Brief encounters
One of the main ways in which domestic cat DNA enters
the wildcat gene pool is by breeding with the descendants
of strays from farms or villages. A 1995 study estimated
that there were at least 125,000 feral cats at large in rural
Scotland, numbers of which are likely to be still increasing.
It’s a staggering total – and doesn’t include pet cats.
You might think Tiddles would be unlikely to encounter
a wildcat unless its owners lived in a cottage halfway up
a hill, but it’s not so simple. Wildcats occupy large home
ranges, some reaching into fertile valleys and farmland
where most local people (and their cats) live. Meanwhile,
pet cats roam farther than many owners realise.
New research by scientists at the University of Reading
has used GPS collars to establish that an urban domestic
cat can range over almost 7ha. One of the study’s authors,
Rebecca Thomas, tells me that she’d expect feral
cats in rural areas to travel even farther.
Do any genuine Scottish wildcats cling on
in isolated corners of the Highlands? The most
authoritative population estimate, “as few as 400”
animals, was published in 2004. How grave the
situation is now depends on who you talk
to. When I press the experts to suggest
how many wildcats are left, the most
popular reply is “we simply don’t
know”, but a couple insist “few or
none” remain.What should be done about the threat of hybridisation is
a vexed issue that has split conservationists.
By far the largest group, who I shall call ‘pragmatists’,
point out that domestic cats have been in the British Isles
for about 2,000–3,000 years, so hybridisation is nothing
new. Few if any wildcat populations in Scotland will be
completely free of domestic cat DNA, they say.
The best plan is thus to protect a range of cats that look
like wildcats but may have mixed ancestry, while carrying
out more fieldwork to pinpoint the areas with fewest
hybrids. Zoos should breed wildcats in captivity to enable
reintroductions into these safe havens. Doug Richardson,
a head keeper at the Highland Wildlife Park, says that to
avoid inbreeding 250–300 captive Scottish wildcats will
be needed (today there are perhaps 60).
This is too little, too late for a small but highly vocal
band of critics – the ‘purists’. We have reached crisis
point, they argue, and must concentrate all our
energies on the handful of pure wildcats still in the
Highlands, because hybrid cats aren’t worth saving.Plan of action
The pragmatists now have a manifesto: the
Scottish Wildcat Conservation Action Plan,
a six-year project launched in September.
It brings together a remarkably diverse
collection of government, conservation,
landowning, hunting, animal-welfareHOW TO ATTRACT
A WILDCAT
It’s not easy! So researchers in
Scotland are testing different bait
and live-trapping techniques.1
Bait boosts the chances of wildcats
approaching camera-traps and cage traps.
Foods being trialled include tuna chunks
wrapped in little parcels made from old
pillowcases. Pungent tuna juice is then dribbled
over the outside.2
Another attractor on test is a foul liquid sold
to bobcat hunters in the USA. This is painted
onto stakes: the hope is that territorial wildcats
will rub against the posts to scent-mark them,
leaving behind hair and thus their DNA.3
Various food lures, including tuna parcels,
chicken drumsticks and smelly wings from
roadkill pheasants, are strung up from low
branches like a weirdly decorated Christmas
tree.4
The aim is to start live-trapping wildcats
soon. Here, Roo Campbell and Monica
Griffith test if ‘dressing’ traps to make them
look more natural improves their success rate..
ing on
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The pragm
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3 4
Every image
of a cat (here,
a hybrid) is
painstakingly
analysed