It’s always an event. “That’s the reward,” smiles Marie-Laure Thierry. For this volunteer from the Panse-Bêtes care center, the one of months spent feeding, looking after, removing the human from wild animals with the sole purpose of returning them to their natural environment. Tuesday two young forest cats (Felis silvestris silvestris) thus regaining their freedom after a six-month stay at the Panse-Bêtes care center in Chamalières, Puy-de-Dôme.
A successful return to nature for the two young brothers
The two brothers were released in an undergrowth near Champsanglard, very close to where they had been “found” by a hiker last May. “We have to put the animal back near the place where it was taken, it is a way for him to find the place where he could have been born, in any case a place he knows”, explains Gregory Rollion, large carnivore officer at the French Office of Biodiversity (OFB) in Creuse.
In the meantime, these two kittens had been seized by the courts, handed over to the OFB and placed in a care center, because in France it is strictly forbidden to catch, keep or even transport a protected species like the forest cat. (Read below). The species, if not known, can actually be mistaken for the domestic cat and only a DNA analysis can confirm, in case of doubt, that it is indeed the species. felis silvestris silvestris.The young kittens were not weaned when they arrived at Panse-Bêtes. They are now about eight months old @ Photo Marie-Laure Thierry
“When we took them in, these kittens were not yet weaned, they must have been around two months old,” explains Marie-Laure Thierry. The volunteer remembers kittens who were not very shy. “I was very surprised when I took charge of them. I doubted they were forest cats because they were rubbing against the cage railings…”
The forest cat that was hit by a car in November 2020 has finally found its forest in Saint-Hilaire-la-Plaine (Creuse)
Unusual behavior for this very timid human species. “We’ve had forest kittens before, and you have to wear leather gloves, otherwise you can’t touch them, not even two-month-old kittens! smiles Marie-Laure Thierry. Their detention and impregnation
explain this unusually familiar behavior.
To give them the best chance of being released, the care center had to work on decontaminating the little felines from humans.
“We have put a whole protocol in place in these cases. There is only one person, called a nurse, who will give the bottle. This will be their point of reference, their surrogate mother. He is the only person who will be in contact with these animals, so they don’t get used to all people. » Marie-Laure Thierry
(volunteer from Panse-Bêtes)
Once they were weaned and transitioned to solid food and eating alone, the kittens were transferred to an outdoor enclosure, shaded so that they did not become accustomed to the sight of humans.
The two young cats spent six months at the Panse-Bêtes center before being released. A strict protocol has been put in place to free them from humans and give them the best chance to return to their natural environment @Photo Marie-Laure Thierry
“From then on, no one will be able to enter the enclosure because they will mark it with their urine as they would in the wild. It is their territory, if you go there you will see very quickly that they are not happy at all.. . This means that the distance from people has been taken, that you can no longer touch them or approach them,” explains Marie-Laure Thierry. The volunteer’s efforts have paid off, as six months later these two kittens have regained all their wild instincts .
“It is one of the conditions for them to be released. Regulatory-wise, we release a wild animal into its environment when it can feed itself, fulfill its needs, reproduce, and when it has been impregnated with humans. Marie-Laure Thierry
(volunteer from Panse-Bêtes)
A long rehabilitation work for the care centers 
Sometimes this may not work and these animals are then condemned to a life in captivity. “Rehabilitating a wild animal takes time, it costs money, while you are never sure that it will succeed,” recalls Marie-Laure Thierry. For these forest cats we had to do genetic analysis for example, it costs €350 for a single cat. For an association of volunteers, this is huge. We necessarily prefer that the kittens stay with their mother and that we do not remove them from their territory,” adds the volunteer. Because it also multiplies the difficulties for the animal when it is released.
Marie-Laure Thierry smiles, every release of a wild animal is a victory, especially when it comes to an animal as rare and emblematic as the forest cat. @Bruno Barlier
“Make no mistake, in the place where they were released, these young will rub shoulders with other forest cats, well-armed, solid compared to those who have just come out of a foster care center and know nothing about life. It will be complicated for them in the beginning, they’ll have to find their place. It’s not ideal…” Marie-Laure Thierry
(volunteer from Panse-Bêtes)
Especially since the situation is more common than you might think. “Wild cats, we welcome between three and five every year”, notes Marie-Laure Thierry. Three quarters are from Creuse. In 2017, a two-year-old forest cat was released near Ars after a stay in Panse-Bêtes, where he was treated for severe mange and a fracture.
