Zimbabwe Seven

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Mar 07 2008 | By: admin

Muffet’s story (female serval)

This is an introduction into Muffet and her story thus far. However we are going to up date you with regards to Muffet in separate instalments.

Muffet
Sire: Unknown / Wild
Dam: Unknown / Wild
Sex: Female
Origin: Orphan from Shamva - hand reared
Date of Birth: 4 April 2000
Litter Mate: Tigger
Other Siblings: Unknown
Breeding History: Bred with William to produce two litters; Duke,Duchess and then Mungo and Jerry. Bred with Geronimo to produce two litters; Nala, and then Rafiki and Isabella
Release Info: 13 June 2006 at Stone Hills – Collared

It is only right that this “moment” was made possible through Muffet. Miss Muffet was brought to the Trust in 1999 as an orphan in a Bata shoebox stuffed with cotton wool. Her eyes had not yet opened and she was so tiny that I did not think she would survive the night let alone reach maturity. I should have know that Muffet was a survivor from the beginning, but being my first wild orphan animal, I was rather in a state and did not see it until she was much older. The first three months of Muffet’s life were touch and go or maybe she was just testing me. Muffet experienced a lot of stomach problems and there was a lot of toeing and fro wing from Chris’s office’s. Muffet from the beginning was a headstrong cat, which kept her distance from most people. She was very small and had the most amazing sphinx like traits in her face, on top of this she did not have a golden coat but more a tawny colour coat, in South Africa she would be considered an exotic. Her brother Tigger was your standard serval when it came to size and colour, his temperament on the other hand was more like a leopard! Together we leant about one another. I was a totally over protective mother and had the two of them on a bottle until they were fifteen months old. They also remained in the house until they were a year old only going outside under my very watchful and protective eye. They must have been the most mothered creatures in history.

In 2003 Muffet was put into an enclosure with William in the hopes that they would breed. In August 2003 Muffet produced two kittens, Duke and Duchess. She gave birth to them in her basket but was not at all sure as to what these two tiny bundles of fur were. Talking alot and jumping onto my lap was all that Muffet could manage. There was no way she wanted to be left alone with these creatures. After nine hours of Muffet not really allowing the kittens to drink from her I decided to remove them both and hand raise them as they were now becoming cold and crying continuously. Muffet was delighted with this new idea and very relieved to not have these screaming furry rats in her basket. It was very interesting that with her first litter Muffet remained very tame and allowed me to have full contact with her throughout the pregnancy as well as during and after the birth. This all changed when her second litter came. In November 2003, Muffet gave birth to Mungo and Jerry. Muffet was very bad tempered shortly before the birth and would not allow me to have any contact with her. Once the kittens were born, she kept them hidden and did not let me see them until they were a week old. Every time anyone entered her enclosure she would attack them hissing and spitting as well as slapping the ground. The change between the two births was amazing, instinct definitely kicked in and she was now a protective mother, allowing nothing to come between her and her kittens. Muffet raised both Mungo and Jerry very successfully on her own, with no input from me. By the time her third litter arrived in August 2004, she was an excellent mother.

Nala was born and raised once again by Muffet, as was Rafiki who was born in October 2005. Muffet has proved to be a very successful breeder and mother. Showing us that instinct is a huge part of these cats’ lives even in captivity.

What was very interesting for me was learning that each cat has the ability to decide or rather show me when they are ready for release. Muffet started showing signs of wanting to be released shortly after giving birth to Rafiki. She became very aggressive and started pacing around her enclosure around dusk every evening. Even with hiding her food around the enclosure and trying to interact with her, nothing seemed to work and she had what I call the “long distance stare.” With Muffet also reaching an age of 6 years old if we were going to release her, we would not want to wait much longer with the fear that she might be too old.

It was decided that Muffet would be collared and released in Marula on the Stone Hills farm. On the 14 June 2006, Muffet was darted and collared as well as Rafiki being darted so that they would go together. Both cats traveled well and when we arrived at Stone Hills it was dark as well as being fairly cold and raining. The cats remained in their crates and inside the car for the night, as I was concerned about their body temperature dropping too low, after being drugged. In the morning we took them to their new enclosure, which is where they were to remain until the rains came. Being rather bold Muffet came out of her crate fairly quickly and started to investigate her new surroundings. Rafiki was still under the influence of the drugs and remained in his crate most of that day. Muffet however was delighted with her new surroundings, started eating and moving around the enclosure instantly. Muffet and Rafiki stayed in this enclosure for the next six.

Muffet was released on 10 December, whilst Rafiki remained in the enclosure. The reason we did this was because Muffet was in oestrus and we did not want Rafiki covering her. We also thought that with Rafiki still in the enclosure it might make Muffet remain in the area. Muffet walked into her freedom in the same way as she did everything in life – with confidence. She did not look back once. For the first week Muffet pretty much stayed around the area only going with in a 3 km radius around the enclosure. Occasionally coming back to the enclosure to check on Rafiki. Bookey would track Muffet and on finding her feed her. Most of the time Muffet did not take any of the meat, which was put out for her. This indicated that she was hunting for herself sufficiently. She was not concerned when Bookey walked with her, which was great as this gave us the opportunity to see what she was doing and how well she was coping on her own. On the 28 December, I went down to see Muffet in the wild. For me it was a huge milestone. Of course the day I arrived at Stonehills to see Muffet, she decides to head off in a completely different direction and we could not pick up the signal. For the next two days we continued to track her, getting a little concerned, as there was just no signal. Then finally on the 31 December, late morning Mabena picked up her signal. That was it. Meat, frontline and anything else that we thought we might need was shoved into a bag and we were off. My heart was racing and hands were sweating. We drove to the area where she had been detected, got out of the car and started tracking. It was not long before we found her signal, it was so close but I could not see her! I started calling her, and after about 3 minutes she called back. I headed towards where the call came from, talking all the time – then a few meters in front of me there she was – just sitting there looking at me and calling. She had remembered me!

I ran towards her and as soon as I reached her there was just crying, purring, and lots and lots of talking. She showed no aggression towards me.

This experience has quiet honestly been the highlight of my career with the Tikki Hywood Trust. The cycle is now complete. What we have seen is that wild animals can be bred in captivity and then after being hand raised can successfully be returned to the wild. Once in the wild they have the abilities to draw on their natural instinct and survive. Wild animals are only meant to be in the wild. To see Muffet in her natural environment, in good condition with a shining coat, marking the branches of trees and rolling in the grass left me speechless. I remained with Muffet, feeding her a little meat. She took it from me, but I think it was more a mother, daughter thing as she was not wolfing it down or really that interested in the meat. I followed her into the bush where she lay down and rolled, all the while quite ok with my presence. After what seemed like hours we decided to leave her. Walking away from Muffet I was completely content. She was where she was born to be – in the wild.