Page 12 - Martin Downs Bulletin - June '22

Page 12, Martin Downs

tip of thE tail

The Domestication Of The Cat No matter if you are a dog person or a cat person, pets Established in 1981, Palm City Animal Medical Center is

bring us companionship and many positive health benefits. dedicated to providing the best possible care for your pets. With
For those of us that have a feline friend, it is fun to look focuses on compassionate care in surgery, physical therapy and
back and know that they are still very similar to those rehabilitation, preventative medicine, extensive diagnostics, and
wild cats that decided to befriend us humans and enrich emergency service, Palm City Animal Medical Center combines
our lives thousands of years ago. Just make sure to bring exceptional medical care with a caring philosophy for pets and
your feline companion in for yearly veterinary checkups their owners. For more information, call (772) 283-0920, visit
to ensure they stay healthy! After all, we need them with www.palmcityanimalmedicalcenter.com or find us on Facebook
True to feline form, it is thought that cats domesticated us for many years to come. at www.facebook.com/PalmCityAnimalClinic.
themselves! Those of us who have pet cats know that cats do
what cats want to do! In fact we often joke that cats are very
Cats began their unique relationship with humans around Treasure Coast Outdoors
good at training us humans to serve them.

10,000 to 12,000 years ago in the “Fertile Cresent” which is the
modern day region of West Asia. This was the area where some Do Baby Sea Turtles Make fishery is still not concerning, but
of the earliest human developments were located. As people they do seem to be showing up
abandoned their nomadic ways and settled down to farm, grain Good Bait? more often in the fish box.
was stored and rats and mice became a problem. Middle Eastern I recently fished the Loran Reef with live
wildcats (Felix silvestrus lybica) took advantage of the food By Jim Weix bait for mutton snapper and grouper. Along
source and started hanging around humans. These cats evolved “If it were legal, would with two lines on the bottom, I had two flat lines out expecting
over thousands of years into the modern day cat Felis catus. baby sea turtles make good to catch a kingfish or two. Much to my surprise, I had dolphin
Studies of DNA from more than 200 cats spanning 9,000 bait?” That was the question showing up on a regular basis.
years show that there were two main lineages that contributed one reader emailed me. I released a number of just legal sandwich-sized dolphins,
to the domestic feline we know today. These are the wild cats of After choking on my but kept three larger ones. As I drifted, there were several times
West Asia and the African cats that dominated Egypt. History morning coffee, I did some that a school of small dolphin would show up at the boat. I
tells us that cats spread from Asia into Europe as early as 4400 checking. As it turns out, was fishing in 65 to 80 feet of water.
B.C. Egyptian cats then spread into the Mediterranean and they would. It seems that Anglers posting on various Facebook fishing sites are
most of the rest of the world around 1500 B.C. As cats chose to everything from mutton also showing various pictures of dolphin catches. Given the
hang around human settlements, they likely became attractive snapper, grouper, tarpon, problems with the dolphin fishery, due to overfishing, this was
to humans as pets due to increased sociability and tameness. and even sailfish, will prey encouraging to see.
Humans began taking them on ships and other transports for on hatchlings. The fish will come close to shore and grab the Unfortunately the increased dolphin catches on the Treasure
rodent control. Thus they traveled around the world! hatchlings when they enter the water. They will also prowl Coast this year is more about their migration route this year
Surprisingly, wild and domestic cats show no major along weed lines close to shore, where the small turtles try than an increase in population. One solution is to release the
differences in their genetic makeup. One of the few traits to hide from predators. sandwich-sized, but legal ones, so they can grow up.
that changed is the tabby coat marking. It was only in the late Obviously, you can’t use real baby sea turtles for bait, but Editor’s note: Jim Weix is an avid hunter, angler,
18th century that the markings became common enough to be you can use fake ones. One artificial lure that I found is the conservationist, as well as an outdoor writer.
associated with domestic cats and, in the 19th century, cat fanciers Doomzday Turtle. It is a 3-inch soft plastic lure. I ordered Jim is included in the Wisconsin Waterfowl Association’s
began to select cats with certain traits to create specific breeds. a package of five and will keep you posted. Hall of Fame, for his work in helping restore thousands of
Cats are increasing in popularity as companion animals It is good to see dolphin again showing up in the fish box. acres of wetlands. Jim is a broker associate with The Keyes
worldwide. This may be due to the independent feline After several disappointing years, there seems to be a better Company. He can be reached at (772) 341-2941 or by email:
tendencies as compared with dogs aligning more with the dolphin bite this year. That doesn’t mean that the dolphin jimweix@jimweix.com.
modern lifestyle.