Clinging by a claw

Words by JANICE HOPPER Clinging by a CLAW

Will a large-scale project that aims to release Scottish wildcats into the Cairngorms save this struggling species?

The Scottish wildcat is a highly elusive creature that not only holds a valued place in the forests and hills of Scotland, but also within the nation’s history and heritage.

The Scottish wildcat is part of the country’s clan culture, with wildcats standing as emblems for Clan Chattan and Clan Macpherson. The ‘Highland Tiger’ is a handsome beast with its thick bushy ringed tail and large size — a wildcat is roughly 1.5 times bigger than a domestic moggy — but this sleek creature is on the brink of extinction.

Although the Scottish wildcat has been protected by law since 1988 (making it illegal to kill or disturb a wildcat) such steps didn’t go far enough to protect the animal’s precious gene pool. As recently as 2019 the International Union for Conservation of Nature issued a gamechanging report concluding that there was no longer a viable wildcat population living wild in Scotland. Strenuous and immediate intervention was required, or the prospect of the wildcat being consigned to the history books would become an irreversible reality.

The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) says: “Once widespread throughout Britain, the UK’s wildcat population has rapidly declined since the 1800s and there is now estimated to be as few as

Strenuous and immediate intervention was required, or the prospect of the wildcat being consigned to the history books would become an irreversible reality

© WALKER ANGELL, JR

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A wildcat at Alladale Wilderness Reserve near Ardgay in Sutherland 30-40 individuals in the wild. Interbreeding with domestic cats is recognised as the leading cause of this decline, along with habitat loss and persecution. Although there may be some wild living wildcats in Scotland, there are too few of them and hybridisation is too far advanced for them to form a self-sustaining population.”

Urgent action swiftly came into play. A European partnership project dedicated to Scottish wildcat conservation and recovery called ‘Saving Wildcats’ established Britain’s first large-scale dedicated conservation ‘breeding for release’ centre. This complex collaboration brought together NatureScot, the Cairngorms National Park Authority, Forestry and Land Scotland, as well as European partners including Nordens Ark from Sweden, and Spain’s Junta De Andalucía that spearheaded the recovery campaign of the Iberian lynx.

In 2020 the Saving Wildcats partnership’s ‘breeding for release’ centre became a reality. Located in a quiet area of the RZSS’s Highland Wildlife Park near Aviemore, it brought together wildcat experts, a specialist veterinary unit and a pre-release training programme to prepare the animals for life in Scotland’s wilderness.

The RZSS describes the centre as: “roughly 6 hectares, filled with dense foliage, including trees and shrubs, along with platforms, walkways and dens. It’s designed to ensure the wildcats have plenty of opportunities to display natural behaviours.”

While set at the popular tourist attraction of the Highland Wildlife Park, the breed and release centre is off limits to the public to avoid contamination and health risks, disruption to the team and the animals, and a key focus is limiting human contact to avoid domestication.

RZSS says: “These enclosures are complex and enriching areas for the wildcats, and are managed in a way that supports our objective of preparing wildcats suitable for release by developing their natural behaviours and reducing their habituation to human presence.” The wildness of these wildcats is to be protected and encouraged at all costs.

In March 2021 the first cat was introduced, a kitten called Nell, originally from the Alladale Wilderness Reserve near Ardgay in Sutherland. Today six cats inhabit the centre, unknowingly carrying the future of the species on their furry shoulders.

In June 2021, Nell was joined by Droma, a one-year-old female from a private collection, and Embo, a two-year-old male, arrived from The Wildwood Trust in Kent. In late summer two further one-year-old cats, Fruin and Cranachan, arrived from Camperdown Wildlife Centre in Dundee, and Chester Zoo sent three-year-old Margaret. Over 30 zoos, wildlife parks and private collections are members of the current wildcat breeding programme, and kittens born into this programme are all potential candidates for the breed and release project in Scotland.

The RZSS is expecting more cats to arrive from other collections in the upcoming months, and construction of new pre-release enclosures has begun. Following 2022’s breeding season, young wildcats will move into these specially built enclosures for the final training that will prepare them for life in the wild. Here, human contact is virtually off limits, and CCTV monitoring will record the cat’s behaviour and training during in its final months of captivity.

The Saving Wildcats project aims to annually release 20 wildcats from 2023 onwards, potentially within the Cairngorms National Park. Each animal will wear a GPS collar so their movements and behaviour can be recorded and analysed. Described as ‘Britain’s rarest mammal’, the ‘Highland Tiger’ is slowly padding the long road to recovery. S

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