In September of 2019 I had the enormous privilege of trialling my honeysuckle wood on some larger felines, to be specific a Serval Cat and a Eurasian Lynx. They are part of the captive breeding programme at The Big Cat Sanctuary in Kent, made famous by Giles Clarke, Big Cat expert, Conservationist and star of the BBC's 'Big Cats About the House' series. I wanted to see whether my pieces of wood could provide some novel enrichment for the cats at the Sanctuary.
The first video shows Jua the Serval Cat as she gets her first smell of Honeysuckle Wood from Honeysuckle Cat Toys. I held my breath as Chief Keeper Briony Smith placed the small piece of wood in Jua’s enclosure. Her response was amazing! As soon as she was allowed out of her den she headed straight for the wood and as you’ll see, she loved it! A big thank you to Harry, the Sanctuary's videographer for this amazing footage.
Next, we tried the honeysuckle wood on Petra the beautiful Eurasian Lynx who I fell completely in love with. We only had the smallest stick left but Petra was really taken with it and her response is so sweet as you’ll see in the second video! Petra's video was taken by me, so please excuse the quality!
Jua the Serval showed a very positive response!
Although Petra's honeysuckle stick was a bit small, she still enjoyed it!