Lutra 48(2)_Editorial_2005

From wild cats to wildcats

The Dutch fauna now has officially been enriched by a new member: the wildcat. This issue presents a full article on the first officially acknowledged wildcats in the Netherlands. Several of these elusive animals seem to have reached the country by themselves, probably from Germany, possibly from Belgium, either way they are an unintentional present from our neighbours. Reintroduction schemes for the wildcat, which many a zoologist may have dreamt about, might not be needed anymore. This should save time and money, and much discussion, although wolf, lynx, and even brown bear may still be in the running for reintroduction some day as toppredators in Dutch nature areas. An important recommendation to emerge from this paper is that, due to the resemblance of wildcats to feral domestic cats, control of feral cats should now be done by live-trapping rather than by shooting....