Eifel National Park is 110 km2 of protected deciduous/mixed forest habitat in western Germany (North Rhine-Westphalia) on the border with Belgium. In 2004-05, a camera-trap study for wildcats detected a population of around 50 animals (the population has since expanded and is now known to be much larger, and is contiguous with other populations across western/central Germany). The park now celebrates its wildcats, in a way that made Alice and I very, very happy:
The best kind of welcome, to anywhere.One of the camera trap stations from the 2004 study, taken from an information display in the visitor centre.
The best fridge magnet i have EVER seenWinston the wildcat: we coloured in his pelage to make him a proper (accurate) European WildcatThe national park is a protected area for habitat and wildlife. Small-scale agricultural land-use occurs only in the buffer zone around the outside. Very few settlements are visible, and when they occur, they are clumped (i.e. everyone lives in a village together; the houses are not distributed all over the landscape).
