Let me be by myself in the evenin’ breeze,
And listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees,
Send me off forever, but I ask you please,
Don’t fence me in.
(Cole Porter)
So, after 8 months, a fair amount of expense and a lot of feeding and cage cleaning, the civet cats have finally gone free. It has been a great experience to watch them grow and, although we’re sad to see them go, it is impossible not to share in their delight in their new found freedom. They come back briefly for visits (we’re leaving food out for them for the moment) but have no interest in using the cage and prefer to sleep out in the trees…and who can blame them?
Anyway, for those who are interested, here is a short video of their release and a later visit home.
Hello Paul
Interesting to see your wild cat story coming to this stage of release! Do you think they’ll be able to hunt & gather & reproduce alone? I look forward to seeing more on this! I’ve always wondered, why don’t you allow comments directly on your Youtube channel & videos?
Hi Grayson,
Many thanks for the comment and the civet cats seem to be doing fine – saying that they do come back at night for a top up of bananas that we leave out for them! I hope they will do alright and I think the fact that they’re soiitary animals and still had a strong wild instinct will work in their favour.
As for comments on Youtube – I don’t do that so as to keep all comments in one place – it also helps to weed out the Youtube trolls who generally can’t be bothered to link over to a website to work their mischief.
Cheers!
Paul
Hey Paul. I thought your reasons might be troll related 🙂 It’s ridiculous that trolls would post on your vids, your manner is so well spoken and polite.
Hi Grayson,
Thanks! To be honest trolls don’t worry me too much as I’m not one who takes offence if someone I’ve never met before writes something rude…I do think though that Youtube comments sometimes attract ‘idle’ comments from people not really that interested in the subject and, as I try to reply to all comments, that can be frustrating (what I mean by that is someone who writes a comment like “How best do I camp in the jungle?” …to which the answer is neither short not easy to explain!) and when commenting requires people to make the effort of visiting the site it weeds out those that fire off a question or comment without thinking about it first.
Anyway, thanks again and my mother would be delighted to hear that I come over as being polite these days (as it was not always so!)
Cheers!
Paul
Hi Paul,
Thanks for sharing that with us. I always enjoy seeing them, and I’m glad that they’re living in the forest now.
Although they belong in the wild, it seems that you provided an excellent environment for them.
Keep us posted please.
Hi Wawa,
I’m really glad you liked the civet cats videos and I know it was a bit of a departure from more junglecraft stuff (but then it is all jungle related!) – the civet cats do come back for brief visits and for a top up from the banana stash we leave out for them – but it is very obvious that they like being out in the forest and don’t miss the cage at all (but then who would?)
Cheers!
Paul
hi paul,
im living in kl and never been to jungle as i grew up on an island.
can i know where can i learn to get started on junglecraft? is there any class?
Hi Roy,
Many thanks sort the comment and good to hear you’re keen on learning junglecraft. I don’t run any courses but there is an Orang Asal living in Gombak who is very well versed in jungle skills and a great teacher so I would start there. I’ve done a few articles and videos on him that you can find on the website. Here’s the link to one of them : Gombak course
Cheers!
Paul