How Wildcats Will Be Reared for Release in England and Wales by Patrick Barkham, the Guardian on 04.15.19 Word Count 948 Level MAX

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How wildcats will be reared for release in England and Wales By Patrick Barkham, The Guardian on 04.15.19 Word Count 948 Level MAX

European wild cat in a forest in Germany. Photo by: Thorsten Spoerlein/iStock/Getty Images Plus

"If any beast has the devil's strength in him it is the wildcat," wrote a 15th-century hunting author – but historic persecution has brought the wildcat to the brink of extinction in Britain.

Now there is a new attempt to breed hundreds of wildcats in captivity and return the shy animal to England and Wales, where it has not roamed for 150 years.

British conservationists have undertaken training in Switzerland with Marianne Hartmann, a big cat expert and wildcat breeder, who helped mastermind the wildcat's successful reintroduction to Bavaria.

The last remaining wildcat population in the Scottish Highlands is judged no longer viable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), with 30 wild animals showing a high degree of hybridization with domestic cats.

A feasibility study by the Vincent Wildlife Trust has identified rural Devon and Cornwall and mid- Wales as having the best habitats for the wildcat, which has not been recorded in southern

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. England since the 16th century. Contrary to popular belief, the wildcat does not require dense forest but prefers a mosaic of well-hedged farmland

European wildcats are native to Europe and are larger than domestic cats, which are actually descended from the "tamer" subspecies of African wildcat.

"Wildcats look like the kitty at home but they are like leopards," said Hartmann, who sits on the IUCN cat specialist group. "I've been working with leopards for many years and the only difference is size, and that leopards can get tame. If you hand-raise lions or tigers, they remain tame for the rest of their lives. Wildcats cannot be tamed under any circumstances. This is very special."

Untameable cats roaming through the British countryside might alarm farmers but, according to Hartmann, they never take lambs. They would only pose a threat to free-range chickens, and unlike foxes they only take one at a time. Wildcats could even help farmers by reducing populations of pests such as rabbits and rodents, their favored prey.

The first challenge is to breed enough of the easily stressed wildcat in captivity for a long-term release program. Hartmann supplied more than 100 captive-bred cats during a 20-year reintroduction effort that put 700 wildcats back into German forests. Its wildcat population is expanding and moving into the Czech Republic.

Hartmann encourages keepers to talk softly to each wildcat and trains the young to hunt using an automated feeding program. A dead mouse is ejected from a box at random, the carcass bouncing on a piece of elastic. It teaches each wildcat to wait silently, before pouncing and unleashing its "killing bite" on the mouse's neck.

Derek Gow, an ecologist responsible for breeding and reintroducing water voles and beavers in many parts of Britain, has established a new wildcat facility in Devon with three pairs and is calling for a captive-breeding push to support a reintroduction program.

"We need to bring animals from Swiss and German zoos, build up a stock and have captive cats that are capable of producing 150 kittens a year," he said. "I can produce 3,500 water voles a year if required. We've got the land to do it but we'll find other project partners."

The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland is among those already breeding wildcats. The environmentalist Ben Goldsmith, an adviser to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, is helping fund the new effort.

"Wildcats are no kind of threat to people who are not subsistence farmers and we are not subsistence farmers in this country," said Gow.

Gow has followed her advice and trebled the number of dens in his enclosures to provide the wildcats with more secrecy and a sense of security. Hartmann's female cats produce four kittens a litter whereas most captive wildcats produce only one or two.

The biggest challenge for wildcats is hybridization with feral domestic cats, which conservationists would have to remove in large numbers from reintroduction areas.

Hartmann, however, says the risks of hybridization are overstated. Male wildcats will usually kill any domestic cats they encounter except during breeding season when, if they cannot find a female wildcat, they will mate with a domestic cat. Conservationists believe the Scottish wildcat

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. population became so hybridized because it was reduced to such a low level by gamekeepers, pushing the males to roam widely and mate with feral cats.

"There's nothing left of the Scottish population," said Gow. "It's been a good effort, but this is the last-chance saloon and we need to do things completely differently and have a big viable captive breeding population. We need to start doing this kind of restoration right now and on a much grander scale than we've ever contemplated before."

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is developing a code of best practice for reintroduction and translocation projects but because the wildcat is still found in the wild in Scotland, a license will not be required to release them in England.

A Defra spokesperson said: "The movement and release of any species in England, including wildcat, should follow the International Union for Conservation of Nature guidelines. These guidelines ensure there are clear environmental and socioeconomic benefits to gain from releasing the animals and that their welfare is maintained."

