Paul Hoogeveen

A closer look at the African wild cat

The diminutive African wild cat is often overlooked in favour of its more impressive feline cousins. However, what it lacks in size and strength, it more than makes up for in stealth and success. This small, but perfectly adapted predator, is prevalent in much of sub-Saharan Africa, but is seldom seen. Just like its more famous relative, the leopard, it prefers to remain elusive. And its preference for a clandestine existence makes studying it somewhat difficult, which means that population estimates are scarce and unreliable. But just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean that there isn’t one there!
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With mankind’s relentless spread across this once pristine Earth, the future of the African wild cat is in jeopardy for two main reasons. Firstly, as a free roaming animal, it struggles with habit loss due to farming or urbanisation. This then inevitably leads to conflict with livestock and humans.
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The wild cat is directly related to the domestic cat, sharing not only the same genus, but also species. The taxonomic separation comes only at a sub-species level. The domestic cat, however, is very adaptable and is the most widely distributed feline in the world. This leads to the second and main issue – genetic reduction. The common house cat and the wild cat will actively hybridise. Being a sub-species, the genetic coding is so similar that dangers of rendering the offspring infertile are rarely encountered. With the spread of humans, the two species come into regular contact and animals are not known for passing up the opportunity to mate. This problem has become so serious that the only way in which to now be 100% certain that you are looking at a pure wild cat is to take a DNA sample! That said, you can often distinguish a true African wild cat by its slightly longer legs with horizontal striping, and a reddish hue behind the ears.
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The process of domestication of wild cats occurred in ancient Egypt around 10,000 years ago. Cats were revered by the Egyptians as symbols of grace, fertility and motherhood. Such was their influence that in some cases, cats were even mummified and offered as sacrifices to the goddess Bast – a woman with the head of a cat. In 1888 a tomb was unearthed close to the town of Beni Hasan which contained over 80,000 mummified carcasses of cats and kittens, with the remains weighing in at around 20 tonnes! This proves just how respected the humble cat was in Egyptian culture.

For the standard guest to see an African wild cat in the wild is rare, but the students at Bushwise have the opportunity to see them on occasion in the Makalali Private Game Reserve. Recently I was also fortunate enough to come across one for the first time. This particular African wild cat was resting in a marula tree, perhaps trying to emulate its more illustrious cousin, the leopard. The reasons behind its choice to scale the tree will never be known, but tracks around the base of the tree suggested that a predator was to blame. Caracal tracks dotted the sand close to the trunk, inferring that the lightweight wild cat sought refuge from its pursuer in the treetops. Its lofty position allowed for some great shots as she nervously watched me from the safety of her arboreal haven.

It was once again a great example of not knowing what is going to be around the next corner, and that a career in field guiding is an adventure that lasts a lifetime!

See more at: http://africageographic.com/blog/closer-look-african-wild-cat/#sthash.jY1pq8Yb.dpuf

All of Iriomotejima island to become national park

The Yomiuri Shimbun, February 18, 2016

Iriomote cat

The Environment Ministry plans to expand the range of Iriomote-Ishigaki National Park to include the entirety of Iriomotejima island, a total of about 29,000 hectares, according to sources. The park currently comprises parts of Iriomotejima island and other areas in Okinawa Prefecture. The ministry will decide on the policy in its Central Environment Council soon and announce it in an official journal around late March.

Iriomote

Currently, one-third of Iriomotejima, or about 10,800 hectares, is designated as the national park. By expanding the area, the ministry intends to strengthen its protection of rare animals, including Iriomote wild cats (see below), an endangered species designated as a special natural treasure, and preserve the original ecosystem on Iriomotejima.

The government aims to have the Amami-Ryukyu region, including Iriometejima, registered as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site. Making the whole island a national park is also meant to promote that effort, the sources said.
According to the ministry, the island’s special protection district will be expanded to about 4,600 hectares from the current about 1,800 hectares. Even taking home fallen leaves is prohibited in this area. The ministry also plans to designate about 14,600 hectares, or about half of the island, as a class 1 special district where building construction is not allowed in principle.

There are five grades of regulation in national parks’ land areas. Regulations are strictest in special protection districts, followed by class 1, class 2 and class 3 special districts. Regulations in ordinary districts are the most loosely enforced.

