Wildcats in Tropiquaria

Chris Moiser and Jane Bassett, owners of Tropiquaria are proud to announce the arrival of Damson and Quince, two Scottish wildcats to the zoo.

Quince

Damson

Eaglesham Moors (Scotland) Pics

Lynx in Scotland: New Book

Rick Minter writes:

I’m pleased to say there is a new children’s book published on reintroducing lynx in Scotland. Perhaps it’s something we could mention or review in the mag? 

(Hox by Anne-Marie Allan).

www.booksfromscotland.com/Books/Hox-9780863156212/Extract

Extract from Hox
“I’m fine.” But Robbie wasn’t fine at all. The insistent pull that had drawn him all the way from the car park to the animal house was fierce now, dragging him forward almost against his will. With a mingled sense of dread and expectation, he pointed to the far end of the building.

“What’s down there?”

“Not much.” Joe led the way. “We were involved in a project to reintroduce native species into the wild, natural predators, to keep the deer under control. But the focus has changed — now we’re concentrating on specifics.”
Robbie could tell Joe was quoting someone. From the buzzwords he had heard at home lately when his father was talking on the phone, it was almost certainly Gavin Moir.

In defiance of his growing nausea, he made a determined effort to look interested as he followed Joe down the central walkway towards the rear of the building. They stopped in front of a large cage set against the back wall.

Robbie peered through the wire, watching the animal inside pace restlessly from one side of the small space to the other. It was a cat, but much bigger than a wildcat, the only native Scottish cat he had ever heard of. He stared at its dark brown fur, dotted with lines of darker spots. “Is she a leopard?”

Joe’s eyes shifted between Robbie and the cat. A puzzled frown creased his forehead. “How did you know she’s female?”

Robbie frowned. He had been asking himself the same question. “Just a wild guess?”

“Well, you’re right.” Joe tapped gently on the roof of the cage. “Hello, Freya,” he said softly.

The cat stopped pacing and moved closer to the mesh. Her whiskers twitched and Robbie saw the ruff of pale fur round her face fluff out like a hood. She was interested in the outdoor smell from his rain-dampened jacket. He looked at the tufted ears, the solid, muscular body and the oddly clubbed tail.

“Not a leopard.” Joe confirmed what Robbie had already realized. “Although a lot of people think that, because of the spots. She’s a lynx. From Norway. But cats like this used to live all over Europe, including Scotland.”

“Why did you bring her here?” Robbie stared at the cat. The cat stared back. There was nothing there, nothing to explain the pressure that was now building up to the point where his head felt as though it might explode.

Joe bristled, feeling accused of something. “We didn’t kidnap her, if that’s what you mean. Freya got hit by a car. Her hip’s pretty much healed now, though. Soon she’ll be going back to where she came from. We took her because we were looking for another cat to keep this one company.”

With a theatrical flourish, Joe waved an arm in the direction of a neighbouring cage. “Our very own Baldur, born two years ago, right here at the Institute.” There was both pride and ownership in his voice.

Hardly able to think, let alone move, Robbie forced himself to turn and look. Shadows shifted at the back of the cage, unfolding into a creature of gold and black. The lynx stretched and yawned, then padded forward, looking up at him intently.

Robbie stared into those ancient, knowing eyes and felt a sudden jolt of recognition, even though he knew he had never seen this animal before. The tugging sensation intensified into a dizzying dislocation, as though his head had come adrift from the rest of his body.

He squeezed his eyes shut, opened them again and blinked, unable to make sense of what he saw. A series of squares floated in front of his eyes. It was mesh. Wire mesh. Beyond the wire he saw a face. There was someone was looking down at him — a boy with brown eyes, floppy dark hair and an expression of fixed disbelief. It was the face Robbie saw every morning when he looked in the bathroom mirror.

Extract from Hox by Annemarie Allan by kind permission of Floris Books, and remains © Annemarie Allan
£5.99 Hox – Paperback – Annemarie Allan
Faced with a cold Saturday afternoon stuck at the Institute for Animal Research, Robbie is angry and frustrated at yet another weekend ruined by his father’s job. Then a disturbing encounter in the animal house thrusts him into a perilous journey through the stunning but inhospitable landscape of a Highland winter.

2010 Conference

For the 2010 conference we are going to be holding it in Glasgow, again in March, more details to follow.

Straight after the conference a few of us are heading to Loch Ness for a few days with cryptozoologist Loren Coleman.

Speakers so far confrmed are Marcus Mathews and Loren Coleman

We have decided to hold the conference in the North every year in March, and later in the year our field trip in the south somewhere.

Mark

Tropiquaria faces uncertain future

Chris Moiser remarks on the article below:

“The report is a little bit more negative than we were actually feeling – as ever with these things the reporter got it slightly wrong….
“We do need more visitors, but within weeks we should hopefully have some new coatis, some adult African sulcata (giant – but not as big as Aldabran) tortoises and some Scottish Wild Cats. I’ve got baby wallabies, potoroos, loads of birds on eggs, full incubators and we are breeding many fish too.”

Also BCIB as well as our annual conference will now be holding a yearly filed trip. Starting off at Tropiquaria we intend to visit several of the souths big cat ‘hotspots’ Dartmoor, Bodmin etc. thenend back up at Tropiquaria. If anyone is intersted in more details email bigcatsinbritain@btinternet.com

Shaun Stevens adds: “If anyone is in Somerset this summer or know people who are, don’t forget a visit to Tropiquaria. Or failing that, if anyone fancies sponsoring any of Chris and Jane’s animals, why not have a chat with them. I’m sure they’d love your support.”

