Spotlight – The Scottish Wildcat

Hi everyone and thanks for joining me on this episode of Val Talk’s Pets.  In this edition, I am moving away from domestic pets as I would like to highlight a much-endangered cat called the Scottish Wildcat.  I have mentioned the Scottish Wildcat in other episodes but I think this cat and the efforts to save it from extinction are extremely worthy of a solo episode.  So, let’s get to it and explore the Scottish Wildcat.

Introduction to the Scottish Wildcat

The Scottish Wildcat is just that, a wild cat, not to be confused with feral cats.  As Wikipedia points out, the cats at one time were quite numerous throughout Great Britain as a whole, but now roam specifically in northern and eastern Scotland. As with many indigenous animals, habitat loss and what is described as persecution, declined the numbers of the wildcats tremendously.  Let’s define persecution concerning animals.

According to Biology LibreTexts, persecution of an animal “involves, the indiscriminate abuse or killing of a group of animals, generally used as a strategy to prevent property damage (e.g. crop-raiding elephants) and livestock depredation.  I’m guessing from this, that at the turn of the 20^th century, populations were growing and guess who got quote, unquote, persecuted for being where they wanted to build houses and farms, the wild cat.  So, they pushed north trying to save their species leaving behind I’m sure a horrible trail of being culled. 

As Wiki continues to explain, the Scottish Wildcat prefers the woodland areas and I believe is rather elusive. The cat is listed as critically endangered and believe it or not one of the elements that threaten the cat is the mating with domestic cats.  I mentioned in my episode on the domestication of cats, that “all individuals sampled in recent years showed high levels of hybridization with domestic and feral cats, (therefore) this population is thought to be functionally extinct in the wild.”

What do they look like?

Let’s take a look at what the Scottish Wildcat looks like.  According to Wikipedia, the “male Scottish wildcat has a head-to-body length ranging from 22.8 to 25” inches, with a long tail.  “Females are from 19.8 to 22.5 inches” in length.  They weigh approximately 8.3 to 16 pounds for males and females 5.2 to 10.3 pounds.  To put this in perspective, a Maine Coon male weighs between 13 to 18 pounds and females, 9 to 12 pounds. So, they are pretty much the size of a Maine Coon, so not a tiny cat by any means.  

As for their fur, they look pretty much like a tabby cat with the striping seen with tabbies.  Their stripes continue on the cheeks and legs and they have a black tip on their tails.  They also seem to do lots of typical cat behaviours such as hunt for rodents and rabbits and travel mostly at night. They do cache their food if they haven’t eaten all of their catch.  Females roam too and will find a nice safe rock cairn to have kittens.  

Conservation and threats.

The Scottish Wildcat is incredibly endangered and is considered a victim of, genomic extinction.  So what is being done?

To begin with, the Scottish Wildcat was given protection in 1988 under the United Kingdom’s Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.  This act was amended in 1981 and states, the act is “to prohibit certain methods of killing or taking wild animals; to amend the law relating to protection of certain mammals; to restrict the introduction of certain animals and plants; to amend the Endangered Species (Import and Export) Act 1976; to amend the law relating to nature conservation, the countryside and National Parks etc.” (UK Public General Acts)  Within the act, under CITES Appendix II, the Scottish Wildcat is classified as a Priority Species in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan. 

In Scotland itself, according to Scottish Forestry (www.forestry.gov.scot) “It is an offence deliberately or recklessly to capture, injure or kill a wildcat; to disturb it while it is occupying its breeding sites/resting places; or to obstruct access to its breeding site/resting places.  It is an offence to damage or destroy breeding sites/resting places even accidentally.” Today, the Scottish Wildcats are only found in the remote areas of the Scottish Highlands, so someone would have to go out of their way to harass them, but as we all know, you can’t put anything past unethical people, so hopefully the protection acts and the legislation can be a deterrent.  

Vattenfall wind turbines.

However, having said that, let’s look at the controversy of Swedish energy giant Vattenfall’s go-ahead to build a second site for wind turbines in Clashindarroch (clash-in-derrick –och like loch) in 2023.  This site near Aberdeenshire was set for 14 turbines and was approved by Scottish ministers.  This new site is actually near their other site that has 18 turbines.  According to BBC.com/news/articles, “Wildcat Haven’s director Paul O’Donaoghue described it as “potentially catastrophic”.  Wildcat Haven is a Scottish Wildcat preservation organization. 

“Vattenfall said in a statement: “We design our wind farms so they reduce carbon emissions and protect wildlife at the same time.”  They also stated: “Our wind farm at Clashindarroch has already been generating electricity for over eight years with no negative impact on the wildcat population and we have recently completed peat bog restoration and tree planting to provide further cover for the wildcats to hunt and roam”.  “Scottish ministers have been served a petition for judicial review.”  But, as BBC Scotland reported on February 8^th, 2024, the judge threw out the petitions and has given full conversion for Vattenfall to continue with their second phase turbine farm.  

