/Trade_association), a [preservation](/source/Wildlife_conservation) group, and other categories, and may be [nonprofits](/source/Nonprofit_organization) or [commercial enterprises](/source/Business). Similar species-specific clubs exist for various non-domesticated species, e.g. the [Golden Conure](/source/Golden_conure) Society and the American [Fancy Rat](/source/Fancy_rat) and [Mouse](/source/Fancy_mouse) Association. ## See also - [Animal show](/source/Animal_show) - [Animals in sport](/source/Animals_in_sport) - [Novelty pet](/source/Novelty_pet) - [Fandom](/source/Fandom), more generally ## References 1. *Waiting for Wolves in Japan* By John Knight, Oxford University Press 2003, pg 212 ISBN 0-19-925518-0 1. *Pennak's Freshwater Invertebrates of the United States* by Douglas Grant Smith, Robert William Pennak, 4th ed. John Wiley & Sons 2001, pg 468 ISBN 0-471-35837-1 1. [*Reptiles now more popular pets than dogs* By Jasper Copping, The Telegraph.c.uk 2008](https://web.archive.org/web/20090322185854/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/3500882/Reptiles-now-more-popular-pets-than-dogs.html) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Animal fancy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_fancy) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_fancy?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.