  

 ****

 

http://www.thisisthewestcountry.co.uk/news/4431977.Tropiquaria_faces_uncertain_future/

 

9:18am Thursday 11th June 2009

By Lloyd Vaughan »

ONE of West Somerset’s premier tourist attractions could be forced to close if it fails to get enough visitors through its doors this summer.

Tropiquaria owner Chris Moiser issued the grim warning as he revealed projected visitor numbers of up to 70,000 a year had plummeted as low as 40,000 due to the recession.

Chris, who took over the Washford Cross animal park in 2007 with business partner Jane Bassett, said the worst-case scenario would be running out of money by February 2010.

He said: “There is a potential risk we could close if we don’t get the visitor numbers over the summer. It’s the same with any other zoo – if you don’t use it, you lose it.

“We have personal guarantees so if we went under we would lose everything.”

But Chris said he was beginning to feel more confident about the zoo’s future as visitor numbers rose this quarter.

“Our visitor figures for this week are double compared to the same period last year.

“We could get depressed and panicky but we’re not because we think the tide is turning.

“It’s not as if we are running down – we are increasing our animal numbers all the time.

“It is a tough economic climate at the moment but we are moving from worried to less worried. It’s a watch this space job.”

However Malcolm Bell, Director of South West Tourism, said optimism that the 2009 summer will be a bumper year may be misplaced.

He said: “Even if we do get reasonable numbers of displaced visitors, they may just replace losses from loyal customers who cannot visit due to reduced incomes from savings, or lower earnings because they have lost their jobs.”

Chris said other zoos would take in Tropiquaria’s animals if it went under.

 

Hybrid Wildcat

Whilst doing my latest night time drive this evening (just after midnight), about half a mile south of Stewarton in Kintyre, what appears to be a hybrid wildcat x domestic cross, ran in front of my car. I managed to stop my car just as it went through a fence. I took this image in total darkness, in the area where I thought the cat was and luckily I managed to capture an image.

A bit more bulkier and on the large size for a domestic, it’s side and back markings were very wildcat like, but it’s head did appear more domestic than wildcat. The tail, although clearly ringed and thicker than a normal domestic, was tapered and not blunt. Hence the reason I believe it to be a hybrid.

 

The image has been lightened in order to view it clearly.

Shaun Stevens

Flamingo Land

I went to Flamingo land on Saturday and was disappointed to find the Lynx enclosure empty! No explanation just little notices on all the windows saying exhibit under reconstruction. It wasnt even a case of the Lynx being kept inside while they did something to the outside because all the doors were open Wonder what happened to it, whether it died or better still escaped. lol

The tigers were as hidden as ever in their long grass/tree area, but after a good few minutes of watching one of them did get up and have a shufty round and then lay back in the shade again, proving the they weren’t just cuddly toys as i first thought!

The most exciting animals I saw were the Giraffe running, very weird to see and also the two white rhinos fighting, awesome! Think I might write to the people in charge and see if they can fill the Lynx enclosure with a black leopard!

Kim Hancock BCIB

Balloon Ride Around Africa

Hello, did any of you watch the balloon ride around Africa program last night?  

He met with a leopard tracker who had put collars on the leopards to try and work out how they live and how they travel.  

Thought this story he told was interesting.  He used to have a male leopard called Maverick with a tracking collar on.  One day he picked it up on the radar one day and found Maverick up a tree dead with another male leopard eating him.  Even the tracker said that this had never been known before but that was why they were tacking them to find out more about their behavior.  The tracker then moved the collar from Maverick and onto the new male and named him Goose! (top gun theme).  They tracked Goose down last night and the tracker explained that he was ok round vehicles because he goes near the road a lot and has got used to them and people, they were meters away from him and he still just lay in the shade watching them watching him.  The camouflage was unbelievable he was really well hidden, if they hadn’t had the radar they could have passed just in front of him and would have been none the wiser.

They looked on the computer at all the signals they had picked up from Goose and it was all in one area but never in the same area for long, well so the guy was saying, moving on constantly.  They didnt explain this as much as i would have liked because on the computer you could see Goose (green dots) then around his area were purple dots, which covered a larger than his area and tons more of them so dont know if this just one leopard or a few as the man had mentioned that there were 3 females around Gooses territory.

Just goes to show how little we do actually know about them, especially eating another of its own kind, let alone another carnivore, so i guess a big cat would/could kill a fox and eat it after all!  Also the fact that Goose was getting more and more comfortable around cars and people just shows how adaptable they are.

I am going to try and find out the trackers name and google him see if there is anymore info on the work he does.  might help us a little….

Kim Hancock BCIB

Abbotsley golf course

Bob Bellamy and I went again to Abbotsley golf course, Cambridgeshire, where another sighting had taken place, 4 in total. We found one cat. Tame ginger tom. There are a lot of hares around the area which look very wild when running at high speed across the fields but Mr Smith says “Puma” and I found a kill of sheep or lamb so…

Bob in the rough

Bob catching the Puma !

I see no ships only hardships – (Terry)

 

Terry Dye June 2009

More Trigger Camera Pictures, but where are the cats?

A fox from Rick Minter

……..and those Argyllshire dear from Shaun Stevens.