Highland Wildlife Park

Let’s talk now about the Highland Wildlife Park in Kincraig, Kingussie (king-oo-see), 7 miles from Aviemore. (uh-vee-mor) where there are actual Scottish Wildcats.  According to their website highlandwildpark.org.uk, “there are lots of wildcats (at) the Highland Wildlife Park.”  They have an area called Wildcat Wood, where they roam around and may or may not be seen.  But, apparently many are in the care of the “Saving Wildcats Conservation Breeding for Release Centre” who you will not see.  So, before I go into more info on the Saving Wildcats conservation programme, I might as well get the controversy dealt with. 

Controversy

The Saving Wildcats programme is capturing wildcats from the wild to create a breeding programme so that they can re-introduce more wildcats to the wild. “This is part of the Scottish Wildcat Conservation Action Plan unveiled in September 2013.” (BBC.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands) According to BBC.com on this issue, 30 organisations back the action plan.  But, the Captive Animal Protection Society did not agree with the programme. 

The BBC states, “The Captive Animal’s Protection Society has criticized the captive breeding plan, and instead supports the use of the Wildcat Haven, a 500 square mile area that covers parts of the Ardnamurchan and Morvern peninsulas.”  It was Wildcat Haven that I just mentioned that took on Vattenfall over the new wind turbines in Aberdeenshire.  The organization felt that trapping the wildcats to breed them in what is essentially a zoo, “harmed the species’ chances of survival” (BBC.com).

I do not 100% understand this view, because if this is the way to create a breeding programme with the intention of release back to the wild, I don’t see the harm to the species.  Plus, Wildcat Haven has as mentioned a 500 square mile area to allow the wildcats sanctuary, but how did they get the wildcats to roam there in particular? Either way, I see good on both sides here.

Saving Wildcats

So, let’s go back to Saving Wildcats the organization.  First, I would recommend looking at their website, savingwildcats.org.uk.  Click on the Learn more about Saving Wildcats.  The page shows, “Our Vision” and there is a video there called Clinging on by a Claw.  Watch this video.  Not only does it show the beauty of Scotland but also the Wildcats.  It shows these beautiful cats known also as the Highland Tiger, roaming the highlands and playing with each other while the narrator Gordon Buchanan, explains the urgency and what is happening to save the Scottish Wildcat. 

As he says, a huge centre is being made available near the Highland Wildlife Park in the Cairngorms specifically for the re-introduction of the cats to the wild.  And let me interject here about NatureScot for a minute.  NatureScot is Scotland’s nature agency.  According to their website nature.scot/about-naturescot, “It is the job of all of us to achieve a balance in the sensitive management of our natural world to maintain and enhance nature.” 

According to Wikipedia, “In 2023, NatureScot approved a license for release of captive-bred wildcats into the Cairngorms region during the summer of that year.  The first 19 cats were released in early June 2023.  In spring 2024, at least two of the cats released the previous year gave birth to kittens.”  If you look at the Saving Wildcats website, they go through all the processes of how to grow the population of the cats and how they prepare for the wild.  As their vision states, “Wildcats restored to landscapes across Scotland, cherished by people for generations to come.”  (savingwildcats.org.uk/about-saving-wildcats)

Sponsoring a Wildcat

In the second week of August, I was at a Scottish Festival near my area and I ventured over to the merchandise table for one of the featured bands, Albannach, of whom I have been a fan for several years and are self-titled Bareknuckle Pipes & Drums.  Believe me, Albannach can bring the house down.  Anyway, on their merchandise table, I glanced down and low and behold, they were featuring brochures on Sponsoring a Wildcat from the Saving Wildcats organization. 

The brochure explains about the urgency of the wildcat and has photos of those cats that a person can sponsor, outlines the cost of feeding, health care and preparing for the wild with GPS tracking collars each re-introduced cat wears, to the tune of 1500.00 pounds.  I would like to shout out to Albannach for their foresight and care to have these brochures available to their many fans, allowing for the Highland Tiger’s race against time, and the exposure it needs. 

Summary

Well, I think that gives a good overview of the much-endangered Scottish Wildcat or Highland Tiger.  The efforts of the different groups are quite amazing and I just know they will be exceeding with their cause.  You’d be surprised how many animals have been brought from the brink of extinction with dedicated professionals, volunteers, breeding and release programmes, and donations.  It can be done. 

If you would like to help with the Scottish Wildcat’s return to the wild, visit Saving Wildcats at savingwildcats.org.uk where under the Support tab there is a whole list of ways to help out, sponsoring a cat being one of them.  Wildcathaven.com is also working diligently to save the Scottish Wildcat and their website also invites the adoption of a cat and donation options to help the cause as well.  They also have some beautiful merchandise as well from cards, and calendars to apparel.  And of course, check out the videos on both sites.  These Highland Tigers are so cute!!  

So, tell your friends, to visit the conservation organizations that are working so hard and the next time you hear about an elusive cat that roams the highlands of Scotland, you’ll know this one is true not the leg-pulling joke about the Haggis doing the same thing.  The Scottish Wildcat or the Highland Tiger needs exposure to its serious plight, and we can do it by simply learning, because as I say, knowing is caring. 

Tagged as: extinction,  Albannach,  Scottish wildcat.