Back in 1978, a British-Kenyan artist and horse breeder, Jeni Slater, found two unusual-looking wild cats, a male and a female, on her coconut plantation. Their wild appearance, unusual coloration, and markings so impressed her that she decided to tame them and start breeding them. FIFe fully recognized the Sokoke cat in January 1994, while TICA did so in 2008.