Scottish Wildcats Conservation Project Celebrates Birth of Kittens in Cairngorms National Park
The Saving Wildcats project led by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland has announced the successful birth of wildcat kittens in the Cairngorms National Park, marking a significant milestone in the conservation efforts for the critically endangered Scottish wildcats.
In a significant milestone for the conservation of Scottish wildcats, the Saving Wildcats project has announced the birth of wildcat kittens in the Cairngorms National Park. This development comes after the release of 19 wildcats into the park last year by the project team, led by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland.
Videos released on June 24, 2024, show the kittens playing with their mothers. According to Dr. Helen Senn, the project lead, these births signal that the released wildcats have adapted well to their natural habitat, as they have successfully hunted, survived, and reproduced in their first breeding season.
The wildcats’ movement patterns had indicated recent births, which was confirmed by footage captured by monitoring cameras. Efforts are now underway to determine the purity of the wildcats through DNA testing to ensure they are not hybrids with feral domestic cats, despite ongoing efforts to neuter and vaccinate local feral cats.
The project is being carried out with support from local landowners, gamekeepers, and the community, and is approved by NatureScot. The birth of these kittens is considered a crucial step in the conservation of the critically endangered species, declared as such in 2018.