Apparently Scottish wildcats are not wild about snow

We mentioned the project earlier, and it seems that photo-traps installed to monitor the behaviour of Scottish wildcats within the area of the Cairngorms National Park are producing useful results – even when they record nothing.

In this case, the absence of images of Scottish wildcats captured by the traps suggests they have some issues with getting around when there is snow on the ground – assuming at least part of their brain is wired up anything like a domestic cat, then there shouldn’t be much surprise in this finding, as the response to a garden full of snow over a foot deep (taller than  the cat), hardly comes as a surprise once the novelty wears off. And you only have to think of your own response to a few days of having to survive and feed if you were dropped into snow 3 metres deep, even of you did have a nice fur coat attached.

More seriously, it’s suggested that snow at higher levels forces wildcats down hills and closer to humans, which they really don’t like, and the same is true of their prey, which they are forced to follow down in order to survive

In a report on the project’s findings , the scientists said further research was needed to determine whether any significant seasonal differences affected the success of camera traps set for wildcats.

The report said: “It should also be noted that no cat photos were taken when the snow was greater than four inches deep, despite photographs of pine marten and prey species being captured.

“The European wildcat is known to have trouble moving around in snow and it is likely that the Scottish wildcat has a similar problem.

“Therefore, it is recommended that camera trapping for this species is not carried out in heavy snow at is unlikely to yield good results.”

via BBC News – Scottish wildcats ‘not wild’ about snow, says SNH report.

Update

Looks as if the almost complete absence of Scottish wildcats from the twenty camera traps set up in the Cairngorms might lead to more detailed research into their winter habits.

I liked the observation by one biologist that cats have small feet in relation to their body weight – so they sink into snow rather than move across it (must’ve been watching the funny ‘cats in snow’ videos on YouTube).

More interesting was the idea that while the cats have trouble on deep snow (and might prefer to stay in sheltered areas beneath trees), their prey would be able to move around under the snow if it was a small burrowing creature such as a vole.

BBC News – Further Scottish wildcats snow studies possible

Donations from specialist Wildcat Ale help sustain wildcat campaign

Thanks to donations from the Cairngorm Brewery in Aviemore, a conservation project aimed at monitoring the habits of the Scottish wildcat is being sustained.

Over the past two years, it seems the micro-brewery has sold some 100,000 bottle of the speciality Wildcat Ale, with every bottle sold resulting in a donation to the project.

The campaign, called the Highland Tiger project, has to sustain vital monitoring equipment at the Cairngorms National Park, where camera traps can monitor wildcat behaviour without upsetting their behaviour, as the animals are wary of human presence. One of the difficulties is that at low temperatures, rechargeable batteries can’t cope, and their capacity drops – or they stop working altogether – meaning frequent visits. Conventional batteries offer superior performance, but can’t be recharged, so need to be replaced when they die, leading to higher running costs.

via Beer drinkers boost campaign to save Scotland’s wildcat | Highlands & Islands | STV News.

Highland Tiger : The Scottish Wildcat

Cairngorm Brewery – Aviemore – Scotland

Cairngorms National Park Authority

Scottish wildcat clones may help ensure survival of the species

How appropriate it would be if work pioneered and perfected in Scotland was to help preserve the Scottish wildcat as a pure species:

A scientist who was involved in cloning Dolly the sheep 15 years ago has started work on a new technique to clone rare Scottish wildcats.

Embryologist Dr Bill Ritchie said the project could help protect the species which is thought to number about 400 cats in the wild.

Midlothian-based Moredun Research Institute is involved.

The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) has previously suggested cloning wildcats.

…In August last year, bosses at the RZSS’s Highland Wildlife Park confirmed a plan to clone wildcats was in the early stages of being discussed.

Talks had been held with the Medical Research Council’s Human Reproductive Sciences Unit in Edinburgh.

The park said a house cat-wildcat hybrid could be used to give birth to “pure wildcat kittens”.

