Wildlife and conservation articles, wild travel advice and reviews
Wildcats have been restricted to parts of Scotland for hundreds of years, despite once being found throughout the UK. Indeed, it is a problem where a significant number of people now refer to it as the Scottish wildcat, something that is only temporary, and should not be the case for ever.
Many of the environmental issues that the UK faces continue to be worse because we are an island off the coast of Europe. Unlike France, we have to make the conscience choice to reintroduce wolves, where as in France they have returned naturally.
Recent rewilding efforts in Germany and Belgium, saturated the local wildcat population leading to them spreading to Holland next door.
Wildcats disappeared from Holland in the middle ages. With flatter heads and longer legs than its domestic cousin, the wildcats reappearance is hugely encouraging for environmentalists.
The wildcat started to return in 2013. Pine marten have also returned since 2015.
Long may this move continue
Once common across the whole of the UK, they were hunted to extinction. Currently, just a handful remain in Scotland. While interbreeding between wildcats and feral domestic cats is normally rare, in the current situation feral cats outnumber wildcats 1000 to one, and as such the wildcat is essentially extinct.
The farmer who is looking to reintroduce them, currently has 6 pairs, which he is hoping to increase to 150 individuals and to start reintroducing perhaps as early as next year.
Continue reading “Wildcats set to return to southern England 150 years since their extinction in England and Wales”