Ten rare wildcat kittens born in Scotland as part of rewilding project

A project aiming to breed and eventually release wildcats into the wild in Scotland is celebrating the birth of ten kittens.

The two litters of five kittens born this month mean there are now 18 kittens born this season as part of the project.

The Saving Wildcats project at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland’s (RZSS) said litters of five were "incredibly rare in the captive breeding population, so to have two in one breeding season is incredibly exciting".

Sixteen adult wildcats were paired up earlier this year, and so far five litters of kittens have been born, though the organisation said they hope there will be even more.

These animals could be among the first of their species to be released from captivity into the wild in Britain.

The aim is to restore Scotland’s critically endangered wildcat population by breeding and releasing them into carefully selected locations in the Cairngorms National Park.

The species was once widespread across Britain, but numbers have fallen sharply since the 19th century and wildcats now face extinction due to continuing habitat loss, road deaths, hunting and inter-breeding with domestic cats.

They are already "functionally extinct" in Scotland, according to a 2019 analysis by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which concluded that boosting the wild population via a carefully managed conservation breeding for release programme was the species’ last hope.

It is believed there are fewer pure-bred Scottish wildcats than there are tigers in the wild.

David Barclay, Saving Wildcats conservation manager, said last month when the first litters were born: “Put simply, these kittens are the future of wildcats in Scotland. Decades of extensive research have shown their species is highly likely to go extinct in Britain if we do not carry out releases to restore our critically endangered wildcat population.

“It is still early days for our new wildcat kittens who are very vulnerable in their first weeks and months. They have a lot to learn over the next year, but our expert Saving Wildcats keepers will be on hand to help prepare them for the many challenges of life in the wild."

Plans are now in place for the first releases to happen in 2023.

The Saving Wildcats team said: "In a quiet area away from visitors at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland’s Highland Wildlife Park near Aviemore, the two litters of five were born to mums Tulla and Margaret, bringing the total number born in the European partnership project’s first ever breeding season up to 18 so far."

The European wildcat – which is the species found in Scotland – is usually bigger and stouter than the domestic cat, with longer fur and a shorter non-tapering bushy tail.

It is a protected species, but still faces persecution, and gamekeepers can also easily mistake them for feral cats.