Agreed. TBH (despite being a cat lover) domestic cats are amongst some of the worst offenders in killing local wildlife. Allthough domestic and feral dogs killing sheep and other animal species can be a nuisance too. I guess it comes down to ethics of ownership?!?
I think the UK needs to look at pet ownership on the whole. I’d like to see some studies that measure the impact of dogs & cats on the environment & climate. From a completely subjective standpoint it appears to me ( having recently returned as an expat of 12 years) that the UK is now a dog-centric high ownership country? Cats have had a devastating affect on indigenous (specifically islands) species. On a personal note, I think dogs are great for lonely people and for other populations that need companionship, but generally, as a runner and parent of young kids, I’m sick of them. I’m sick of the mess they leave even after owners have picked up the main body of their dogs faeces; there are dog poo ‘scrape’ marks everywhere. Could owners not carry bacterial sprays? Rant over!!
Also, I am finding it increasingly difficult to remain civil when confronted by another outwardly-aggressive, huge, loud dog running around unfettered in a nature reserve. Always with the justification '(S)he won't hurt you' as if a) I have any actual reason to believe that(!) and b) as if that's the only concern in a designated wildlife area. One the other day even tried to justify it as 'she hasn't done that before'. Well if she can bark like that at a stranger when you don't think she does it, she can attack animals, children, other dogs, other pedestrians when you don't think she does it. Control your dog. And cats should be kept inside unless on leads both for their own protection and for the sake of wildlife.
That is the classic dog owner's excuse for any bad behaviour... A small dog bit me the other week(it wasn't serious)- to be fair, the lady with it was evidently a 'dog-walker' rather than the owner, but that was her (very apologetic) reaction and somehow I didn't believe her. I'm a dog owner myself (I've had seven...) but I rarely take him on any nature reserves, and certainly not off-lead during spring or summer breeding season, he never fouls on pavements, only on grass, he is never taken to town locations like parks or playing fields (the first three weeks of the lockdown when I could not drive anywhere was a rare exception to that) but has daily exercise in local country locations. Many dog owners have no proper control of their pets- they treat them like spoilt mini-human beings. Grrr...they are animals...
Actually, killing of feral cats may have its conservation problem too. Here is my example. Wild Eurasian cats used to be extirpated in my country for many decades. Due to exemplary protection and restoration efforts in neighboring countries (Slovakia, Germany, Austria), some of them returned into our border regions on their own, but these migrants never survived long and so far have not started to breed here. Most logic explanation is that our hunters are unable to differentiate them from feral domestic cats and they are all shot once they enter the country. BTW Czech hunters are obliged by law to kill any feral cat they come across if that animal is more than 200 m away from nearest house. Last year, they killed 13.000 cats officially. We might have one hope, a military training area near German border "Doupovské hory". Regular hunters are not allowed there and camera traps found at least one male and female wild cat there recently. So, maybe we could see kittens. But once they cross the border of that military area, they will be 100% shot. How can we solve it? The only possible way to me is to stop the persecution of feral cats, at least those who have "wild colored" coat. I think, maybe wild cats are stronger than domestic cats and once they become established, they will not allow feral cats into their territories. Yes, it contains a danger of some hybridization. But better to have many pure and some hybrids to roam our country than to have none. Sadly, this solution was never proposed here, our conservationists believe wild cats can magically come and recolonize our country on their own with all the hunters around.
Realistic actions for domestic cats could be: - prohibition of feeding cats outdoors (an owner can only feed his own cat) - a curfew for cats outdoors for two months in spring, when most young birds fledge - an education campaign asking to voluntarily keep cats indoors at all times. In countries like Britain or Germany, it is impossible to pass a strong law like in Czechia, allowing to shoot cats. But most cats hunting wild animals can be brought under control. Actually, most cats hunting wildlife are not lost, but have an owner. There are also multi-owner cats: in residential areas, quite a lot of cats wander between houses, and two or more people think that the cat is their own. Wildcats are holding their own in Germany. There was a recent research that a number of hybrids is small (in the order of 5%). Also, hybridization is mostly by male wildcats impregnating domestic females.
One thing I noticed on the FAQs about the Wilder Blean project on the Wildwood website is that, contrary to what I had previously thought, the two male bison currently living at Wildwood (Haydes and Orsk) will not be used in the project. Instead, the animals will be sourced from free-roaming herds. The reason given is that the two Wildwood bison are too domesticated to be used in the project. The full FAQ can be found on the page below: Wilder Blean
Surprised they do not use DNA evidence prior to a feral cat extermination program. Are these professional hunters or recreational (as the latter IMHO are less well qualified to do this line of work).
