Lynx in the Scottish Highlands

I just learned that four lynx have been illegally released in the Scottish Highlands. Of them, two have been recaptured. Releasing them was of coursea terrible idea, as the article explains. That said, I hope they release legally and responsibly lynx in Scotland in the future. Because it struck me that the land and the animal go well together. And this bit of news made me think of something else: I wonder if the many tales and sighting of cryptid wildcats that abound in the UK are not caused by such illegal release, accidental or intentional, of wild animals like these lynx.

Rooikat (word of the day)

The things you learn when you read crime fiction, particularly crime fiction from a different continent. So as you may know, I am currently reading South African  Deon Meyer's last novel, Leo. So I learned the existence of a wild cat called caracal or, in Afrikaans, rooikat. Which sounds darn cool. It's also the name they give to a South African tank. Now I love all cats, including wild cats, and I just love the name rooikat. I don't remember hearing about them before reading the novel, maybe I did, but did not notice, but anyway, I feel more cultured now. And rooikat (or caracal) is the word of the day.

Wildcat

 I took this picture last October at Hogshaw Farm and I wanted to share it today just because. It is a wildcat. I have never seen one in the wild, at least not that I can think of (I know some people confuse them with domestic cats), but I saw a few in petting zoos and animal sanctuaries. I love them, they are like little Northern tigers. Maybe it's only me, but I do think they really do look like feral, untamed little felines. I would not mess with them. Oh and what haunting eyes they have!

"Touch not the cat bot a glove"

I took this picture in Derbyshire, in a wild animals sanctuary, mainly owls and otters, but also, as you can see, wildcats. The title I used for this post is the motto of the Clan Macpherson of Scotland. It truly means "Do not touch a cat without a glove". Here is what Wikipedia says: "The 'glove' of a wildcat is the pad. If the cat is 'ungloved', its claws are unsheathed. The motto serves as a warning that one should beware when the wildcat's claws are 'without a glove'. It is a reference to the historically violent nature of the clan and serves as a metaphorical warning to other clans that they should think twice before interfering with Macpherson business." So it was meant as a warning.

I feel strongly about this motto for many reasons, for one because it is sort of mine. I explain: on my mother's side, I belong to the Archibald family, which apparently, from the research I did on Google (for what it's worth) belongs to the Clan Macpherson. Maybe it is far fetched, but I find it very fitting for me, as I love cats of all sorts. Of course, my society with cats is less of the feral and more of the domestic type, but all the same, there is something feral and untamed about the whole species. All cats are, in a sense and at the core, wild. So this motto fits my fellow felines than my fellow primates.