The precise history of the cats is open to debate, no one knows the exact story. It is thought that at the end of the last ice age, the English Channel formed and isolated a group of European wildcats in the British Isles. Over time they grew bigger and more heavily camouflaged. As deforestation changed the face of Britain and the species was hunted close to extinction across England, Wales and most of Scotland it evolved beyond it's forest led behaviour.

Today, the small number of wildcats that survived persecution are now outnumbered by feral domestic cats. The two species are closely related and readily mate, causing the wildcat genes to slowly disappear into the domestic gene pool. Recent conservation efforts have been led by scientists, naturalists and the general public, with support from government and statutory agencies also.

The Scottish wildcat population has fallen in the last few decades and is now thought to be around  3,000, although some estimates have put it in the lower hundreds.

[ Cat Care ] [ Site Map ] [ Feline Statistics ] [ The Manx Cat ]