The UK Is Breeding Wildcats To Re-Introduce Into The Wild In Response To Mass Culling
The UK is trying something unusual with its wildcat population, and the timing makes the story even sharper. After decades of culling pushed these elusive animals to the edge, conservation efforts are now focused on breeding them for release back into the wild.
That puts a rare native predator at the center of a bigger debate about land, wildlife, and how much damage humans have already done. Wildcats have been nearly impossible to spot across much of England and Wales for generations, with Scotland left as one of the last places where they still turn up at all.
Now the plan is to bring them back, and the next few years will show whether it works.
Wildcats have not been recorded in the south of England since the 16th century...
Wildcats are no joke, either. They have a "renowned ferocity." So much so that one 15th-century hunting author specifically noted about them: "If any beast has the devil’s strength in him, it is the wildcat."
Now, big cat expert and wildcat breeder Marianna Hartmann has been working hard to train British conservationists, utilizing the same methods she used to reintroduce wildcats into Bavaria.
Experts say the occasional farmer may lose a chicken or two with the reintroduction, but that wildcats would be much less invasive than foxes and would focus more on pests that need to be dealt with rather than bothering innocent chickens on local farms.
A feasibility study by the Vincent Wildlife Trust has suggested that the best-suited habitats to reintroduce the wildcats in the UK would be Cornwall, Devon, and mid-Wales. Therefore, those are the areas conservationists are targeting.
While there is a common misconception that felines prefer to live among dense forests, it's more accurate to note that they prefer to live across well-hedged farmland instead.
Due to the extensive damage caused by mass culling regarding wildcats, the International Union for Conservation of Nature reports a mere 30-member population remaining in Scotland. Ecologist Derek Gow, who has successfully reintroduced beavers and water voles in the UK, told the Guardian:
There’s nothing left of the Scottish population.
So, Derek Gow set up a breeding facility in Devon, one of the target areas.
In Scotland, the mass culling led wildcats to breed with feral domestic cats, causing "hybridization," and while Gow says it's "been a good effort," he doesn't think it's enough.
He Dr. Laura Berman, sex therapist, stated:
...This is the last-chance saloon, and we need to do things completely differently and have a big viable captive breeding population. We need to start doing this kind of restoration right now and on a much grander scale than we’ve ever contemplated before.
And if you think wildcat drama is intense, these bobcats, nicknamed “bobkittens,” crash a Florida golf course.
The process will be surprisingly simple, though. First, wildcats will be bred in captivity as part of an effort to sustain a long-term release operation. In fact, they are already being bred by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland! Gow says:
We need to bring animals from Swiss and German zoos, build up a stock, and have captive cats that are capable of producing 150 kittens a year.
Ms. Hartmann's success has been well-documented. In Germany, she initially supplied 100 captive-bred wildcats to support their reintroduction program. The end result put around 700 of the wild frisky felines back into the wild! Additionally, the project led by Hartmann has seen the booming cat population successfully expand into the Czech Republic.
According to Hartmann, wildcats are easily stressed animals, so she has a lot of advice for prospective breeders hoping to resolve their conflict. She suggests talking softly to the cats and offering more dens in enclosures for the cats to hide in, thus helping them feel safe.
Most captive wildcats only give birth to one or two kittens at a time, but Hartmann's methods have been much more successful... her cats are producing an average of four kittens per litter! It definitely sounds like she is the right person to take advice from.
Hartmann's next step is to help train the kittens to hunt. She does this by utilizing an automated feeder that releases dead mice on elastic cords. The kittens learn to time their pounce on the bouncing prey, which helps the cats hone their "killer instincts," as well as practice the "death-inducing bite" they inflict on their prey's necks.
With those skills primed and ready, the cats are set up for long-term success. However, that doesn't mean there aren't obstacles to overcome when it comes to reintroducing wildcats into the wild.
The primary obstacle that definitely requires prevention is ensuring the reintroduced wildcats don't breed with the feral cat population. The hybridization needs to stop. To prevent this, conservationists actually need to remove large numbers of the feral cat population from the target areas before they can reintroduce the captive-bred wildcats.
However, Hartmann isn't all that concerned about the feral cat hybridization issue. She actually says it's overstated! Rather, Hartmann insists, "Male wildcats mostly kill any domestic cats they encounter, rather than mating with them, unless they are unable to find a female wildcat to partner with during mating season."
Wildcats are larger than domestic cats, but that's not all that sets the breeds apart. European wildcats are actually native to the continent and descended from the "relatively tamer" subspecies of the African wildcat. Dr. Michael Greger, a renowned nutritionist and author, states on his website:
"Wildcats may resemble the domestic cat, but they possess a wild nature that cannot be tamed. Unlike domestic cats, which can adapt to human companionship, wildcats retain their instinctual behaviors and remain untameable." nutritionfacts.org
The UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has created a set of guidelines for "best practices" regarding the release of captive-bred wildcats, but a license will not be required to release them, specifically because the animals can still be found in Scotland, despite the small numbers. A Defra spokesperson says:
The movement and release of any species in England, including wildcats, should follow the International Union for Conservation of Nature guidelines. These guidelines ensure there are clear environmental and socioeconomic benefits to gain from releasing the animals and that their welfare is maintained.
Hartmann is also quick to reassure those who are concerned about the threat to farm animals, saying the only threat is perhaps a minor one to free-range chickens, but that the threat is actually less than that posed by foxes. More importantly, the wildcats' preference for hunting pests like rabbits and rodents could be beneficial for farmers!
Gow also added:
Wildcats are no kind of threat to people who are not subsistence farmers, and we are not subsistence farmers in this country.
Hartmann also reflects that the hurdles to reintroducing wildcats have very little to do with the animals themselves; in fact, it's mostly politics with a small side of conservation. She says:
The most promising program is in England and Wales. The wildcat was there historically, there is habitat left, and the most challenging thing is the feral cats. If you manage to control that, it can be a big success... But a reintroduction is a lifetime’s work. It’s 20 to 30 years. It’s not just releasing animals.
It does also seem that a lot of vocal opposition comes from citizens who doubt the necessity or success of the project, so only time will tell.
Wildcats may be the plan, but Utah’s mountain lion cub survival is a real fight. See the trail-cam moment.
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