The Scottish wildcat is a subspecies of the European wildcat and is unique to Britain. One of the largest of the various wildcat species an average size today is around 50% larger than a domestic cat, though one fossil specimen was 4 feet from nose to tail. Originally a forest dweller the Scottish wildcat has adapted to hunt over many habitats and will include a variety in it's 2 to 3 square mile territory, predating mainly on rodents and small mammals but also on birds, insects, reptiles and fish.

They are pure carnivores and eat only meat, consuming almost every part of any kill they make; the coat providing roughage, the bones calcium and the meat everything else, in fact they rarely need to drink because meat has such a high water content. Wildcats often carry parasitic worms in their gut and will eat long blades of grass to help clear out their system and probably also to obtain certain necessary acids not present in meat.

They live a solitary existence, coming together in pairs to mate for a short period in January/February. 2 or 3 Kittens are born in spring and raised solely by the mother who is exceptional in her defence of them as they grow. Unlike most cats they cannot be tamed, even a hand reared kitten will naturally develop a complete distrust for human kind; unsurprising after thousands of years of persecution.

Pound for pound the Scottish wildcat is one of the most impressive predators in the world. Intelligent, fearless, resourceful, agile and powerful they have been known to predate on considerably larger species and until as recently as the 1950's were believed to be man killers. Equipped as most cats are with excellent day and night motion sensitive vision, a highly tuned sense of balance and touch, good scenting ability and incredible hearing, they also have a very thick, well groomed and heavily striped coat to camoflage them in various terrain and protect them against the fierce Scottish weather.

History and evolution
Wildcats have lived in Britain for at least 2 million years, outlasting mammoth, cave lion, bear, lynx and wolf. They were briefly driven out by the advancing glaciation of the last ice age, but repopulated along with stone age humans around 9000 years ago via a land bridge with France. As sea levels rose the land bridge was submerged and the isolated British wildcats began to evolve into what is now known as the Scottish wildcat.

As civilisation developed, hunting became popular and agriculture swallowed up Britain's forests the cats began to decline, however it was the Victorian era that truly brought them to the brink of extinction. The establishment of gaming estates saw the wildcat propagandised into being a severe pest on game birds and persecution was rife. In fact, studies suggest game birds form a very small part of their diet which is almost exclusively rabbit; an alien and highly destructive species.

The First World War saved the cats; gamekeepers were called up, many were never to return and a changed economy led to many gaming estates breaking up. The cats appeared to repopulate Scotland but not all was as it seemed. Naturalist and author Mike Tomkies wrote in the 70's that he believed the wildcat was mating extensively with domestic cats wiping out the gene pool. Conventional wisdom at the time stated that wildcat/domestic offspring were always sterile, a complete falsehood, and Tomkies was largely ignored.

In the 80's the wildcats were fully protected under law and government figures stated that there were around 5000 across Scotland, but by this time a group of scientists was starting to pick up on the same feelings as Mike Tomkies. Years of research followed until, by the turn of the millennium, it was accepted that Scottish wildcats were breeding into extinction with domestic cats, and that the likely figure of true wildcats left in Scotland was closer to 400.

In recent years consensus has been reached and Scottish Natural Heritage have accepted the scientist's figures and appraisal of the situation, naming the wildcat as a priority species for conservation in Scotland, with a survey just launched to learn more about the population in 2008. With extinction a possibility within a decade the next few years will be key in deciding whether the Scottish wildcat will survive; all wildcat species are endangered for very similar reasons across Europe, Asia and Africa, however none are as close to extinction as the Scottish form, it is Britain's rarest mammal and one of the rarest cats in the world.

How you can help
The wildcat faces a variety of threats, and cannot survive by the work of scientists, naturalists or even Scottish Natural Heritage alone, it requires a huge volume of support not only by the Scottish public, but also the wider British public and anyone interested in the wildlife of these islands.

Responsible domestic cat ownership
Wildcats will freely interbreed with domestic cats destroying the genepool. Whilst this is a large scale problem it would in fact be easily solved if more cat owners acted responsibly. Domestic cats should be innoculated against diseases, neutered to prevent the breeding of unwanted kittens, and ideally kept in at night which is their preferred time to hunt, fight, mate and get run over by cars. Charities such as Cats Protection, SSPCA and RSPCA all advocate neutering and can often help families on benefits or a low income with veterinary costs. Besides helping conserve wildcats and many other species, your own cat's good health and life expectancy is drastically improved by these measures.

