The Aspinall Foundation To Establish Scottish Wildcat Breeding Centre

The Aspinall Foundation (TAF) says it is launching an initiative to save the Scottish Wildcat which is now critically endangered as a result of interbreeding with feral domestic cats.

TAF will send a conservation team to build a custom wildcat breeding centre located on island of the Scottish west coast called Carna. The breeding centre will also serve as a sanctuary for pure Scottish wildcats whose numbers are estimated to be less than 35 in the wild.

“With the hybridisation caused by hordes of domestic feral cats, the extinction of true wildcats in Scotland is imminent unless this direct and immediate action is taken.TAF of course supports the action plan currently being developed by the Scottish government to conserve the wildcat. However, as funding is not yet secured, the breeding project is unlikely to start until later in 2014.We just don’t believe wildcats have the luxury of that time before they become extinct. Our initiative, starting immediately, means that litters of pure wildcats will be born safely and will be ready for when the government’s action plan receives funding. We believe this is an example of real in situ conservation with the future reintroduction sites visible from the breeding centre so that the cats won’t have far to go before they are sent back to the wild”.

TAF has access to the latest wildcat genetic test and also carries the Scottish Wildcat studbook making the organization uniquely qualified to pursue the project.

The breeding centre is part of a large program to conserve the wildcat on the Scottish west coast. Thousands of feral cats will be captured and then neutered so as to create a large area that is free from the threat of hybridization. This means following breeding when wildcats are released into the wild there will be much less risk of inter-breeding.

TAF is requesting landowners in the region to donate some land that could be used for conservation of the Wildcat. It is expected the breeding centre is only the beginning of a very ambitious project that will restore the west coast of Scotland as a wildcat stronghold once more.