There is “real hope for the future” of wildcats in Scotland, according to experts, following the release of 18 into the Highlands this year.
The Saving Wildcats partnership, led by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS), released the animals into the Cairngorms National Park over the summer.
This marks the third consecutive year that wildcats have been reintroduced into the Highlands, bringing the total number of animals released to 46.
Several of the female wildcats have successfully given birth to litters in the spring and summer of 2024 and 2025, a development that experts believe bodes well for the species.
Known as the Highland tiger, the wildcat was declared functionally extinct in Britain in 2019.
Helen Senn, the project lead for Saving Wildcats at RZSS, said: “Just a few years ago, the species was teetering on the edge of extinction in Scotland. Now we’re watching them not only survive but start to raise their own kittens in the wild. That gives us real hope for the future.
“However, to give wildcats a fighting chance, we must keep breeding and releasing more animals into the wild and continue to look after the population already present in the landscape until it can successfully survive on its own.
“Small, recently reintroduced populations are highly vulnerable to threats like road mortality, interbreeding with feral domestic cats, fire and extreme weather events.”
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The first 19 wildcats were reintroduced into Cairngorms National Park in June 2023, with an additional nine making their debut last year.
Saving Wildcats has emphasised the need for more funding as the project progresses, especially since it can no longer benefit from the EU LIFE Programme post-Brexit, which had previously made a significant contribution to the initiative.
Dr Senn stated: “It takes huge amounts of time, expertise and resources to bring a species back from the brink and we can’t do it alone.
“We are committed to looking after this newly established population and maintaining the connections with the local community that we have built-up during the project.
“We would love to hear from anyone keen to support wildcat restoration.”
Saving Wildcats is a collaborative project led by RZSS, working alongside NatureScot, Forestry and Land Scotland, Cairngorms National Park Authority, Nordens Ark and Junta de Andalucia.
