Wild Animal Encounters in NSW have imported two Caracals from South Africa (as noted by @Jarkari on the Zoo Mammals thread). The last Caracal in the country died at Melbourne Zoo in 2013. They’re caracal-ing for our help THEY might look like merely a slightly exotic house cat — but Kato and Kaia are Australia’s only caracals, a rare African predator, and have been brought here to help save the species. They have been specially imported from South Africa by Ben Britton, Director of Wild Animal Encounters Foundation, to help protect the species. These two are just five months old but, fully grown, they will weigh in at 18kg. ... Kaito and Kaia have been brought to the foundation to establish the first breeding program in Australia. There's a short video on the link as well. I thought the line from the article above, "to establish the first breeding program in Australia", was journalistic licence - but on the video Ben Britton actually says that Caracals have never been bred in Australia before, which is absolute nonsense.
So it seems that the two imported caracal are sisters from the same litter, as the article @Chlidonias linked says they are both 5 months old. So that;'s good, but if they are here for a breeding program then clearly more are required - I wonder if any other zoos are looking at importing the species. They would fit well in both urban and open range zoos.
Does it say their sex somewhere? I couldn't see it so assumed they were male and female (given that they were said to be for breeding). Although I likewise assumed they would be siblings as they were the same age.
Oh yup, that would make sense. I misread the names, I thought they were Kaia and Kahlia, but the latter is one of the keepers...
Does anybody know much about Wild Animal Encounters beyond the website. Are they ZAA? What the collection is like? - they seem to have servals, cheetahs and now caracals along with unspecified primates and reptiles.
They are in the ZAA. You can check the zoo lists for what they hold - that's why the lists are there. Exotic Mammals in Australian Zoos Exotic Amphibians and Reptiles in Australian Zoos
Maybe when Kato reaches maturity, one of the sisters at Wellington Zoo could be sent to breed with him. If the newly imported pair are full siblings, it would seem obvious they wouldn't be breeding with each other. Then another zoo in the region e.g. Darling Downs could take the initiative to import a male to pair with either Kaia or the remaining sister at Wellington Zoo (with eventual offspring to be returned to Wellington if they don't have the space to hold a breeding pair).
Ah yes but that would require the lazy me to scroll through them! And any way you need to update it as WAE are not marked down as holders of cheetah. Note - I haven't checked all the other spp that I could see on the website that they have.
Ah, I think their Cheetah must be a newish arrival then, so I had forgotten to add it (despite it being mentioned in this thread!). It's on the list now.
I found an article which specifies that the Caracals are male and female, and are unrelated. Jetpets assists in the relocation of Australia’s first breeding pair of Caracal cats Recently Jetpets had the pleasure of assisting in the relocation of two caracals from South Africa to their new home at the Wild Animal Encounter Conservation Centre in Hawkesbury, north of Sydney. The caracals, Kato and Kaia are the only two Caracals currently on display in Australia and it’s hoped the unrelated pair will breed once they reach maturity in the next 12-18 months.
The Cheetah haven't arrived yet, although their enclosure is complete. They are being imported from South Africa. Their Facebook page says "Over the coming months we will be establishing the first ever breeding program for this species in Sydney, with the planned arrival of our Cheetah from South Africa." That sentence reminds of the following comment I made at the start of this thread.
Caracal Importation! An additional five Caracals have been imported into Australia!! They stem from different pure bloodlines from South Africa and safely arrived into quarantine from Hamerton Zoo (UK). “We have just had news that our first major animal move for over a year has been completed, and all is well. Five Caracals made the journey from Hamerton to Australia over Friday/Saturday, and are now settling into their new temporary quarantine accommodation. Two pairs of South African Caracal were imported to Hamerton a couple of years ago, specifically for onward shipment to Australia. This species of cat was never part of the collection plan at our Park, but even so they settled in here very well and reared a male kitten. The five animals originate from several pure and unrelated blood-lines, and will provide a founding population for the breeding programme. We are all very grateful to everyone in our team who helped make this move come together, despite last minute bureaucratic 'issues'. Special thanks go to the staff of Emirates Airlines at London Heathrow, who were wonderful. Work will now commence of the conversion of our former tiger 'barn', which will eventually become a walk-through aviary; but in the shorter-term will house a pair of Hamerton-born Binturongs, which have not been able to move to their new zoo because of logistical problems and delays caused by Covid/Brexit.”
