The Cat House: photographic treasures from manul history!

Friends, today we want to share with you true treasures from manul history: amazing and beautiful archival photographs by Nancy Vandermei, who worked at The Cat House and photographed the manuls that lived at this zoo.

The Cat House (formerly known as the Exotic Feline Breeding Compound) was a zoo and research center dedicated to breeding and conserving rare feline species. It was home to more than 70 individuals from the rarest and most endangered feline species, including manuls.

The zoo was founded in California, USA, in 1977 and opened its doors to visitors in 1983. Sadly, after more than 40 years of operation, it closed in February 2023 due to financial difficulties, and all its residents moved to other zoos.

But even today, thanks to Nancy, we have the opportunity to admire these “historic” manuls from California! 🤩

Let’s begin, perhaps, with one of our very favorite photographs, which many of you have surely come across online.

These are kittens born at The Cat House back in 2005. At the top of the photo is fluffy boy Remus, and at the bottom is a fluffy little girl named Lina.

And here is Lina, a little older already. Just look at those huge eyes!

And here is another three-minul photographic masterpiece! 😍

Here are the 2007 minuls: Bora, Boke, and Bella.

And look at this—what a wonderful photo circle! 😄 Serious mamanul Bora and her tiny fluffy bandits, Yeshi (top left in the photo) and Garab (top right in the photo).

Yeshi and Gerab’s childhood 🥰

And these are the 2016 minuls: Eva, Tyrion, and Gimli, with their mamanul Minka.

Minka and her kittens.

Want more fluffy cuteness? Then here’s a hefty dose! 💓

The 2017 manul quartet of mamanul Minka: little brothers Mikhail and Khir with their sisters Salkhi and Nancy.

And here they are again:

Nancy’s manul photo archive could be admired for hours: it is a true treasure trove! She captured virtually every manul that ever lived at The Cat House.

Over the years of its work, The Cat House became home to more than fifty manuls. Little manul kittens were born here more than once, and their descendants continue the story of their glorious manul dynasties to this day! 🙌

Today we showed you only a small part of this wealth, selecting for this article photographs that we especially love ourselves. But we will certainly return to Nancy’s other photos and admire them together! ❤️

We wholeheartedly thank Nancy for these wonderful photographs, which she kindly shared with us, and for the information about the manuls of The Cat House!

🔸🔸🔸

Nancy Vandermei now works in wildlife photography. On her website, www.wildcatzoo.com, you can admire her wonderful photographs and read captivating travel stories.

By the way, Nancy traveled to Mongolia in 2023, where she was lucky enough to see and photograph manuls!

Here you can view photographs from her trip to Mongolia and read a detailed account of this journey.

Enjoy! 🤗