Scottish wildcat camera trapped in Wildcat Haven conservation survey

A recent capture by one of the http://www.WildcatHaven.com field team surveying areas of the Highlands for potential Scottish wildcats.

Wildcats are threatened by hybridisation; cross mating with a vast number of feral domestic cats. This is tricky to stop, and it's tricky even working out which cats are wildcats, which are hybrids and which are ferals.

We identify areas where "potential wildcats" live, neuter feral and pet cats around the area, and carry out genetics research to separate the wildcats from the hybrids. Over eight years of planning and fieldwork we have protected almost 500 square miles of remote West Highlands for Scottish wildcats purely through in-situ neutering efforts (fully endorsed by Humane Society International) and huge support from the local community.

We can identify potential wildcats in footage like this by looking at the markings in the coat. This cat is certainly hitting the key wildcat characteristics that we can see; the stripes over the head and neck are great, the body stripes are promising, and the dorsal stripe is really excellent, stopping dead at the base of the spine before the tail, which is thick and appears to be banded. These are all typical wildcat coat markings, whilst domestics usually have more spots in their coat, and a dorsal stripe running onto a thin tail joining all the bands together.

So, this certainly classifies as a potential wildcat and our next task is to learn more about it, which includes trying to get a hair sample to go towards the genetics research and finding out exactly where it's territory is so we can protect it in the wild, where it belongs.

Learn more on our website http://www.wildcathaven.com or follow us on http://www.facebook.com/scottishwildcathaven or http://www.twitter.com/wildcathavenuk

Видео Scottish wildcat camera trapped in Wildcat Haven conservation survey канала Wildcat Haven