Remote island of Taransay to be returned to its natural condition with Scottish wildcats

NEWS AND VIEWS: This is a story about a castaway island of the Isle of Harris in the north-west tip of Scotland called Taransay which, by the way, is where the television series Castaway was filmed starring Ben Fogle.

The island was bought by Adam and Cathra Kelliher in 2011. Adam Kelliher said:

"Our vision is to take the island back to the pre-intensive grazing, back to the Bronze Age. It will be covered by Atlantic rainforest. We are not talking about the Scottish straight pine, we are talking about a myriad of deciduous trees that thrived in the past."

The island is about 5 miles long by about 3 miles wide at its maximum width. It is a mystical place where visitors can renew their roots and connect with nature. It is said that people who visit Taransay leave it with a different attitude about life. It solitude, it's sense of nature, its quietness and tranquillity are all said to affect people deeply.

Beautiful Taransay where the Scottish wildcat may one day roam again.

And the vision of the Kellihers is to populate the island with trees, heather and flowers, mammals including deer, wild cattle, ponies, pigs, beaver, elks and as mentioned Scottish wildcats. A very grand scheme which if it works out at all will take many years.

Scottish wildcat

But, of course, what I like to see here is reference to the Scottish wildcat. This is a mammal which has been declared extinct because they say that the existing Scottish wildcats are in fact hybrids, the result of a matings between feral tabby cats and a genuine Scottish wildcats.

It is argue that there are no purebred Scottish wildcat left but having said that, it would be lovely to give them an island of about 15 mi² where they can thrive, where they can be be left alone. The only place where you might be lucky enough to see a Scottish wildcat currently is in Scotland but they were described as 'wildcats' in the past and they were present in the south of England.

The Scottish wildcat actually is the European Wildcat it's just that the Scots like to claim the species as their own!😀

Cathra Kelliher said that:

"People get quite emotional when they visit. There is something fundamental about your feet on those rocks, the feel of the Atlantic on your skin. It strips you of everything you don't need and you are left with just the core of what you are."

I think she describes it very, very nicely indeed. It is great to get back to your roots to the core of you, to connect with nature. I can see this island being a great attraction to many people in the future as the world becomes more and more complicated and arguably more more messed up with bad world leadership, climate change, and wars!

Management needed

In 2019 they took all the sheep off Taransay and there was an immediate explosion of flowers and wildlife but the grasses grew taller because there were no mammals to eat the grass. It isn't just about leaving things alone according to Adam Kelliher, it's about managing nature as well. I wish him well. If it goes well I might visit the place one day! 

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

A particular herb will force cats to run a mile from your garden claims gardening expert

British gardening expert Suzanne Hall, speaking on YouTube on the Lovely Garden channel tells us that there is a particular herb that forces neighbour's cats to run a mile from your garden. Note: I think the damage done by trespassing cats is greatly exaggerated. Perhaps it is the hole digging which concerns gardeners more than the urine and faeces.

This is the magic plant according to Suzanne Hall: Coleus canina. As mentioned it is a variety of herb and it is from the mint family Lamiaceae. It has even got a nickname: 'scaredy cat plant'! 😃As you can see the plant has acquired its nickname because it is so efficient in getting rid of domestic cats trespassing on your garden.

The scaredy-cat plant. Image: Wikipedia and therefore licensed.

The leaves of this herb are sticky to the touch and it has a scent that is similar to eucalyptus which cats and dogs dislike.

If it doesn't work Ms Hall has some other clever tips which may be effective alternatives.

You can add ground black pepper to hot water in a spray bottle. You shake it up and spray it near plants. It's effective because cats dislike the strong smell. It is safe for both cats and plants.

Lavender is also good thanks to a potent odour.

Comment and some more tips from me

Comment: one of the most commonly discussed topics in the world of cats is how to stop neighbour's cats trespassing on your backyard when you are a devoted gardener and are very proud of your flowerbeds.

Of course, domestic cats have no conception of trespass and they don't trespass under the law. They can go where they please and there is no law stopping them.

I can't tell you how many tips and tricks and clever hacks I have seen on the Internet to repel domestic cats. Cat deterrents are the Holy Grail for non-cat owners.

In my years of working on these websites, I can tell you that if you achieve a 50% deterrent success rate you are doing well and there is a device can achieve that. This is the ultrasonic acoustic deterrent. They have been found, as mentioned, to be about 50% effective which should please most people. Click this link to read about them:

Ultrasonic cat deterrents

They are recommended by the RSPB in the UK. No better recommendation.

I have some other tips and tricks on this precious topic which you can read by clicking the link below. It covers quite a lot of ground on this topic.

Gardeners’ tips and tricks to deter neighbours’ cats from using their gardens as a toilet!

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Routine is important for both kids and cats

There is a similarity between kids and cats in one aspect of their desired lifestyle: routine. Cats love the reassurance of routine. They can sleep better. They have less anxiety. They enjoy life more. Life becomes more predictable. This is important because the wildcat is just below the surface of the domestic cat and they live in the human world. They are out of place in many ways despite almost 10,000 years of domestication.

