and research organisations.
Jenny Bryce, an ecologist at Scottish Natural Heritage,
is steering this rainbow coalition. “We should try to save
whatever good-looking cats are left,” she tells me, “but I
don’t think the phrase ‘pure-bred’ is helpful. Even if all of
our Scottish wildcats left in the wild now have a degree of
domestic cat ancestry, they may still look and behave like
true wildcats, and that’s important.”
“You can’t just claim that any old tom cat with stripes
and a bushy tail is a wildcat,” snorts Paul O’Donoghue, an
outspoken biologist at Chester University. “Leaving pure
individuals in the wild at risk of continued encounters
with hybrids is tantamount to a death sentence.”
Most wildcat experts are a little uncomfortable with
such a narrow focus on ‘pure-bred’ cats. Partly this is
because hybrid cats could well end up being part of the
solution. Rob Ogden explains that if the flow of domestic
cat genes can be limited or stopped, the descendants of
these hybrids may become more wildcat-like. “Wildcats
are better suited to their environment than domestic cats,”
Rob says. “They don’t just look different – they have
different adaptations and behaviour as well. So in time the
domestic cat genes in wild populations may be selected
against and die out.”Trap, neuter, release
Arguably the key measure in the Action Plan is to trap
and neuter as many feral and pet cats in the Highlands as
possible. The former are set free: euthanising thousands
of ‘cute and cuddly’ cats would be a PR disaster. After
all, the public needs to be kept on side – not only can
householders help by reporting feral cats, they must
be persuaded to have their own moggies neutered.
“Responsible pet ownership is vital,” admits Amy Cox,
an RZSS education officer who runs the Highland Tiger
public-awareness campaign.
Feral cats can be freely culled on Scottish estates for
game-management purposes because they are classed
as a non-native species, and – technically – the same
applies to hybrid wildcats. So Amy is understandably
keen to promote the use of live traps, the only method
of predator control that doesn’t end up accidentally
killing genuine wildcats.
As I leave Scotland, Roo texts to say he’s camera-trapped
two more “decent” wildcats. I share his elation – we need
the Action Plan to succeed. If we can’t save a charismatic
carnivore in our own back yard, what right do we have
to lecture people about how to save endangered species in
other parts of the world?The cheshire cat is not merely a
figment of Lewis Carroll’s imagination
- It really did exist.
ABOVE: Using an
aerial walkway
to cross between
enclosuresLEFT: Visitors to the
Highland Wildlife
Park learn about
wildcats