Yes, that is correct. It is mentioned that four bison will come from either the Netherlands or Poland. Though I did recall someone at Wildwood mentioning potentially Finland (but this was a few months ago). I, too, believed initially the male Bison at Wildwood would contribute to the rewilding, however they have good reason not too - as you mentioned. Orsk and Haydes act as good ambassador individuals for the species, for visitors wanting to see Bison up close whilst this project is underway. And they're rising to fame as they have seemed to be featured within press releases about the project already so far!
I think they prefer bison which are shy of people. It would be good if in Kent they let public paths cross the bison paddock, and did more education about big mammals of Britain and coexistence with big animals.
The Wilder Blean project has now been added to the Rewilding Britain 'rewilding network' - the timeline states that bison will be released in 2022 and also mentions that the site will be considered for further reintroductions including pine martens and red squirrels. The herbivore assemblage has been changed a bit from the original lineup of bison, longhorn cattle, wild boar and tamworth pig - the bison and longhorn cattle are still mentioned, with the addition of Exmoor pony and the swapping out of both wild boar and tamworth pig for the Iron Age pig. Wilder Blean | Rewilding Britain
My copy of the April 2022 issue of the BBC Wildlife magazine arrived today and in there is an article about the upcoming release of bison at Blean. Something included in there that I don't think has been mentioned so far is the source of the four animals. The 'matriarch' of the bison herd will be an older female from the Highland Wildlife Park, and will be joined by a young bull from Germany and two younger females from Fota Wildlife Park.
There will be no footpaths through the areas with bison, in fact the layout of the site has been designed specifically so that pre-existing public rights of way will not be disrupted by the bison fencing. Exmoor ponies, longhorn cattle and iron age pigs will be grazing in areas accessible on foot I believe, however. A lot of activity in that area of the Blean at the moment, with a lot of fencing going up, ready for the bison's slightly delayed arrival later this spring. I've just read through this thread, which I was unaware of previously, and have a couple of points to make that may have been overlooked. 1. The Blean is a very large area of woodland, but is also not continuous, and is owned by a range of different landowners, including Kent Wildlife Trust, the Forestry Commission, and the RSPB. This development of conservation grazing will be quite some distance from the university campus, which I saw mentioned in an earlier post. 2. A big part of this project is the experimental aspect, comparing the impacts on the forest and biodiversity of the two different mixes of grazing animals, of bison vs longhorn cattle, so to speak. The total area being grazed by the two assemblages is roughly equal, and there will also be a smaller 'control' area to the western end of West Blean Woods (which is still east of the Blean Woods NNR managed by the RSPB- back to the whole mosaic of landowners). 3. While wisent remains have indeed not been found from the UK itself, all three other herbivores being used here are proxies for extinct herbivores anyway, and wisent remains are known from Doggerland, the now-submerged land bridge joining eastern England to continental Europe. Wisent were chosen for their ecological potential, above any kind of once-native status. For those who might not have seen the Wildwood news thread; a viewing platform in the zoo itself will be constructed to overlook the adjacent bison area: Bison herd released into Kent wild could grow rapidly Just my thoughts and some information, shared simply as an individual interested in this project and excited for what it may lead to.
Mongabay have released an article about bison rewilding, focusing first on the Blean project followed by bits about reintroductions elsewhere in Europe and in North America. The one bit of new information that I could see in the article is that the bison will be released into Blean in May 2022. The article can be found here: Wild bison, taking over Europe and North America, will once again roam England
The first three bison (all females) will be being released this morning (18th July); they will be being joined later by a bull from Germany. More information can be found here: History made as bison released into Kent woodland
It says woodland, but has good quality, productive farmland also been sacrificed for this? - as is being done in the Cambridgeshire fens? We are approaching a situation where it will be possible to see bison and butterflies, but given the drought-stricken wheat harvest in western Europe and the situation in Ukraine; there will be no bread in the shops. Loss of valuable local farmland, increasing dependency on long-distance imports is environmentally questionable, and potentially dangerous.
No farmland has been affected at all. The land being used here is all part of a woodland nature reserve owned and managed by the Kent Wildlife Trust.
