The gorgeous ‘chat forestier’ was hunted out of much of France in between 1850 and the early 19th century, and now that it is a safeguarded types, it is re-populating countryside locations.
This is good news for the environment and for biodiversity, says Maxime Belaud of the Association Nature en Occitanie.
“But the problem is interbreeding with domestic cats, which threatens the integrity of the species.
Obviously this is very hard to counter, but we are running a campaign to raise awareness and encourage owners to get their cats sterilised.”
He says that although individuals point out the cost of sterilisation as a difficulty, it is more affordable than the cost of feeding several litters of kittens, or spending for the care of a female cat tired by consistent breeding.
Feral domestic cats are another issue, due to the fact that considering that they have no owners, no-one is accountable for sterilising them.
“There is also quite a militant minority who believe that sterilising cats is in some way cruel or unethical.”
Distinctive markings
Forest cats can be acknowledged by their coats, which are brown with subtle darker brown markings.
They have a dark line diminishing their spinal column from the shoulders to the suggestion of the tail, which is extremely thick and has from one to 3 dark rings around it and a black suggestion.
Pic: Maxime BELAUD
They likewise have distinct blue eyes.
On typical they are somewhat bigger than the domestic cat.
“Sometimes however, the only way to be sure is to collect samples of the fur an animal has shed and get a DNA analysis done at the lab.”
Maxime says that there are 2 populations of forest cats in France.
“There are several thousand in the north-east of the country, and several thousand more in the Pyrenees.”
The association has actually been tracking them considering that 2020 and now says they are residing in the Montagne Noire although just 30% are pure reproduced.
The rest are crossed with domestic cats. In the past, they were often puzzled with lynx and farmers shot them since they thought they were assaulting their herds, however in reality forest cats just hunt little mammals like field mice and voles, and the periodic bird.
The population in France, among the biggest in Europe, is now growing gradually and they are starting to move into brand-new locations.
Until the 20th century, they were native to the entire nation.
Spotting them can be hard, since they keep away from human activity.
They are nighttime throughout the warmer months, however tend to hunt throughout daytime hours throughout the winter season, other than if there is a great deal of human activity in the location, in which case they hunt after dark.
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