What should you do if you find a wild animal in need in Creuse?
“He’s the only forest cat we’ve had that really had to go to a care center because he was in need. All the others were victims of bad tests, “kittens that people took from the forest thinking they were domestic cats”.
@Bruno Barlier
Each new release is therefore a powerful moment for those who contributed to make this result possible and “even if we do not see them leave their shelter, we see the environment in which they will develop and for us these are moments full of emotions, confides Marie-Laure Thierry. We know why we did this, why we left at 11pm from the care center after work. This is the icing on the cake. »
If an animal remains in contact with man, especially if it is a young one, it ends up considering it as an individual of its species: this is the phenomenon of impregnation.
After two hours on the way from Chamalières, when the transport box had been deposited in the undergrowth, close to where they were unfortunately taken, the two young forest cats could calmly relax from the trip and get used to the surrounding smells. one hour.
The box, covered with a blanket to relieve the animals, was carefully placed in the undergrowth where the young cats @Bruno Barlier are released.
An agent from OFB and Marie-Laure Thierry, a volunteer from Panse-Bêtes then opened the door to the box and let nature take its course. It took about forty minutes for the first forest cat to venture out of the cabin and regain its freedom, and another twenty minutes for its brother, who crept out as night fell. 
@Bruno Barlier
These two young males will now live their lives as forest cats. “They’ll go off on their own knowing that the males’ territory can go up to 1,000 hectares (compared to 150 to 180 hectares for the females). That’s two small males that could potentially be mature enough to breed and then we start to come into heat, they will try to find a female to mate with,” explains Gregory Rollion.
@Bruno Barlier
An emblematic species threatened and strictly protected in Europe
These two forest cats were seized in connection with legal proceedings for the capture, transport and possession of a protected wild species. “It must be remembered that any attack on a protected species is an offense punishable by 3 years in prison and a fine of 150,000 euros”, emphasizes the OFB.
Two agents from the OFB, as well as its head of departmental service, Morgan Pochoday, accompanied Marie-Laure Thierry during the release of the two forest cats. Because until they are both out of their transport case, they are under OFB de la Creuse’s responsibility. @Bruno Barlier
If it is protected, it is because this emblematic species is threatened at French and European level. Catching, but also poaching, poisoning, road collisions weaken the populations. Another less obvious factor also endangers the species: its hybridization with the domestic cat. It can sometimes breed with cats that roam the landscape, significantly weakening the species’ genetic heritage and its continuation.
A symbolic feline in our countryside, a forest cat was treated after a road collision in Creuse
“That’s why we systematically do a genetic test to find out its degree of hybridization”, explains Grégory Rollion, reference for large predators from OFB Creuse.
It will take patience for the two young forest cats to finally get out of their transport cage to find the wild life @Bruno Barlier
Not to mention, of course, the destruction of its habitat. “The more we have an open environment, the less the forest cat will feel comfortable. It needs large deciduous forests, on the edge of meadows or fields. We have a population that is much more established in forest areas than in agricultural areas. »
Although this species can be confused with the domestic cat, some characteristics make it possible to distinguish them: “It is a cat that is much more massive, denser, with denser fur and a very airy tail, where you can distinguish three with five black rings and ends in a black sleeve”. Its coat is also marked with a black dorsal line that runs from tail to nape. The species is mainly nocturnal, but can be found during the day.
Photographer Philippe Grand was able to capture the very hidden exit of the first of the two brothers as night began to fall on the Champsanglard @Philippe Grand
In Creuse, the forest cat seems to like it anyway. “The species is well represented in the department, we are on a population that is in a positive development”, notes Grégory Rollion. On the other hand, it is impossible to know precisely the number of individuals roaming the territory. Monitoring of the species is done via the network of small and medium-sized carnivores.
“We list all data, whether it is on live or dead animals, and we take samples for genetic identification. It also gives us a dynamic of the population in the department and beyond. »
Text: Julie Ho Hoa
julie.hohoa@centrefrance.com
Photos: Bruno Barlier, Philippe Grand and Marie-Laure Thierry