Iriomote wild cats are wild cats that live only on Iriomotejima island. Adults are about 60 centimeters long, weigh three to five kilograms and eat such animals as lizards, frogs and prawns. About 100 cats are estimated to live on Iriomotejima. They are designated as a class-1A endangered species, which faces the highest danger of extinction.

Last famous words of 2015, to all supporters of Wild Cats World & Wild Cats Magazine

Last famous words of 2015, to all supporters of Wild Cats World & Wild Cats Magazine

previewLike every ending of a year I like to take the opportunity to address a word of gratitude to all supporters of my foundation Wild Cats World, and all WCW projects, but also to the readers of the webmagazine Wild Cats Magazine.  Especially a big thank you to all (symbolic) adoption parents and supporters donating generously in every other way, supporting our projects and amazing ambassadors of the African wildcats, Black-footed Cats, Caracals, Cheetahs, Leopards and Servals in our S.A. “Spotted Cats Conservation” project. A special thanks to Libor Rajm for continuous support of the Javan Leopard Release Program. Much appreciated!
Thanks are in order to the people we partnered up with in various WCW projects, especially to Willemijn Eggen of Wanicare Foundation for all the work on ground-level in our Javan Leopard Release Program and Madame X for co-operating with WCW in order to rescue many lions destined for Canned Hunting and to give them a perfect life for as long as they live.
Thanks to our caretakers Betty Dorfling (S.A.) and Jeanette Leinweber (Germany), and all volunteering assisting caretakers in 2015. Many, many thanks to Paul Hoogeveen, our webmaster, doing a great job regularly up-dating the WCW and WCM websites and to Simonne van Driessche helping me to keep the WCW social media pages up-dated, esp. during my stay in the African “bush”.   Last but not least a big thank you to my partner Anton, co-owner of the WCW S.A. project and investments, and all our wonderful ambassador cats.
Highlights in 2015 for us in Wild Cats World:
1. Leopard female Feline giving birth to 2 gorgeous and healthy cubs, important for our leopard conservation project and Leopard Pride “experiment”, November 4th 2015
2. Arrival of a new male serval Mick and male African wildcat Max from CCT, Karoo, both successfully introduced to their new partners/friends
3. Welcome back home of the black-footed cats, females Beauty and Diva and male Blacky
4. Finishing all the current projects, forming the right couples of all species
Sad events for us at WCW in 2015
1. The sad loss of the important male ambassador of the black-footed cats Blacky, due to kidney failure
2. Sadly after a great start also black-footed cat male kitten Boy wasn’t fit to live, he died at CCT aged 2 months   
We are looking forward to a new year with many great Wild Cats World projects. And at the same time we cannot wait to meet many new (assisting) caretakers and volunteers, but also to welcome back many of you for a second or third time. We wish the best of welfare and health again for our beloved ambassador cats, and successful births welcoming some cubs/kittens, first of all by leopards Felicia (and Felix). 
Thanks again and see you all in 2016
Merry X-Mas and a Joyful Festive Season!
Babette de Jonge
Director/Founder Wild Cats World/Spotted Cats Conservation
Wild Cats Magazine  

