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FreeMe's Black-footed Cats on 50/50

Submitted by MyFourways on Mon, 19/12/2011 - 13:31.
Black-footed Cats

Watch 50/50 on Monday December 19, 2011 at 7.30pm on SABC 2. You'll see the first episode of our Black-footed Cat Release Project – the first ever!

Watch to see what goes on outside of the facility at FreeMe - this is the essence of good rehabilitation!

Black Footed Cat

Ingwe's picture
Submitted by Ingwe (not verified) on Fri, 06/01/2012 - 09:36.

Great to see a story on South Africa's smallest and least studied wild cat and the good work that FreeMe is doing.

There is also a less well known Black Footed Cat breeding project happening at Loskop Dam NR where a couple of rescued cats from coal mining operations are housed. It was started by myself as an employee of Anglo Coal and subsequently funded by Anglo Coal as part of environmental management at the time and recognised by Nedbank in the Green Mining Awards. Unfortunately the cat is resident in many new coal mining areas and not recognised in field studies (also due to a misinterpretation of its distribution range) so that its habitat and numbers are destroyed continuously. As this cat might be a threat to new opencast projects, the project is not well communicated to the public and I was also convenietly disposed.

It is crucial that more research on this cat must be established, recognising its wider distrubution and possible CITES responsibilities.