Our charity for 2025 is Saving Wildcats, a European partnership project dedicated to Scottish wildcat conservation and recovery. They aim to prevent the extinction of wildcats in Scotland by breeding and releasing them into the wild and their vision is to see wildcats restored to landscapes across Scotland, cherished by people for generations to come.

Aims

Saving Wildcats has four primary aims to reach their vision of Scottish wildcat conservation:

• Establish Britain's first large-scale dedicated conservation ‘breeding for release’ centre for wildcats.

In a quiet location at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland's Highland Wildlife Park in the Cairngorms National Park, the centre will bring together wildcat experts, a dedicated veterinary unit and a specialised pre-release training programme to help develop the necessary life skills needed for life in the wild.

• Grow the population of wildcats through release of wildcats into the wild.

Following a pre-release training programme to prepare for life in the wild, 20 wildcats will be released each year, potentially in an area within the Cairngorms National Park. All released wildcats will wear a special (GPS) collar so their movements and behaviour can be recorded.

• Continue to remove the threats facing wildcats in the Highlands to create other safe areas for wildcat reintroductions.

In the longer term, wildcat releases will extend to other locations in Scotland. The centre could also support other well-planned efforts across the UK.

• Work with local communities to understand how best people can benefit from the presence of wildcats.

Saving Wildcats is as much about people as it is about wildcats, helping to boost local economies through wildlife tourism as well as supporting longer term employment.

Wildcats

European wildcats crossed from the Continent into Britain after the end of the last Ice Age, around 9,000 years ago. Once widespread, the species is now on the brink of extinction in Scotland. A sad history of habitat loss, persecution and, more recently, breeding with domestic cats, has forced the Highland Tiger to a point where the population is no longer viable. This means that although there may be some wild-living wildcats in Scotland, there are too few of them and hybridisation is too far advanced for them to form a self-sustaining population. Without urgent action, our wildcats will be lost forever.

The scientific name for both Scotland’s wildcats and the European wildcat is Felis silvestris silvestris, meaning they are the same species. However, Scotland’s wildcat population has been isolated for around 10,000 years, after Britain became an island. This means Scotland’s wildcats are a unique, highly threatened, sub-population of the European wildcat.

The species has a long history in Scottish culture and mythology. It was revered by many Highland clans who used the wildcat in their clan crests. The wildcat is also one of Scotland’s most iconic species, embodying wild nature for the Scottish Highlands.

The easiest way to judge whether a cat has any wildcat heritage in the field is to visually assess its coat colour and markings (the pelage). For example, typical features of a wildcat include a blunt bushy tail with a black tip, distinct black rings on the tail which are not joined together, stripy grey and brown markings, and no white feet.

More Information

Scotiacon is proud to be supporting this vital conservation effort as our charity in 2025. If the above has grabbed your interest and you’d like to learn even more about Scottish wildcats and the Saving Wildcats charity, you can find them at https://savingwildcats.org.uk or come and meet them at the convention!