It has been estimated that 150 breeding pairs of wildcats survive in parts of the Highlands.

Disease, loss of habitat and inter-breeding with domestic cats have been blamed for devastating wild populations

via BBC News – Dolly scientist working on cloning Scottish wildcats.

Moredun Research Institute

Aberdeen kitten survives hour long washing machine cycle

I don’t know how many of her lives eight-week-old kitten Princes used up, but the total has to be less than nine after she came through a wash and spin cycle after climbing into the family’s washing machine, and spending about an hour in there as the cycle completed.

Her owners only discovered the curious kitty when they opened the door to empty the machine, and found the kitten clinging to a pair of jeans.

They dried and tried to warm the shivering and shocked pet, then rushed by taxi to the vet, where she was treated for the effects of fluid inhalation, bruising, and soap damage to her eyes, but the good news was that none of the injuries were severe, and after the first night she was found to be recovering, needing only a couple of days care at the vet before returning home.

But her owners will be watching closely, as it looks as if Princess still likes to play with clothes, and they eventually end up in the washing machine.

via BBC News – Kitten survives hour in Aberdeen washing machine spin

And Soggy moggy: Kitten survives 50-minute spin in washing machine | Aberdeen City News | STV Local

BBC News – Appeal after cat found abandoned in carrier in Aberdeen

An appeal has been launched after a cat was found abandoned in carrier in Aberdeen:

The cat was found abandoned in the Bucksburn area of Aberdeen

A cat was left abandoned in a pet carrier in Aberdeen by a “cruel and irresponsible” owner, the Scottish SPCA has said.

The black and white male cat was found in the Bucksburn area with a small amount of dry food and no water.

The animal charity has appealed for help to trace the culprit.

Scottish SPCA Inspector Fiona McKenzie said: “The cat’s owner couldn’t have been sure he would be found as he was left in quite a remote area.”

She explained: “It was obvious that the cat had been dumped as he was locked in the pet carrier.

“This was a cruel and irresponsible act.

“He’s a big friendly cat and he’s in good health. However, he wasn’t wearing an identity tag and there was no microchip so we have been unable to trace his owner.”

The charity wants to hear from anyone with information about the 9 June discovery.

via BBC News – Appeal after cat found abandoned in carrier in Aberdeen.

I would add that while I sympathise and agree to a degree with the attitude of the SSPCA and the statement made about the owner, at this stage they do not know the circumstances that led to someone who clearly had looked after the cat, and had a cat carrier and food to hand, and not everyone who has a pet also has a brain the size of a plan, or thinks clearly of some sort of overriding tragedy strikes them unaware. The owner may even have been someone with mental difficulties, and had been given the cat by someone well-meaning, but not aware of what might happen.

Glasgow family reunited with lost cat after five years

Another story of a lost cat turning up after a long time. I seem to be collecting them here!

This one’s rather unusual, since the cat went missing five years ago – in Hampshire.

And was then found in Aldershot.

So how did Glasgow come to be involved?

Two years after their cat, called Pinks, had disappeared, the family moved up to Glasgow. The change had an interesting side-story, as Pinks was chipped, and when the chip was read, it suggested the cat was making a 400 mile trip to home, but the truth was only that the chip database had been updated with the family’s new details, and the cat was not really far from home – or at least its home as it was when he vanished.

The family headed down south to bring Pinks to his new home, which was nice, since the 11-year old tabby’s twin brother had died a few months earlier, in February.

The only losers in the story are the staff at the vehicle recovery shop where Pinks had turned up. They had adopted the apparent stray, and named it Betty. All they have now is an empty feeding dish.

BBC News – Glasgow family reunited with cat found after five years.

Utterly useless rat and mouse killer

While I suspect some might not be too keen to admit they have a mouse problem, I suspect they are more likely to be in denial – I doubt I have the only house in the street that these little unwanted visitors decide to call home if they find the door open, and smell of food issuing forth.

