Leopard cat on the loose in Ireland
When the skull of a leopard was found in 1995, reports that a huge cat had been roaming the countryside seemed genuine.
But the skull rattled when shook; there was something inside it.
This turned out to be the egg-case of an African cockroach. Clearly, this was not a cat which had lived and died in Britain. So, are the reports of strange beasts always hoaxes?
Not necessarily, as a recent case in north county Dublin shows. An exotic feline has escaped into the countryside there.
Electra is a two-year-old leopard cat, a small feline that can grow to about two foot in length. Her species is native to south east Asia but she was born and raised in captivity.
Kept as a pet, Electra left her home in Swords while her owners, Delphine Kennedy and her husband, were away. Devastated by the loss, the couple placed notices in libraries and supermarkets asking people to report sightings.
Delphine appeared on RTÉ’s Mooney Show appealing for help. A €1,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the cat’s safe return but nothing has been heard of her.
Hopes she will be found are fading.
The picture on her ‘wanted’ poster shows what looks like a miniature leopard. About the size of a large tabby, Electra has a light yellow pelage adorned with black spots and the characteristic white ear-markings which help kittens follow their mother in the dark.
Black lines on the face give her an elegant regal air. According to Delphine, she will shun people she doesn’t know, but she’s not afraid of dogs. Family pets have nothing to fear from her but the same can’t be said for the local birds — cats will be cats.
I watched leopard cats in the wild last December. It galls me to admit it, but I owe that privilege to a destructive industry.
The great forests of Borneo are being cut down to satisfy the insatiable demand for timber in Europe, America and China.
Oil palms are planted on the cleared land to produce margarine for the health-obsessed west.
The scale of the devastation is mind-boggling. On a three-hour road journey through Saba, the country’s northern province, plantations lined the road continuously with scarcely a break, apart from the occasional oil-processing plant or worker’s dwelling.
Palm plantations, with their rows of trees like soldiers on a parade-ground, are of little benefit to rain-forest creatures. The endangered orang-utans, gibbons and rhinos won’t venture into them although elephants will, much to the annoyance of the plantation owners who erect electric fences to keep them out.
These seem to have little effect: there was elephant dung everywhere in the plantations I visited. Rats and mice thrive in this artificial world.
The rodents emerge at dusk and scurry about on the bare ground under the palms. I had never seen so many.
As darkness falls, birds and mammals leave the jungle for the plantations to hunt the rodents.
The border between the two habitats is a marvellous place to see wildlife. A powerful torch picks up the shining eyes of owls and leopard cats as they stalk their prey. I thought these stunningly beautiful creatures would scamper off once attention was focused on them but most of them ignored the light.
So will Electra survive in the Irish countryside? Presumably she has reverted to the ways of her ancestors, resting under cover by day and hunting at night. Cats are enigmatic animals in so may ways.
Almost all species are in decline in the wild, yet their captive cousins are among the most successful creatures on Earth. House cats which leave home to live rough seem to fare better than their wild cousins.
Although the leopard cat is a distinct species, it’s closely related to our domestic one.
The two will interbreed in captivity, so Electra is virtually a feral domestic cat.
Mortality is high among such vagabonds but, fingers crossed, she stands a sporting chance.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
