The Scottish Wildcat
(felis sylvestris grampia)
Description | Conservation | History | Breeding program | Identification
Meet the neighbours

A number of issues threaten the future of the wildcat in Scotland, below you can read about each of them and the work that's being done to overcome them.

Hybridisation

Domestic cats evolved directly from wildcats and the two species will readily breed and produce fertile offspring known as "hybrids". With an estimated 100,000 feral cats in Scotland inevitably the 400 wildcats are finding it tough to find a pure mate; over time the wildcat genes are diluting into the domestic genepool until we will only have feral cats left.

Solving the hybridisation threat is our most complex and important challenge, and tantalisingly acheiveable. With a large team of advisors and partners we have already begun a major feral cat trapping and neutering project in the West Highlands. Over the next 10 years we aim to create a 7,000 square mile region of the Highlands entirely free of feral cats and feline diseases; learn more on our Wildcat Haven website.

Groups such as Cats Protection and the SSPCA have been doing fantastic work for years rehoming feral cats and running subsidised neutering and innoculations programs for people on a low income.

None of this fieldwork can be successful without a significant improvement in public awareness as well; people must realise the threats that domestic feral cats raise for wildcats and other native wildlife and the benefits of inoculations and neutering for their pets; the best way anyone can help is to spread awareness and encourage responsible cat ownership.

Feline diseases

Many treatable feline diseases can still prove fatal untreated in the wild, and feral cats provide a way for these diseases to enter the wildcat population with disastrous effects. Diseases can pass quickly from one cat to another through fighting and mating until whole pockets of wildcats are wiped out.

Our Wildcat Haven project will include detailed research into feline diseases and veterinary health checks of all cats trapped during the project. Increased public awareness of the benefits of pet cat inoculations by vets, plus support of feline charities like Cats Protection and the SSPCA are the only other practical long term hopes for eradicating feline diseases in the wild.

Human persecution

(Image right) Dead wildcat found in snare by Scottish hillwalker

Although killing a wildcat is a criminal offence, a remote area like the Highlands is hard to police and it still appears to happen regularly, potentially as much as a quarter of the wildcat population is killed every year by shooting and snare trapping primarily on gaming estates but also on farms. A prey population controlled by poisons can also kill wildcats that eat the poisoned rabbits, rats or other small mammals and rodents.

We support the campaign to ban snares in Scotland; simple but barbaric devices that trap all kinds of non target species and can cause slow, painful and lingering deaths to wildcats and other native wildlife. Banned in many other European countries there is widespread public support for a ban in Scotland in spite of recent improvements to legislation governing their use. We would also support an improved legislative protection of the wildcat; fines for killing them should fall to landowners rather than gamekeepers and practical methods of enforcement are also required.

As demand rises for eco-tourism and wildlife holidays many shooting estates are diversifying and showing a more moderate attitude to wildcats in return for the tourist attraction of a resident wildcat. We are seeking to encourage and help landowners and stakeholders manage tourism revenue to benefit local communities and ensure respectful enjoyment of the wild Highlands. Highland Tiger have made steady progress in developing dialogues with shooting estates in the Cairngorms many of whom have developed more wildcat friendly working practices and are now helping research placing camera traps on their land.

Roads

Sadly, one place you can always see wildlife in Scotland is dead at the side of the road. Careful driving is essential on many of Scotland's small weaving roads and especially at night when all kinds of wildlife can leap out from nowhere at the side of the road. This is as much a consideration for your own safety; hitting something like a deer at speed is also going to have an unwelcome effect on your vehicle and possibly it's occupants.

Our Wildcat Haven project will include research into the facts of roadkills and practical solutions for protecting wildcats from them. More considerate construction avoiding key habitats or the formation of wildlife corridors over or under roads are options too rarely explored on the grounds of cost; these benefit all wildlife in Scotland and should be seen as beneficial to the natural health of the land and therby an important percentage of tourism income.

Loss of habitat

Scotland was once the most deforested country in Europe and even today many of the forests are densely packed commercial plantations which offer little for wildlife. Urban sprawl of even small towns like Aviemore is gradually developing the Highlands into an increasingly tamed environment where human disturbance scares most of the wildlife away. Major commercial developments like wind farms also create issues; besides the arguable benefit they have for the environment the disturbance and development required to put them in place scares wildcats out of an area and allows feral cats in, exacerbating the hybridisation problem.

A long term goal of Wildcat Haven is to encourage and support widespread reforesting of native species, joining isolated populations through wildlife corridors and helping the land go back to it's natural state. We also offer free advice and at-cost field surveys to developers, planners and local authorities regarding wildcat presence and likelihood of disturbance in any given area intended for development. On a broader scale, our politicians are failing to take environmental issues seriously and lack truly sustainable visions for natural environments or wildlife and we must continue to demand better protections, real commitments and innovation in leadership.

Population fragmentation

An associated effect of habitat loss and growing road systems is population fragmentation. For example, the population of Scottish wildcats does not consist of one big group of 400 cats; it consists of several pockets of wildcats in small outposts around the Highlands, divided by man made features like major roads, trainlines and cities. A similar natural process, the forming of the English Channel, is the very thing that created the Scottish wildcat, however when fragmentation happens to such a small population it becomes impossible for the fragments to sustain themselves without substantial inbreeding or cross breeding with domestic cats creating a population of hybrid animals.

As part of Wildcat Haven we aim to re-join two large but isolated populations of wildcats into a single large group which can then expand into neighbouring areas and approach a sustainable population number. More thoughtful development throughout the Highlands alongside good data and understanding of wildlife populations is the ideal solution. It is important to establish the costs of more "eco-friendly" development and give local residents the choice to suffer an increased cost for the good of their local wildlife.