Scottish wildcat kittens!
This year, Saving Wildcats has reached a fantastic milestone, with the birth of several wildcat kittens at the dedicated off-show conservation breeding for release centre, based at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland’s Highland Wildlife Park!
It is hoped these kittens will be some of the first to be released into the wild in Scotland from 2023.
Guest post by Helena Parsons - Conservation Project Officer at Saving Wildcats
Saving Wildcats (#SWAforLife) is a European partnership project dedicated to Scottish wildcat conservation and recovery, aiming to prevent the extinction of wildcats in Scotland by breeding and releasing them into the wild.
We have a very hands-off approach with the cats to give them the best possible chance of survival after release. This means our expert keepers monitor all the wildcats in the centre in a way that supports the reduction of human contact, through camera traps!
Some of these camera traps, generously donated by NatureSpy, have even helped us snap videos and photos of the new wee kittens. Mums Droma, Torr, Tulla and Caol Ila have welcomed 13 kittens from four litters between them, and we are thrilled to be able to share footage of how they are getting on. These first few months are crucial for the kittens, as they use this time to learn important life skills from their mum and siblings. It has been wonderful to watch our litters through camera traps and see become feistier and more confident every day.
We are so grateful to NatureSpy for helping us to save Scotland’s wildcats and would not have been able to achieve as much as we already have without them. Our use of camera traps is crucial to reinforcing Britain’s wildcat population and we look forward to continuing our relationship with NatureSpy in the future.
Thank you to Helena at Saving Wildcats for sharing this exciting update with us!
You can learn more about Saving Wildcats on our project pages.
Saving Wildcats use Browning Spec Ops Advantage trail cameras for high image quality and reliability in the field.