To be accurate, I only come across this on an occasional basis, with years between cases, and find that inviting the local cats – now that I no longer have one of my own – helps ensure their scent is around to act as a deterrent. I’m sure our gardens are infested with these rodents, as I have seen the local cats ‘playing’ with their little friend around the neighbourhood.

I’ve tried various methods of dealing with them, and while having a cat is probably one of the best, it does come with a degree of responsibility, so I now have to try alternatives. While I’m not particularly squeamish, that doesn’t mean I like having ‘jellied mice’ to collect, so traditional traps were out. I tried some humane live traps, but these come with the problem of checking very regularly, and keeping fresh bait on hand – not to mention the rehousing of any catches.

I finally settled on poison. While not ideal, it does suit the problem of occasional visitors, and has the twin advantages of requiring little maintenance, and provides an alert that the little rats have arrived – the bait can lie out of sight for months, or even years, then when it is taken you know they are around.

When the bait is eventually taken, I generally find that one refill of the bait stations, or two at  most, is enough to end the episode, and it then remains untouched – until the next time.

The only downside I can think of is that I have never found a nest, or a dead mouse, inside the house – and that’s not for lack of extensive cleaning or searching.

Rat and mouse killer - not

And that brings me to the pic seen above.

It’s taken me over ten years to use up most of the first bottle of mouse bait/killer I bought, and I decided to lay in some stock while things were quiet, and you can see the wonderful claims made on the box that caught my eye last year. I had expected great things from this, as I recently had to deal with some mice that had decided the garden shed was home, having eaten a hole in the corner of one of the wooden walls.

I duly laid a number of bait trays – open in this case, as nothing bigger than a  mouse would get in, meaning any pets were protected – and waited to see what happened. As this was just before the big freeze of December 2010, I expected the little visitors would not be long in seeking food and shelter.

By the beginning of January 2011, not one piece of the new bait had been touched.

I didn’t believe there were no hungry mice around, so placed some of the old bait in the trays to see if this would attract them to the new stuff.

It certainly did – and was polished off each time I placed it in the trays, while the new bait was left completely untouched. It was easy to tell the difference as the effective bait is dyed blue. By the end of January there is not a spot of blue bait to be seen in any of the trays, despite being refilled a couple of times, while they are still full of the new stuff – still untouched.

I’ve since made a few trips to my nearest ‘big shed’ (B&Q deserve a mention at least, since their stuff works) and bought their own mouse killer, and some rather handy solid bait as well, which comes in cubes and can be left indoors or outdoors. Both have been taken from around the new stuff in the shed, so the mice are still active, and I am looking forward to the better weather when I can replace all the wood they have chewed through in order to get in. At the moment, I’ve had to empty all the tools’n'stuff as I know they are incontinent little so-and-sos, spreading dirt and contamination behind them wherever they go.

Roll on the nice weather – when the cats go back on patrol.

Casper the commuting cat left to die in road

I recall seeing the original story of Casper, the commuting cat from the Barne Barton suburbs of Plymouth, when it first appeared in the news a few years ago, and thought it was typical cat behaviour – disappearing without a word, and having the local bus drivers to do his bidding without saying a word! While his owner had no idea what he was doing – until she followed him one day – the bus drivers knew their passenger well, and together with their local passengers, made sure he got off at the right stop. Casper would even wait in the queue with other passengers, generally boarding the 10 am Number 3 bus, and curling up out of the way for the duration of his ride. Casper had come from a rescue centre in 2002, and the drivers said he had started catching the bus in 2005.

The bus company, First Devon and Cornwall, had even put up a notice in the drivers’ rest room at their Plymouth bus station, asking them to look after their little passenger if spotted sneaking on for his hour-long, 11 mile journey, during which the 12-year-old cat would pass a historic dockyard and naval base, the city centre, several suburbs, and… a red light district. They would also check the bus at the turnaround point, and ensure he was on board for the return trip.

