# Scottish Wildcats



## mothershaza (Oct 11, 2006)

Hi, just joined the Scottish Wildcat Association, do you know there are only 400 true wildcats left, this is now our rarest mammal. They need our help, there is a website for anyone interested, it's so sad that they may soon be gone forever.


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## Wolflore (Mar 3, 2010)

There's only 400 true because the randy beggars will quite happily hybridise with domestic moggies. They're not helping themselves!


Anthony


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## mothershaza (Oct 11, 2006)

ummm yes that is true, I suppose if it's there for the taking......, hopefully if they can neuter the feral cats then it may help save the breed, it's important I believe.


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## snakesandscales (Oct 6, 2009)

The local wildlife park is part of a project and are breeding them... Awesome looking animals!


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## Wolflore (Mar 3, 2010)

They have a breeding (I believe) colony at the otter and owl sanctuary in the New Forest. Stunning cats. My Aunts old moggie was a dead ringer for one but without the usual tail identifier 


Anthony


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## mothershaza (Oct 11, 2006)

Aspinalls are trying to breed them, my children have sponsored "Sid" for me as a xmas pressy.


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## Wolflore (Mar 3, 2010)

That's a really cool pressie.


Anthony


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## laurencea (Aug 28, 2009)

i think one of my photos is on the wildcat website. it was taken at Edinburgh zoo, when they had them. fierce animals, really! when they stared at me i froze, that's when you see the real difference between a cat and a WILDcat. the keeper was chatting to us and he said he was really wary of them. stunning animals though.

must renew my membership!


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## mothershaza (Oct 11, 2006)

My mother who is in her late seventies has a photo taken at age 3ish with a wildcat in a tree in her garden, it was huge compared to a moggie, she said they could not get near it but my nan used to put feed out for it.


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## 1b3 (Aug 17, 2011)

I read a book from the 70's about a Wildcat named Sylvester from London Zoo who was used in a breeding program in Invernesshire. We have them a few miles from where I live.
The first I saw was a giant stuffed one, also in Invernesshire. It was much bigger and far more muscly than a normal cat.


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

They're also doing a captive breeding programme at The British Wildlife Centre in Lingfield, Surrey. Some of them have the really wild look of a Scottish Wildcat, but a couple of them just looked like 'normal' tabby cats to me. The keeper was going into the enclosure with them to feed them too, which is not what you would expect with wildcats. Of course if they've been breeding them for a while, maybe they are getting tamer??

Not typical though!

We holiday most years at Ardnamurchan and they still have wildcats there, which have been spotted stealing food put out for Pine Martens at feeding stations, but I've not managed to ever see one - they are incredibly reclusive. Seen a few red squirrels and a Pine Marten visited our garden for food we put out for it almost every night, but never managed to see a wildcat.


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## 1b3 (Aug 17, 2011)

THey are secretive but 1 was spotted near Machrihanish in Kintyre a few years ago. I've heard nothing since but was under the impression that they'd made something of a recovery since the 70's.
They are reputedly totally untameable and they have been on record as killing someone many years ago.


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## daftlassieEmma (Oct 23, 2008)

They're still my favourite animal to see every time I go to Auchingarrich Wildlife Centre in Perthshire:


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## 1b3 (Aug 17, 2011)

daftlassieEmma said:


> They're still my favourite animal to see every time I go to Auchingarrich Wildlife Centre in Perthshire:
> 
> image image


 Thank you for posting this; those eyes. Most amazing animal ever bar none.


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## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

so why don't they catch a bunch of them and breed them like crazy?

or are they difficult to breed in captivity?


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## 1b3 (Aug 17, 2011)

HABU said:


> so why don't they catch a bunch of them and breed them like crazy?
> 
> or are they difficult to breed in captivity?


 It's a very good idea Habu. One man did it in the seventies and it didn't seem too expensive. They've actually come very, very close to extinction. In the 1930's people would vacation to Scottish estates and systematically shoot them in a way I don't think you'ld find in the U.S.A. They had people find animals, usually birds, people to flush them into the air and basically it wasn't just the normal weekend shooting you might get stateside.
They are pretty much untameable, you can tame Mountain Lions, ironically you can't tame these. Maybe 1 reason. They do hybridise with domestic cats a lot so there'll be many with Wildcat dna but fewer 100% Wildcats. Thanks for reading Habu


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## laurencea (Aug 28, 2009)

HABU said:


> so why don't they catch a bunch of them and breed them like crazy?
> 
> or are they difficult to breed in captivity?


the 'pure' gene pool is pretty small, so the breeding ones now in captivity have to be checked to ensure they are pure wildcat.

they have been tricky to breed in captivity. it is getting better now as there are several centres in the UK and so the offspring can be rotated to reduce inbreeding.

the main problem, as with a lot of endangered animals, is the habitat loss. in the wild there are pockets of wildcats, but town and industry have cut them off... there is a small population in southern scotland and these are very much isolated by the Glasgow-Edinburgh belt above them.

there are 2 centres in Kent and the centre in Surrey that have been doing ok with breeding - they are also upgrading their enclosures as that seems to help.

my photo is still on the wildcats website!


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