Page 32 - Thola Issue 17

30 Southern African Wild Cats
ABOVE: A five-week old Black-footed kitten.
BELOW: A juvenile African Wild Cat female. Notice the distinctive orange on the back of the ears with mushroom brown markings on the face. Bands on the legs and tail are black – these are distinctive features of pure African Wild Cats.
in the wild populations, is triggered by stress and poses a huge problem to any captive Black-footed Cats. We were fortunate enough to be able to send cats bred at our facility to zoos in Europe as well as the United States, in an attempt to infuse new genes into their captive populations. Unfortunately, this season, we have lost three kittens and are waiting on the pathology to determine cause of death. The San Diego Wildlife Park and Zoo have helped with the financial costs of the Black-footed Cat necropsies over the years.
SUCCESS STORIES
Some of our success stories include the release of several cats on private game farms. For example, Kwandwe Private Game Reserve released two African Wild Cats, which they monitored for a while. In addition, Mount Camdeboo Private Game Reserve took several of our African Wild Cats. We released African Wild Cats and Caracal a few years ago at Mountain Zebra National Park. We also donated one of our pure African Wild Cat males to Dabchick Private Game Reserve to help start a breeding programme. We have sent an African Wild Cat female on a breeding loan to the Johannesburg Zoo (the flight was kindly sponsored by renowned South African conservationist Braam Malherbe). We have released Servals at Kariega Game Reserve as well Lalibela Private Game Reserve.
CONSERVATION AND AWARENESS
We have received funding in the past from a handful of institutions but we and the Pfleiderers have funded the majority of the project. We were, however, grateful that the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF) granted us funding for next year, which will include an in situ research project, continued school outreach project, and enclosures maintenance. We do not
accept volunteers, as the small cats do not like a change in keepers; they are not tame and cannot be handled.
Some of the facilities, including cat enclosures, are open to the public. We also visit schools in order to increase awareness of the conservation of
the smaller cat species as well as biodiversity conservation. Fortunately, the grant from the NLDTF will now cover these expenses. Were it not for us keeping these cats in captivity, visiting schools and advocating for a change
in farming attitudes, they would be further down the road to annihilation. The school children’s comments during and after the presentations has shown what a positive impact we are having. This may also encourage them to be more aware of their environment as well as showing them the possibility of a future career in conservation. This in turn empowers them by making them realise that they can make a difference in their communities.
thola: VOLUME 17. 2014/15
Photo credit: Marion Holmes.
For further information, please do not hesitate to contact us atinfo@karoocats. org or visit www.karoocats.org (new look website under construction).
Donations are always welcome! Account name: Cat Conservation Trust Bank: FNB Branch code: 250655 Account no: 62514654583
Photo credit: Marion Holmes