Polecat Babies

Do you remember that one of our polecats gave birth to her kittens in her run system, right in front of everyone in the middle of the day?.. A lot of you have asked me if they have been doing ok, and you can see from the above they are fine!

Shortly after giving birth, Cassie moved her kits to her nest box, but then kept moving them around the enclosure and did not settle at all. We took the decision to move her off display with her little ones, while they were less than a week old, hoping she wold settle more... and indeed she did. 

They are now causing mum a lot of trouble. In and out of the box, being dragged back in again by mum while another makes a dash for it. Cassie had 8 kits, and all have survived and are doing well. You can see all 8 and mum in the photo at the top!

When the youngsters are old enough, we will move them on to display for you all to see. Of course I will let you know when this happens. In the mean time though, Oriel, our other female polecat, has kitts too. They are also at the age of coming out and beginning to explore, and have been seen by many visitors and school groups already.

Keep an eye open for them when you next visit, or head over to our flickr page to see a few pictures of them from visiting photographers.