Hartmann says the long-term project of bringing back the wildcat is 95 percent politics, 5 percent conservation and nothing to do with the actual animal.

"The most promising program is in England and Wales. The wildcat was there historically, there is habitat left and the most challenging thing is the feral cats," she said. "If you manage to control that, it can be a big success but a reintroduction is a lifetime's work. It's 20 to 30 years. It's not just releasing animals."

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. Quiz

1 Read the following paragraph from the article.

Adding which of these sentences to the article would help to explain the meaning of "trebled" in the context of the article?

(A) Hartmann provided Gow with additional advice about the food supply and temperature in the dens.

(B) Keeping outside noise such as music to a minimum has helped the shy cats settle in with their kittens.

(D) Providing more small spaces for the cats has been key to encouraging higher rates of reproduction.

2 Read the following words and phrases from the article.

1. viable 2. hybridization 3. feasibility 4. reintroduction and translocation

Why does the author use these words and phrases?

(A) They establish the technical and deliberately specialized nature of the project to reintroduce wildcats.

(B) They emphasize the urgency of the threats facing the remaining wildcat populations across England.

(D) They create the passionate and optimistic tone that characterizes the author's descriptions of the cats.

3 Which of the following statements BEST represents Marianne Hartmann's approach toward working with wildcats?

(A) Hartmann views wildcats as cuddly and intelligent creatures that are the only animals she would consider keeping as pets.

(B) Hartmann views wildcats as widely misunderstood by farmers who should breed them to scare off threats to free-range chickens.

(C) Hartmann sees wildcats as swift and capable hunters, and she encourages keepers to maintain a safe distance when training them to hunt.

(D) Hartmann sees wildcats as rare and unique in their untameability, but she encourages keepers to use gentleness near the shy creatures.

4 WHY did the author begin the article with a quote from the 15th century?

(A) to demonstrate a lasting admiration for the traits of the wildcat among hunters past and present

(B) to contrast a vivid description of the wildcat's apparent strength with the vulnerability of its population

(D) to suggest that reintroducing the wildcat could have dangerous and unintended consequences

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 5 Which answer choice provides an accurate and objective summary of the article?

(A) Conservationist Marianne Hartmann says that wildcats are the only species of big cat that cannot be tamed to interact with humans. These graceful animals have lent many of their best traits to domestic cats through generations of breeding.

(B) The Vincent Wildlife Trust has identified rural Devon and Cornwall as having the best habitats for the wildcat. The introduction of feral cats in Scotland four centuries ago was responsible for wiping out the wildcat population in most of Europe.

(C) Wildcats have not roamed in England or Wales for more than 150 years since being hunted to near extinction. Conservationists are attempting to breed the cats in captivity but must do more to change public misconceptions of this fascinating animal.

(D) Big cat expert Marianne Hartmann is training conservationists how to breed and release wildcats in England. The potential for breeding with feral domestic cats is a risk for wildcat reintroduction, but conservationists feel they are off to a promising start.

6 How does the CENTRAL idea first emerge in the article?

(A) through an explanation of the effort among British conservationists to breed wildcats and its purpose

(B) through a description of the land in Devon and Wales that provides the best habitat for releasing wildcats

(D) through a contrast between wildcats and larger cat species such as lions and tigers that can be tamed

7 Read the following paragraph from the article.

Which idea is BEST supported by this paragraph?

(A) Many animals that are released into the wild in England pose a threat to the environment and other species already living in the area.

(B) Many conservationists feel that the International Union for Conservation of Nature guidelines place unfair restrictions on their efforts.

(C) Defra issued a statement chastising the wildcat breeding program for failure to properly apply for a license and follow its release guidelines.

(D) Defra aims to strike a balance between the good of the environment, the community and the animal itself when allowing the release of a species.

8 Is the author suggesting that farmers should be concerned about the release of wildcats in England? Which selection from the article BEST supports your answer?

(A) Yes; "Contrary to popular belief, the wildcat does not require dense forest but prefers a mosaic of well- hedged farmland."

(B) Yes; "They would only pose a threat to free-range chickens, and unlike foxes they only take one at a time."

(C) No; "Wildcats could even help farmers by reducing populations of pests such as rabbits and rodents, their favored prey."

(D) No; "The environmentalist Ben Goldsmith, an adviser to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, is helping fund the new effort."

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. Answer Key