THE USE OF HAIR TRAPPING AND CAMERA TRAPS FOR MONITORING THE EUROPEAN WILDCAT (Felis silvestris silvestris Schreber, 1777) IN THE EASTERN VENETIAN PREALPS (ITALY)

In this pilot project two non-invasive techniques, hair trapping and camera trapping, were tested at the same time to monitor the European wildcat in a study area in the Eastern Veneto Prealps. Between December 2018 and March 2019, 10 rough-sawn spruce sticks matching 10 cameras were used. The objectives of the project were: to verify the effectiveness of valerian tincture as an attractant, both on wildcats and other animal species, to increase our knowledge about the species in an anthropized area with high presence of free-ranging domestic cats and to combine the two investigative methods, to improve the reliability of taxonomic diagnosis based on phenotype. Valerian tincture has proved to be an effective olfactory attractant for the wildcat, obtaining in all documented cases an interaction with the stick. Our results demonstrated the high potential of hair trapping, when combined with genetic analysis and camera traps. The simultaneous use of these methods not only allowed to detect the presence of wildcats in low density and recently colonized areas, but also enabled individual identification, associating the genetic data to the distinctive traits of the specimen’s coat. Finally, our survey also significantly facilitated the collection of hair samples, providing evidences to immediately discard those of non-target species.