And so routine is important to cats. I don't know of a study to support this but it is probably fair to say that cats who live a life of routines and rhythms live longer in general than those who live a disjointed and fragmented lifestyle with uncertainties.

Today, in The Times, there is a report on research carried out at Colorado State University in which they enrolled 94 children aged between five and nine from a wide range of economic backgrounds. They concluded that routine was "key to a healthy, wealthy and wise child". The underlying reason for this huge benefit was that they slept better.

The lead author of the study, Emily Merz, said: "Shorter sleep duration was significantly associated with reduced cortical thickness in frontal, temporal and parietal regions and smaller volume of the amygdala (a brain region key to emotion processing)."

I'm not saying that when cats have a life of routines and rhythms that they necessarily sleep better but they probably do because they will be less anxious. Because of the reassurances that routine and rhythms bring them, they are better able to sleep soundly.

I see a great similarity between kids and cats and interestingly we keep our cats as 'feline kids' because we look after them all the time and so emotionally and mentally they behave like kittens despite being adults. This is another similarity to the results of this study.

Children need dependable schedules as cats do. The best cat caregivers live a life of routines and rhythms themselves and their domestic cat companion fits in with them. Both parties are content with this lifestyle and relationship.

The routines of the children included whether they did the same thing each morning when they woke and whether their parents had a regular playtime after coming home from work. And further whether the parents read or told stories to their children regularly and whether the children went to bed at the same time and so on and so forth.

Routine is good particularly for the more vulnerable of us and the more timid or anxious of us. I would argue that domestic cats are inherently going to be a little anxious because, as mentioned, they live in the human world, a land of giants and of human activities which are essentially alien to them. I believe that cat caregivers need to be aware of this and do all they can to reassure their cat companions.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Emma Raducanu laughs as a ginger tabby cat interrupts the commencement of her Abu Dhabi Open match

I am able to combine Emma Raducanu, who I have written about recently when I predicted that she'd retire from professional tennis within 2 years and a cat! It's hard to do that in a video but we have one here from the Daily Motion website. It is no big deal. 

The only query I have is how did a cat get onto the tennis court at a professional tournament at the commencement of play when there are players on court and spectators in the stands?

Does this indicate that there are lots of stray cats in Abu Dhabi or that the management of the tournament is a little slack? Or perhaps it was just bad luck. Maybe it was good luck as it made Raducanu laugh. 

I have seen her look sad too often after losing matches in the early round of recent tournaments. She has not progressed beyond round two so far this year; her first campaign after her three operations - two on her wrists and one on her foot. She has returned to the UK to practice. I think she's returned to also discuss her future as a pro tennis player. It is not working out. She is way off the mark to beat the top 10 players.

This is an embedded video which means that it may stop working as I have no control over its presence on this website.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Female cat lover campaigns to be a lawmaker in Indonesia

NEWS AND COMMENT: This is a story from the other side of the world for me but any story which reports that a person wants to be a lawmaker in their country's parliament who is a cat lover and probably an animal lover as well, will interest me deeply. 

That's because there is a need worldwide to improve animal welfare especially in the Far East (in my opinion) and as you probably know Jakarta is the capital of Indonesia. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of Indonesia.

The person in question is Indonesian Francine Widjojo. She has just hit the campaign trail carrying cat treats and cats I'm told by Reuters. She wants to raise awareness of animal cruelty during her campaigning.

Francine on the campaign trail. Image: Reuters.

Indonesia will hold presidential and legislative elections on February 14 and campaigning is now in full swing.

During her campaigning, Francine is seen holding Yakult, a white cat who she rescued as a kitten and who is one of 27 living in her home! I hope that she has a big home and some help!

Francine is 44 years old. She told Reuters last month while her cat was being vaccinated that if she is successful in her campaigning and is elected she wants to improve the sterilisation and vaccination rate of cat companions in Jakarta. She added that, "One of the issues that I will be fighting for is for Jakarta to be a pet-friendly city."

Regrettably, I have to report that in some parts of Indonesia people consume cat and dog meat which is not untypical in south-east Asia as a whole. 

From a Westerner's point of view it is unacceptable. China kills and consumes the most cats and dogs of all the countries in the world. Vietnam follows but South Korea has recently introduced a law which will ban dog meat as I recall.

Interestingly, the Indonesian government's agricultural ministry classified dog meat as not for human consumption in 2018 but it didn't have any impact on the trade. Note: it is difficult to stop deep rooted commercial enterprises and habits which might go back hundreds or more years. It requires great enforcement. In this instance, no punishment was created for eating dog meat and therefore the recommendation was unenforceable.

Animal activists are campaigning for a national ban on dog and cat meat trades according to The Humane Society International.

Francine is running for election under the umbrella of the Indonesian Solidarity Party which is headed by the president's youngest son. She also plans to fight against corruption, religious and racial intolerance.

She mentioned that animal cruelty is not often addressed in Indonesia but she vows to fight the problem. I wish her the very best. I love to read about people campaigning for animal welfare many thousands of miles away and committing to the fight to eradicate animal abuse.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.