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Scotland's Cat; 400 and counting...
Far back in the history of Scotland clans formed together under the image of the wildcat and fought wars for the independence of the land. Today less than 400 Scottish wildcats remain in the wild and the extinction of Britain's last large mammal predator could come within the next decade.
Welcome to the home of the Scottish Wildcat Association, a new charitable organisation dedicated to protecting and conserving Britain's only remaining wild species of feline; the Scottish wildcat.
No angry tabby or feral the wildcat is a genuine wild species of feline; it was here long before we were and long before the domestic cat had even evolved! The Scottish wildcat is infamously the only wild animal to be completely untameable, even when captive reared; they may look a little like your pet cat but these are incredibly tough superpredators, sometimes called the Tiger of the Highlands.
Sadly, our wildcat is critically endangered with only 400 individuals remaining in the wild and barely a handful in the captive breeding population. Currently acting as advocates for the wildcat to the general public and media, in the near future we plan full charitable registration and the launch of a number of campaigns to raise awareness of this extinction threat and of the ways to prevent it. We are also already supporting scientific research, helping gather eye witness sightings for the official SNH wildcat survey, and maintain close relations with the captive breeding program and encouraging wildlife parks and breeders to sign up to it.
We hope you will enjoy our website and the beautiful photography donated by a number of photographers and filmmakers sympathetic to the wildcat's cause, please support our campaigns, display our web banners and, if you enjoy social networks, come and be our friend on Myspace or Yuwie!
Latest news and updates
9/6/2008; Wildcat DVD goes on sale!
We're pleased to confirm that the much anticipated film, Last of the Scottish Wildcats, is now available to pre-order on DVD direct from producers Coffee Films. This is the only DVD there is on our beautiful native cat and it combines stunning wild footage with a detailed history and investigation of the threats facing the wildcats through interviews with expert scientists, SNH, wildlife parks, conservationists and naturalists like the wonderful Mike Tomkies. Coffee Films will donate half of their profits from the sale of the DVD to the Scottish Wildcat Association so you can learn about, be entertained by and help save the Scottish wildcat just by buying a copy, see our shop or coffeefilms.com/scottishwildcats for full details, and you can see a preview trailer for the film below!
9/6/2008; Mike Tomkies' Wildcat Haven in re-print!
The classic Mike Tomkies book Wildcat Haven is back in print from publishers Whittles and available to order by clicking the link for £18.99 full of updates and new photos. We can't recommend this book enough, it was the first ever media to portray the wildcat as it really is in contrast to the still prevalent impression of a snarling demon left over from the Victorian age; Mike lived alone in the Scottish wilderness for years with nothing but nature and wildlife for company and this book traces a ten year period of that life when a family of wildcats also lived with him, the definition of un-put-down-able!
 
9/6/2008; Recent blogs and articles
On the internet you don't need a newspaper to write interesting articles, and our favourite cat is increasingly turning up in blogs, webzines, forums and even AOL for Kids! Here's a few we've spotted recently;
June 2008; Jennifer Copley writes about the wildcat on Suite 101
February 2008; Secret Scotland breaks from underground bomb shelters to talk about wildcats!
February 2008; Pictures of Cats on the wildcat survey
February 2008; AOL Kids put wildcat at number 1 on their list of the coolest UK wildlife
9/6/2008; 400 and Counting; the Tooth and Claw Campaign
Peter Cairns has launched a new campaign through his Tooth and Claw organisation to help facilitate conservation action for the Scottish wildcat, and he's been busy as anything working out ways to help a lot of varied stakeholders work better together to save the species, keep an eye on how the campaign develops on the fascinating Tooth and Claw website
9/6/2008; Recent press
Wildcats have been enjoying some good press coverage of late and a whole host of articles have been out in the last few months, many on the new survey taking place;
June 2008; Eastern Airways in-flight E-Magazine has a beautiful wildcat centrefold image from Peter Cairns in their latest issue, they also credit us with running the current survey; whilst we are supporting the gathering of information we should stress that the survey has been put together by SNH!
May 2008; Children's magazine Animals and You ran a fantastic endangered species issue alerting their young readers to some of the wildlife that may not be around when they grow up; the Scottish wildcat got a full page feature with some great info!
April 2008; Scotsman; Experts join forces to save the wildcat
March 2008; Telegraph; Cloning may help Scottish wildcats survive
February 2008; Telegraph; Tall tales and tartan tabbies
February 2008; BBC; Wildcat population to be surveyed
February 2008; Telegraph; Scottish wildcat survey to record wild numbers
February 2008; Daily Record; Public asked to save the Scottish wildcat
February 2008; Daily Record; Public urged to keep eyes open for wildcats
February 2008; Wildlife Extra; Scottish wildcat survey launched
February 2008; BBC Newsround; Scottish wildcat search starts
5/2/2008; The survey begins!
The long awaited official survey to try and gather exactly how many wildcats are left in Scotland is underway. The research is essential for us all to understand how serious the situation is and where the best places to begin conservation action are. Resident Scots and visitors to the Highlands can all lend a hand by keeping an eye out for wildcats and reporting sightings to us or directly to the survey. There's also a great article from Adrian Davis, the consultant in charge of the survey, which discusses it's purpose and ways of identifying wildcats; click here.
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