Wild Cats Uk Scotland

The fur of the Scottish wildcat is a great deal thicker than that of a domestic cat.

Wild cats uk scotland. Scottish wildcats are one of our rarest mammals. They are experts at keeping out of the way of humans. The iconic Scottish wildcat the UKs only native feline has been present since the last ice age.

Now the greatest threat to the Scottish wildcat is hybridisation. Being inadvertently killed during feral cat control operation. Persecuted for centuries its range steadily declined until by the First World War it was only found in the north west of.

30 could vaccinate one of the cats to protect them from disease. Scottish wildcats originally European wildcats have existed since the Ice Age and were once a common sight in the British countryside and across Europe. Now confined to the Scottish highlands wild cats disappeared from southern England in the 16th century with the last one recorded in northern England.

These beautiful creatures are critically endangered and are at risk of cross-breeding with domestic felines. There are now two types of small cat on the British mainland. Many wildcats breed with feral domestic cats.

These have been domesticated for some time and are brought these as pets to Britain. There have been 155 big cat sightings reported to UK police forces in the past. We are the only Scottish wildcat conservation group focussed solely on saving the wildcat in the wild where it belongs.

750 could feed a wildcat for a week. The wild cat was once common over most of the British Isles but it is now only found in Scotland and is under threat with an estimated 400 remaining outside captivity. Once widespread wildcats are now on the brink of extinction in Scotland.