IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Littlewood, N.A.; Campbell, R.D.; Dinnie, L.; Gilbert, L.; Hooper, R.; Iason, G.; Irvine, J.; Kilshaw, K.; Kitchener, A.; Lackova, P.; Newey, S.; Ogden, R.; Ross, A. | |
| Survey and scoping of wildcat priority areas | |
| 2014 Full Book | |
The Scottish Wildcat (_Felis silvestris_) is in urgent need of action to save remaining populations in the wild. Following habitat loss and persecution through the nineteenth century, the Wildcat is now restricted in the UK to the Scottish Highlands north of the Central Belt of Scotland. Recently, hybridisation of remaining Wildcats with feral and domestic cats has been identified as the main threat to its continued survival. There have been significant advances, over the past 30 years, in developing methods for identifying Wildcats based on pelage characteristics and on genetics. These have revealed that remaining free-living tabby-coated cats show a broad range of characteristics from those associated with domestic cats through to those typically associated with Wildcats. The Scottish Wildcat Conservation Action Plan aims to implement actions focussed on improving the conservation status of the Wildcat in Scotland. In particular it aims to secure at least five stable populations of Wildcats in the wild. To this end, this project draws together multiple streams of evidence to identify the areas that are likely to be the most suitable for defending and aiding the recovery of existing Wildcat populations. We report on field surveys of nine candidate areas using camera traps and associated assessment of pelage characteristics, on genetic analysis of scats and tissue samples collected during these field surveys and from other sources, and on a questionnaire survey of the attitudes of key stakeholders towards Wildcat conservation in the study areas. We identify six of these areas that are most suited to be established as priority areas for Wildcat conservation. |
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