The genes have spoken: the kitten discovered north of the Lot is a forest cat

“Her behavior is not too bad: she hisses, she spits, she doesn’t let herself be approached,” rejoices Gabrielle Bertrand. In mid-January, the president of the La Belette association is taking a close interest in the singular little cat found near Laval-de-Cère last fall. Singular because it is a forest cat, the first formally identified in the Lot.

Reacclimatizing her to wild life

Very good news for the animal protection association based in Montcuq: “This is the first genetically proven individual and it is a kitten so that means that there is reproduction”. For now, the small animal is still being treated at the wildlife clinic of the Toulouse veterinary school. But this week, La Belette hopes to find her a park that will allow her to reacclimatize to wild life before she is released in the spring. She is still too young to face the winter wilderness.

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It is in fact a very young kitten who was taken in at the end of September. “An individual had found him on the side of a road and brought him – as with any kitten – to one of our partner clinics in Saint-Céré,” recalls Gabrielle Bertrand. The staff of the clinic had contacted us because they thought it was not a domestic cat. We asked them for photos and she had the phenotype (editor's note, the appearance) forest cat.

“It’s difficult to identify.”

The forest cat is not a domestic cat returned to the wild but a separate species. He's a strong guy, with a striped coat and a ringed tail. The problem is that many alley cats also fit this portrait. “It’s difficult to identify,” confirms Manue Jacquot, from Nature en Occitanie. “People call us saying: “I have one at my house, come and get it” and when we see the photos, it’s just a big cat, being petted, and eating kibble,” she smiles. Until then, “in the Lot, we only had photos and testimonies from naturalists,” she adds. The genetic evidence was missing. This is no longer the case.

Nature en Occitanie studies forest cats in the region. In addition to the camera traps, she sets up some kinds of brushes that trap animal hair for analysis. In France, felis silvestris silvestris comes from two regions: the North East and the Pyrenees. “It is in the process of recolonization”, observes Manue Jacquot who sees it progressing in the Montagne Noire (south of the Tarn), in the Gers and studying the “junction between the Lorraine and Pyrenean lines”. “We realize that its distribution is more widespread than we thought,” she continues, “its extension follows that of the forests.”

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One of the risks for the species: hybridization

It is also in a forest area that the Lotois kitten was found. Deprived of its mother, the little animal was in very poor condition. He had to be transported urgently to a wildlife conservation center. That of La Belette was not due to open until March, the “ambulance volunteers” of the association and the French Biodiversity Office took turns so that the animal was transported from Saint-Céré to the veterinary school of Toulouse . There he was put back together and tested. It took several weeks for the genetic analyzes to deliver their results: the cat is 90% forestry and 10% domestic. “It’s an ancient hybridization that goes back generations,” explains Gabrielle Bertrand, which means that the cat can be released. “The goal is to release it in the area where it was discovered, where we know that there are forest cats and that there is reproduction,” she continues, “it is very important that she participates in the preservation of the species.”

Because the forest cat is protected. Among the leading causes of mortality among these animals are road accidents. But one of the biggest threats to the species is hybridization with domestic kitties. “In the Montagne Noire, there is 40% hybridization,” laments Manue Jacquot. Like Gabrielle Bertrand, she advocates for the sterilization of cats, particularly stray cats. This is also the fight of the Les Chats de Saint-Céré association. A touch of hope for the little forest cat of the Lot.

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