About: breeding in captivity

About: breeding in captivity
Of course, breeding in captivity is controversial like many other topics in conservation, and lots of people have a say. Everybody is entitled to have their opinion and to share this, but we feel it must be a bit grounded on knowledge and experience too. We in Wild Cats World for sure aren’t a true breeding program but we honestly say that a few litters of some species, like leopards, cheetahs, black-footed cats and servals are welcome, and with reason. The cubs that have been born in our project so far (2 caracal and 2 leopardcubs) were very welcome like all other (planned) births in the future.
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We mainly focus on keeping wild born cats in their natural habitat, and if occasionally in the future we will be able to complete our mission and release some of our youngsters in a reserve or any other wild environment, we would be happy and proud. Some people are very much against breeding in captivity, and we only tend to agree, if there’s irresponsible breeding and for the wrong reasons: for money and exploit with no clear plan for the future. In our project we welcome some cubs and kittens not just for educational reasons, but also not to derive our ambassadorcats from anything that would benefit their welfare and feeling of being able to live life to the fullest in a natural way.
We also feel the captive born ambassadors are the best ambassadors for their species. If they are born in captivity and treated the best way, like our ambassadors, they will always be happy cats, who never knew the wild situation and never had (or will have) the same struggle to survive like their wild relatives have. At the same time they are the best ambassadors, and people who get the chance to meet them do love them and their species, want to know more about them, without having to harass their wild relatives and interfere in their lives in the wild, unintentionally even putting them into danger. At the same time it gives us, and everyone who is interested, the best chance to observe and study the species and their behaviour and share the knowledge and exceptional facts with a large audience. In other words: responsible breeding doesn’t jeopardize the species, and remarks like “set them all free!” are just based on emotions and not on clear thinking or knowledge about the situation both in the wild and in captivity.
In conservation there’s many ways to try and achieve the best for the wild animals. Some think they can win the people’s minds by working with a pet toy and give lectures in zoos and on schools, others even think hunting does support to conservation, some say breeding in captivity is wrong and all animals should be released, then there’s some fighting the “pet industry” and others who are in favour of this “pet industry”…..worst of all: most orgs in conservation spent more time on slandering and having their opinion about other orgs.
Our honest opinion is that the wild cats are very much in danger, and if this situation is irreversable, we doubt it. We can only do so much as try to keep as much of the wild born cats in safe surroundings in their natural habitat, try not to have more natural habitat taken away from  wildlife and that is as hard as it is. That awareness and education in every way is contributing to that, we cannot deny, and we feel in our way we do what’s best. We do have an occasional litter born in captivity and we hope this will give us more info to share, will reach more people with our message, and at the same time keep the cats (and not to forget ourselves) happy.
We are against: irresponsible breeding & hunting, exploit, conservation for money instead for the cause and the animals…..and we are against bad treatment and abuse in the wild and in captivity. We hope in our way we can make a great contribution to the wild species, and keep the captive species as happy and healthy as possible!

About lion Cecil and hunting…..

In reaction to all commotion due to dentist Palmer illegally shooting lion Cecil herewith our thoughts about the matter and more…

No the world’s anger at dentist and hobby hunter Walter Palmer isn’t misplaced (well referring to a hunter is misplaced big time!), but the world’s anger must have a wider angle, so against all killers (again, this has nothing to do with hunting) of lions or any predators. All this commotion “just” about Cecil when daily huge numbers of lions and other predators are being killed (slaughtered, abused…), not to speak about the other animals, and good humans in the same horrible way. Due to this act of dentist Palmer also lots of discussions started about hunting, eating meat, using leather/fur….well, why not once and for all give our opinion about this?

Here we go. We have nothing against eating meat (non-vegetarians) and hunting in the true sense of the word. All predators are born being carnivores, whether we like it or not. Hunting is something done from the old age, and against responsible hunting we have no objection. Meat must be there (not necessarily for humans who have a choice to become vegetarians, but for 4-legged predators this isn’t an option). If a prey animal (game, horse, cow, chicken….) did have a great, respectful life and treatment and a quick, painless death, we have nothing against it. S.A. farmers have lots of game on huge farmlands and their game live like in the wild, multiply enormously and surplus and not-healthy animals are killed, and at respected places truly hunted and the meat is used for human consumption and often available for captive places with predators to give them an outstanding diet like in their natural habitat.

Nothing wrong with this, much better then all the meat around the world sold at supermarkets and butchers, of poor animals being mistreated and abused, a miserable life and a painful way of suffering until finally death follows. This is the steak or cheap chicken on your plate every night, remember that, before you join the discussions about hunting. In our eyes trophy and canned hunting predators like lions, for pleasure, has nothing to do with hunting. This is just killing! Also the sense of posing with a dead animal (“trophy”), whether game or predator, is beyond our comprehension. What on earth does this have to do with hunting? Any other then showing off the animal you killed, and what a pathetic ego you are. Also trapping and abusing animals for leather (have you seen the croc breeding farms and what abuse takes place there?) or for the use of fur in fashion, has only got to do with abuse and nothing with necessity or hunting.

So this is our humble opinion about this all. The one good thing about the commotion about lion Cecil could be if this would be regarded in a bigger perspective, and that finally action is undertaken in the world against Canned and Trophy Hunting, and the whole breeding and petting industry of predators like foremost the lions. But like we said before, we can see this interest world-wide decrease again before any action is taken. Cecil will be forgotten by the majority of people soon, and we true wildcat enthusiasts and projects fighting for their life and well being, will still be trying to rescue individuals as that is the only thing you can do, frustrating as it is.

So people don’t just talk about Cecil but do something about the lion (and others…) hunting and industry now, before it is forgotten. And as for the hunters…..only in a responsible and respectful way…..hunting in the true sense of the word (and forget the posing…..)
Amen!

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