October 14, 2019 - A bird repatriation station was added to a mammal. Recently we have got a wild cat puppy. They found an animal in the outskirts of Barcs, which was first thought to be a domestic cat. The puppy was found by the head of a local animal shelter, who gave the animal to a temporary owner. The host the next day indicated that there was something "wrong" with the cat, behaving like a wild puffy, non-domestic cat. Conservation guard colleagues looked at the animal and it turned out that it was not a domestic cat but a wild cat; and it cannot be ruled out that it is a hybrid, that is, a mixture of domestic and wild cats. This is also suggested by the late - abnormal - birth period. The mating season of wild cats is February to March, and the gestation period is about 1 to 2 weeks. 60 days.
Wild cats are especially cautious, timid, have a hidden lifestyle, avoid human settlements, areas that are surrounded by humans; they prefer large, undisturbed forests. Their fur is greyish-brown, typically tabby, with black stripes, but may be blurred. Thick bushy tails can be decorated with 7-9 black stripes. Unlike a domestic cat, they are most active at night and at dawn, and spend the day in cramps, in the sheds of trees. They include small vertebrates, larger insects, rarely birds and fish.
Experts fear that pure-blooded European wild cats will not even occur in the area, as the built environment is becoming more extensive, with many domestic cats and they may mate with wild cats. Because of this, and because of its hidden lifestyle, estimating stocks is very difficult. For this puppy, a genetic test will determine whether it is a pure-blooded wild cat or a hybrid.
The wild cat is highly protected in Hungary, its conservation value is HUF 250,000.