Through our collaboration with government authorities, we are working on constructing rehabilitation and handicap captive enclosures to care for injured or orphaned small wild cat kittens. To build some of the cages we combined different funding sources such as re:wild (USA) and the Shared Earth Foundation (USA).
So far we have built three cages for the Girithale WildlifeTraining Centre, one permanent enclosure for handicap animals at the Gajaba Regiment Facility, and we are currently making plans to build another rehabilitation enclosure at the Randenigala Wildlife Veterinary Facility. Two small wild cat recovery enclosures with attached transport cages have also been built, using funds provided by the UNDP SGP GEF fund, for the Attidiya Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre.
All cages were designed for easy dismantling for transportation – this is especially important if the cages are to be used for wild cat soft releases, or need to be relocated to other wildlife facilities across the country. The transport cages have been designed to fit perfectly alongside the larger cages (so that they could be used as a single unit), and are fitted with a false wall on one side which is to be used when restraining animals that need treatment. All four cages were built specifically for treating small wild cats that come into the rehabilitation centre. However, vets could use them for other injured wildlife if small wild cats are not present at the time.
