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Captivity-bred Scots wildcats to be released


Eldorado

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"Critically-endangered Scottish wildcats bred in captivity are to be released into the wild for the first time.

"Funding has been secured for a six-year project to breed and release up to 60 animals beginning in 2022.

"Experts have predicted it is "highly likely" the species - known as the Highland tiger - will become extinct without the intervention."

Full monty at the BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-50464091

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26 minutes ago, Eldorado said:

"Critically-endangered Scots bred in captivity are to be released into the wild for the first time.

:unsure2:

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When I moved to the far north-west of Scotland, I moved into a small crofting community.  Crofts are a bit like small-holdings and have special legal consideration that small farms, say, do not.  So, there were about 20 houses in this community, most of which had sole occupancy of a single field (a croft).  So, lots of heathery, reedy fields and few houses.  No trees at all (as is usual that far north).  I took my 2 cats to my new house.  Being city born and bred it took some time for them to get used to the sound of the strong winds and the open spaces. However, they adapted very well and one of the cats in particular became a good hunter killing the rabbits that were eating our neighbour's vegetables.  (He was delighted to have such a cat as his new neighbour.)   

After a few weeks, my cats started returning home from their hunting forays limping badly and with a swollen joint wherever there were puncture wounds.  I couldn't think what was going on.  No one else close by had a cat for them to fight with, so what was happening?  

My cats used to follow me on walks down to the beach and when returning from such a walk, I noticed the animals looking anxiously at a large clump of reeds and giving it a wide berth.  They hadn't even passed the clump when suddenly a cat, a wild cat, leaped out of its hiding place in those reeds and attacked them. We made it to the house but my animals were once again injured, quite badly this time. 

I phoned the SSPCA and an officer delivered a trap in which to catch the wild cat.  When caught, the SSPCA officer would relocate the animal.  A near neighbour had seen the wild cat many times in his croft so he suggested I leave the trap there.  After several weeks I failed to catch the animal.  It attacked my own cats again during this period.  I persisted until one day I got a call from my neighbour.  He had seen the animal once again on his property and had shot it dead.

I saw the carcass.  It was a big animal.

Edited by littlebrowndragon
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13 minutes ago, acute said:

What are these wildcats gonna live on? Whiskas Feral?

 

Apparently my domestic cat was doing a better job hunting the neighbour's rabbits than that wildcat was.

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