Sadly, what I did not know until recently was that he had been killed in a hit and run incident a year ago, and after an estimated 20,000 miles on the bus, Casper died crossing the road to catch his daily ride.

Owner Sue Finden told the Plymouth Herald: ‘I never dreamt I’d miss an animal as much as I miss him. He was lovely and loved people so much – he was such a different character.’

She said she only found out about his death when a woman knocked on her door to tell her she’d seen Casper being hit by a car – the driver didn’t stop.

Later, Ms Finden said: ‘I thought it was only decent that I let the public know what had happened to him as he made so many friends and would turn up to the bus stop like clockwork.’ She posted a notice at Casper’s usual bus stop in Poole Park Road, adding ‘Many local people knew Casper, who loved everyone. He also enjoyed the bus journeys. Thank you to all those who befriended him.’

Managing Director of First Devon and Cornwall, Marc Reddy, said: ‘Casper touched many people’s lives and clearly had a very exciting life – travelling around Plymouth and who knows where else. I suspect he’s now exploring heaven and is telling all the other cats up there about the many adventures he had.’ Casper had become so popular that an image of him had been added to the side of a bus. Mr Reddy said ‘Casper’s image will remain on the bus for some time to come, and we hope that seeing it around town will give Susan some comfort.’

Mrs Finden later posted a long tribute to her cat on the Plymouth Herald ‘s web site, revealing that he may have been hit by a taxi. She wrote:

Casper was my cat. Chris my husband and I have been touched by the many wonderful reviews from around the world. Also the kind emotional email from First National and reviews from the many First bus drivers, thank you. I thank the lady who knocked on my door last Thursday at 8.45am to inform me Casper had been hit by a car. She kindly returned today to inquire how Casper was. She had no idea the driver had killed him. The lady had her little girl with her walking her to Riverside school. The child was devastated to see Casper crawling out of the road.

The original story quickly spread worldwide.

And the story of the taxi hit-and-run did the same, also being picked up by The Telegraph, the Mail Online, and the BBC.

However, the story did not end there. Almost immediately Casper’s owner was contacted by Simon & Schuster, one of the ‘big four’ English-speaking publishers. Commissioning editor Nigel Stoneman said he had been interested in the story since it had first appeared, and eventually confirmed that ‘Casper the Commuting Cat: The True Story of the Cat Who Rode the Bus and Stole Our Hearts‘ would be published at the start of August. The 204-page ‘bespoke’ hardback would include a full-colour illustrated cover, while each chapter would feature photographs. Mrs Finden plans to donate profits from the book to animal rescue charities.

Surprisingly, this story does ultimately have a Scottish connection, as the biography was written by Scottish ghost-writer Linda Watson-Brown, a former columnist for The Scotsman.

The hardback version quickly sold almost 8,000 copies — an average of over 1,000 a week put it at number 2 in Plymouth’s list of best-sellers — and will be followed by a paperback release via Simon & Schuster offshoot Pocket Books next year. The level of interest has even given rise to news of a deal involving a possible feature-length film about Casper’s story.

youtube.com,

Only four miles from home, the cat lost for six years

Saffy the cat disappeared from the village of Torrance, to the northeast of Glasgow, six years ago. Only one year old, it seems she just wandered away one day, and didn’t come back.

The family tried to find their pet, but eventually gave up the hunt as a lost cause. As the cat had been chipped, the chances of being identified at the vet’s was likely, however, since nothing was heard, the chances of Saffy’s return declined with time.

Then, in 2010, Saffy’s owners received a call from the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), informing them that – thanks to the chip – they had found Saffy wandering in Drumchapel, only about four miles away from Torrance.

Described as ‘half-starved’ when found, she had also lost half of her tail at some point, possibly having been broken or caught somewhere during her wanderings.

Reported to be happily settling in at home, and having recognised her name when called, Saffy is also said to be staying close to home now that she’s been reunited with her family, although her owners have said it will be a while before they let her out to wander on her own again, just to make sure she’s knows where home is.

