It’s the end for Britain’s last large mammal predator

Scottish Wildcat

Scottish Wildcat – the original brown tabby cat – Photo by Peter G Trimming

The Scottish Wildcat is almost extinct. At a guess there are 100 left in the wild in Scotland. When I started this website in 2007 there were an estimated 400. There are quite possibly none if we are honest. It is all guesswork anyway because of hybridisaton. For a long time, the wildcat has mated with stray and feral cats in Scotland diluting the purebred wildcat.

Sad isn’t it? So typical of modern life, though. There is no place on the planet for genuine wild cat species. There was a time when you could see the wild cat in England. in England, the last one was shot around 1835 or that sort of date. They were mercilessly hunted by the rich in England.

The wild cat took refuge in Scotland, where there is less human activity. This is very similar to the migration of the Bengal tiger from India to Bhutan. Bhutan is part of the Himalayas and there are less people there. The Bengal tiger can survive in the high altitudes of the areas around the Himalayas. Eventually, they will be poached to extinction even in Bhutan.

I have the information about the Scottish wildcat from the Scottish Wildcat Association. They say:

the extinction of Britain’s last large mammal predator could come within the next year.

The Scottish Wildcat Association had a plan for mass trap-neuter-return of all stray and feral cats across large parts of Scotland to stop the Scottish wildcat breeding with them but that seems to have been abandoned because it is too late. It is over.

Personally, I hope extinction happens as soon as possible. We can then forget and move on because there is no possibility of preserving the last remaining large mammal predator in the UK. It is too distressing thinking about it. Trying to conserve the wild cat species is like trying to hold back the tide. It is impossible. Human population growth – the cause of the demise of all wild cat species – is a force of nature.

Nothing will stop the extinction of wild cat species in the wild until the human himself is in danger of becoming extinct. Then someone will propose some sort of universal, obligatory birth control. Until then, astalavista wild cats.

Associated: Sightings

Facebook Discussion


It’s the end for Britain’s last large mammal predator — 6 Comments

  1. Extinctions have been going on ever since there was life on earth. Most of the species that ever existed are now extinct, but that doesn’t make me feel any better about the fate of the Scottish wildcat. We must however understand that the F s Sylvestris has evolved in the African wildcat which then evolved into our domestic cat, so in a way it survives. There are also identical Forest wildcats in many regions of Russia, Europe, Turkey, etc.

    • Good point that the wildcat exists in the domestic cat. Is is fair to say that the rapidly increasing human population is having an increasingly detrimental impact on wild animal species?

      WWF says that the rate of extinction of the species is up to 10,000 times higher than its natural rate because of the existence of humankind.

      The extinction of the Scottish wildcat is exclusively caused by people.

  2. It’s so sad that many species of wild animals have died/are dying out and it can only end one way if the human race keep on abusing this planet, animals and Nature, generations of the future will only see pictures of other species of living creatures in history books.
    Unless the human race wipes itself out before it wipes all the animals out.
    I think that is most likely, the way things are going, because we are not improving our world, we are ruining it.
    Astalavista humans, if there is a next time round, remember humans are supposed to be HUMANE.

  3. Michael i am not surprised at the “Scottish cat” on the verge of extinction in the wild forests of great Britain. Only hope that the “Scottish cat” survives in zoological parks, the ultimate human forest for wild cats it the future. I give the Royal Bengal tiger approximately 50 years of survival in small pockets of the famous national parks of India.Just a few days back Mr Sansar.Chand(Google for more info)India’s most notorious tiger poacher was acquitted by a court and will be a “FREE MAN”.Sansar.Chand is solely responsible for the total extinction of tigers in the “Sariska National Park” of Rajasthan in India.If such a notorious man escapes justice then what message does this send to “Petty poachers” ? Every Indian poacher would take a pot-shot at a tiger as they realize that the punishment even if caught would never amount to a death sentence or a life-long prison term.Besides poaching, forests are diminishing at a rapid rate and i wonder as to how long can small populations of wild tigers be confined to a national park where “INBREEDING” would be the final nail in the coffin. Hope my predictions are wrong and forest land is reclaimed and poachers become guardians of tigers realizing that a live wild tiger is worth more in tourism revenue than a dead tiger.

    • I had no idea this notorious poacher had been caught and let off really. I totally agree that it sends completely the wrong message. The judge can’t know anything about the precarious situation the tiger is in. I’ll have a look at that story.

Leave a Reply

