The Cat Survival Trust Cat Survival Trust

mr.felidae

Well-Known Member
Hi Everyone

I am new to Zoo Chat, although i have been reading the site for a few months now...

Just wondered if anyone has ever visited the Cat Survival Trust, and what they thought of it?

:)
 
This is a collection i would love to visit i live about 20 mins away from it and have yet never visited as it not being open to the public.The Cat Survival Trust is about 5 mins away from the Santago Big Cat Sanctuary started by the late Peter James.
Unfortunately their websites are not up to date but anyone who would like to add some light on this collection it would be fantastic to know.
Regards
 
I lived on site and did some work experience/voluntary work there recently, and learnt some very unorthadox and 'un-zoo-like' ways of doing things...compared to the ways im used to working with cats.
The trust is run by volunteers, some of whom permanently live on site, and they are working on the new website.
They are very successfull at breeding Snow leopards, and had a litter of 3 cubs born september 2008.
As of 1st April 2009, the trust housed 1 Geoffroy's Cat, 5 Caracals, 1 Bobcat, 1 Jaguar, 2 Amur Leopards, 4 European Lynx, 1 Ocelot, 1 Serval, 3 Pumas, and 11 Snow Leopards.

What i found was unique about the trust is that it can have contact with its cubs even though they are mother reared, and the cubs act like they are hand-reared etc...
 
They had a pair of Pumas from me a few years back and i understand they were getting new blood lines in. (the pair were brother and sister). They certinly do very well witht h Snow lepards.
 
Thankyou for that Mr.Felidae i would love to visit this collection as My main interest is Cats and partculary the Keeper Bonding theorys with animals.Living so close to the site its a shame i have never got in touch.
Their breeding record is brilliant!, They must be very proud of housing 11 snow leopards aswell as 2 Amur leopards and 1 Jag.
It seems like a fantastic place,Do they have any open days? etc
Thanks for any info.
 
A male serval, zulu, Has arrived at the park from a private collection from scotland

epickoala123:)
 
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A recent shipment from Parc De Felines to Welwyn contained the following:

1.0 Asian Golden Cat
1.0 European Wild Cat
1.1 Asian Wild Cats
1.0 Eurasian Lynx

The Golden Cat makes Welwyn the third holder in the UK (Other's being Edinburgh and Belfast)
 
A recent shipment from Parc De Felines to Welwyn contained the following:

1.0 Asian Golden Cat

The Golden Cat makes Welwyn the third holder in the UK (Other's being Edinburgh and Belfast)

Just seen the news about this - very interesting and very good for a fantastic little feline :D
 
A recent shipment from Parc De Felines to Welwyn contained the following:

1.0 Asian Golden Cat
1.0 European Wild Cat
1.1 Asian Wild Cats
1.0 Eurasian Lynx

The Golden Cat makes Welwyn the third holder in the UK (Other's being Edinburgh and Belfast)

Fourth - Thrigby Hall also holds the species.
 
I believe the current collection there is:
Gordon's Wildcat (2)
European wildcat (1)
Serval (cubs born recently)
Caracal (1)
Leopard Cat (2)
Ring-Tailed Lemur (1)
Puma (4? not sure)
Amur Leopard (2)
Jaguar (1)
Asian Golden Cat (1)
Eurasian Lynx (2)
Snow Leopard (6)
 
what is this Cat Survival Trust all about? There is only this one thread and a handful of photos in the gallery. Is it one of those jobs that "rescues" cats (in which case why are they getting cats from Parc de Felines) or is it supposed to be a breeding centre (in which case their numbers don't stack up very well)? And what is the lemur doing there?
 
Basically they are a private operation who pick up surplus animals from here, there and everywhere.
 
They are a charity that rescue cats, and re-home them at the sanctuary, but they do also breed them. They have bred snow leopard before, now servals and they think the leopard cat may also be pregnant.

They do a lot of great conservation work in a 10,000 acre forest property in north-east Argentina which they bought to conserve jaguarundi, ocelot, margay, puma and tiger cat.

Chlidonias- I believe the cats that arrived from parc de felines came because there was not enough room for them there. And as for the lemurs, a couple of years ago ,they were given a pair of rescued lemurs, one of which has passed away recently.
 
I hate to say this but doesn't this apply to ALL animal collections as they all keep animals and breed them to help the species they keep out in the future or am I missing a point here.
er, no. Saying that every zoo collection equates to a pet collection just because it houses animals is like equating Monaco to a go-cart track. There are small private collections which exist for that reason -- the owners just collect animals and then open to the public to support their hobby -- and then there are "proper" zoos. I can't really see how you would possibly call, say, Chester Zoo a collection of pets.

The Cat Survival Trust can't even be called a zoo really (and I suspect it probably wouldn't call itself a zoo anyway). It has, what, 30 animals? It is just a random collection of individual animals with a do-good title. That's fine, but if they want to make the most of their dollar in cat conservation they wouldn't even need the odd-sorts collection they have -- they are irrelevant and simply cost a lot of money to house and feed -- they would just use money they raise as a charity for the wild habitats.
 
Currently-

2 Gordon's Wildcats
1 European Wildcat
6 Snow Leopards
1 Jaguar
2 Amur Leopard
1 Asian Golden Cat
2 European Lynx
1 Caracal
1 Lemur
3 Servals & 2 cubs
3 Pumas & 2 cubs

Their civet passed away.
 
I think there is, now more than ever, a need for places like this.
They serve a purpose, yes it is hard to "classify them" as such, because they are neither one thing nor another, but in the case of the Cat Survival Trust it is run by a knowledgeable and experienced man (Terry Moore) with a passion for what he does. Surplus zoo animals have always been a problem, and there are few respectable collections that are in a position to help as he can in relation to keeping wild cats in particular. He is also trying to do his bit for conservation along the way, so let`s not knock him for trying to help.
 
They have had lots of interesting ideas for development recently, they hope to:

- Receive Amur leopard, Chinese golden cat and clouded leopard from Thrigby.

- They hope to bring in more golden cats, leopard cats as well as possible Indian Leopards (and melanistic ones) from a contact in India

- Build a cheetah enclosure behind the new medium cat complex (which is being built at the moment).
 
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