Check your borrowed pics!

I originally came across this story by chance, when a search for something else landed on a web site related to news about pets in general.

Although it was a .co.uk site, the article was illustrated by a picture of a typical, home-made, ‘Lost Cat’ poster taped onto a lamppost – an American lamppost.

I don’t know if the person that wrote the article just grabbed the first picture they could find, or chose it deliberately for a bit of fun, but I decided to blow up the image and read the text, because something didn’t look quite ‘right’ about it. My suspicions were correct, and this is what was written on that ‘Lost Cat’ poster, possibly proving it always pays to check the small print, even in a pic you borrow:

LOST CAT

REWARD if you find him & don’t return him.

Promised girlfriend I’d put up a sign.

Cat’s a total pain in the ass. Tears up furniture, craps everywhere.

CALL if you find him & want to keep him. Will pay $$$.

(Right, girlfriend will probably be ex by tonight)

New research set to reveal wildcat secrets

As noted elsewhere in the Blog (there should be a large, clickable, wildcat related images in the column to the right), the Scottish wildcat is under threat of extinction as a distinct species, as the human and domestic cat populations encroach on last remaining areas of isolated habitat it occupies in the Scottish Highlands.

Estimates of the wildcat population suggest it has fallen to a low of only some 400 examples.

Part of the problem lies in the wildcats’ genetic similarity to domestic cats, and the fact that the two species, although distinct, can interbreed, and produce fertile offspring, leading to a dilution of the species, which could lead to its ultimate loss. One way to combat this is to ensure that domestic cat owners in the Highland have their pets neutered, and to carry out the same for any feral, or stray populations.

A new research project, being led by Dr David Hetherington of the Cairngorms National Park authority, has seen specialist camera equipment being installed in trees with the park. Known as photo-traps, the cameras are linked to various detectors which allow them to be left unattended, and be triggered by passing animals. As they can be left in place for long periods, animals are not deterred from approaching them, as they might be with equipment which needs frequent visits for maintenance.

Wildcats are particularly secretive, active mainly at night, and wary of humans, making detailed study difficult to carry out with any degree of accuracy.

That means I have to admit I’ve never seen one in the wild, which is hardly a surprise, but I have seen them, and they do look stunning, courtesy of Palacerigg Country Park in Cumbernauld, where you might also glimpse their kittens if you time your visit well.

According to the researchers, the cameras have already provided pictures of wildcats, and other species of interest, and will provide new information and understanding of their behaviour.

Douglas Richardson, of the Highland Wildlife Park at Kincraig near Aviemore, said:

“We are dealing with an animal that’s the last of its kind in the British Isles. We formerly had lynx and other big, dangerous and interesting animals. But this is our last feline predator and I think we are duty bound to protect it. There are many representatives from Scotland and the UK who are involved in conservation efforts with tigers in Asia or giant pandas in China. If we allow the Scottish wildcat to disappear, then the Indians, the Russians, the Chinese could quite rightly turn round and say ‘Why should we bother? You didn’t.’”

Local ‘wild’ cats

I think we need the same kit at my end of Glasgow, where it’s become impossible to get hold of a passing cat.

Our population is clearly closely related to the wildcat, and shuns any attempts to be friendly, even by bribery.

I remember the ‘good old days’, when the local cats would come calling, have roll around the garden, let you pet them, feed them, and then head off for home, leaving their owners to wonder why they were getting fat.

Now, if they do come into the garden, if you open a door, or start to walk towards them, all you see is a blur, and the sound of scratching as they head over the nearest wall. It may be impressive to see them clear a two metre wall from a standing start, but it’s not much fun. They’re not even strays, as most have collars and tags.

As noted, bribery doesn’t even help, and a smelly plate of cat food doesn’t entice them any closer if you’re still attached to it, except on a very rare occasion. Usually they’ll just disappear, as does the food if you leave it out for them, but not if you try and catch them coming back for it.