Opposing habitat loss
Habitat loss threatens the Highland way of life itself as well as most of the wildlife of the area. Parts of the Highlands are developing at a terrifying pace and droves of English Monarch of the Glen fans are financing the building of vast and ugly modern estate housing for the sake of a two week summer stay every year. Tourism is vital to the Highland economy, but the current dash to make money with thoughtless development will eventually destroy the very thing that makes the Highlands so special. All Scots should oppose thoughtless development as there is always a better option that the government simply deems too difficult or expensive to consider. Residents of, and visitors to, the Highlands should support small independent local businesses; supermarkets, chain hotels, their car parks and supply demands will always place profit above the environment and pressure local planning officials accordingly. No one immigrating to the Highlands should ever consider living in a "flat packed" breeze block house, if you love the place enough to want to live there, love it enough not to bulldoze acres of it to do so and support schemes for replanting forests and protecting wild land (such as the National Trust for Scotland or the RSPB). Roads are also a big associated problem, dividing habitats unnaturally they are a huge killer of all wildlife and drivers should take their time and be especially aware on forest lined roads when animals can literally spring from nowhere.

Opposing Persecution
It's tough to enforce any countryside law, simply because there are rarely any witnesses. Persecution against wildcats is fortunately slowing down but still accounts for many deaths. Scots and visitors to Scotland can help speed things up by reporting wildlife crime and supporting anti hunting charities; if game birds are no longer hunted, there will be few reasons to persecute wildcats, you can also sign up and support the campaign to ban snares in Scotland. If you are a supporter of hunting, then support the notion to gaming estates that losses to wildcats are small and that sighting one in fact adds value to your experience. The general public should also expect SNH to find ways of improving protection through education, subsidies or further legal measures, not by building golf courses on top of SSSIs.

Supporting the Scottish Wildcat Association
Plans are well underway to form the first charity dedicated to conserving the Scottish wildcat which will focus on public awareness, support of other associated charity concerns and building the captive breeding program. Lots of information and beautiful photography can be seen at www.scottishwildcats.co.uk.

Seeing a Scottish wildcat
There are few things in life as hard as seeing a true Scottish wildcat. The only guranteed way is to visit captives at centres such as the Highland Wildlife Park, Howletts and Port Lympne or the British Wildlife Centre, all of which support the captive breeding campaign.

Wild living cats will often be found in a varied terrain with minimal human impact and plenty of rabbits or other small mammals or rodents in the area. They are often seen on open rocky grass and moorland though this is probably because they are next to impossible to see in a forest or a deeply heathered moor. Local knowledge is an essential tool for wildlife filmmakers and your best bet is always to speak to local farmers, wildlife watchers or gamekeepers; if there is anything resembling a wildcat in the area, they will have some idea of where you may see it.

Always remember that the cat will see, hear and smell you coming long before you have any idea it's there, so it's best to find a good spot in a recommended area and simply sit still, ideally with some kind of camoflaged hide.

Never try to approach a wildcat or, even worse, their kittens; wildcat mothers have been seen killing golden eagle that dared to fly too close to their young and they will attack humans and inflict considerable damage if they perceive any threat to them. Never remove "abandoned" kittens; watch them instead, their mother is probably off hunting and will come back to them. Never try to get close to wildlife without a professional guide or considerable knowledge of the creature and it's behaviour, thoughtless intrusion can be disastrous for endangered species and even docile seeming animals like deer will attack and kill people under certain circumstances. Never venture even into the relatively tame looking Scottish mountains without the right equipment, it may be blazing sunshine in Aviemore but it can still be below freezing in the mountain range sitting next to the town and it's easy to get disoriented in the often constant cloud and fog.

Scottish wildcats on the web
There are sadly very few sites specifically on the Scottish wildcat and it's true that most people outside of the Highlands don't even believe they exist, however we hope the following sites will provide a starting point for anyone wanting to learn more.

General Scottish wildcat information
Scottish Wildcat Association; the home of the new charity set up to help conserve the Scottish wildcat.
Scottish Wildcat Association Myspace
Tooth and Claw; Peter Cairns ongoing project exploring man's relationship with predators, already has some good wildcat info and more to come.

Species descriptions (mostly European wildcat)
Cat Specialist Group
Cat Survival Trust
Big Cats Online

Key research
Genetic Diversity and Introgression in the Scottish wildcat; complete paper in a PDF document
The Scottish Wildcat Action Plan available from the WildCRU bookshop for just £21 and worth every penny.
Carnivore Ecology Portal, with summaries of most of the papers recently written on wildcats, go to the database and type "wildcat" in the Abstract field then search.