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Writer's pictureJennifer J

New Footage Could Have Filmed The Incredibly Rare Scottish Wildcat! 🐈


New footage has been released by Wildcat Haven.


Wildcat Haven is the only wildlife conservation group in Scotland which dedicates all its time and efforts to save the Scottish Wildcat.


They are the only group that solely focuses on the Scottish Wildcat today.


The group has recently released footage of what may be a Scottish Wildcat.



The Scottish Wildcat

Today, Scottish Wildcats are incredibly rare.


They were once found throughout England, Wales and Scotland. However, in the mid to late Victorian era, the Scottish Wildcat went extinct in England and Wales.


They also almost went extinct in Scotland just a few decades later. By the time World War One was happening, the Scottish Wildcat was very near extinction.


Throughout the 20th century, wildlife conservationists and the UK government managed to pull these beautiful cats back from the brink of extinction.


During the 1980s, the UK government gave the Scottish Wildcat protected species status and also listed the cat as an endangered species.


By the 1990s, it looked like the Scottish Wildcat was starting to make a comeback and regained some of their population, as, by the end of the 1990s, it was estimated that the population of the Scottish Wildcat was over 3,000 cats.


Today, it is estimated that there are only about 30 to 35 Scottish Wildcats remaining in Scotland today. These cats have mostly disappeared from much of their historic range. Today, they are only found in small areas of the Scottish highlands.


Scottish Wildcats are critically endangered today.


The only other mammal that is critically endangered today in the UK, along with the Scottish Wildcat, is the Greater Mouse-Eared Bat.


You can watch the amazing footage - here!


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