The Scottish wildcat is elusive and difficult to find. If you squint into the wilderness, you might catch a glimpse of it, as it crouches in a bed of grass, stalking its prey, which might be a rabbit or vole munching on blades of grass. It will lie in wait until the perfect moment, and then pounce to catch its dinner. Despite its unassuming small size, this cat is an important predator in its ecosystem. The presence of these cats keeps the rabbit and rodent population in check, preventing them from overgrazing on the vegetation.⁵ This protects the plants and maintains the harmony of the ecosystem. However, recent decades have decimated this species in the wild, putting this relationship in jeopardy. Current estimates of population range between 30-430 individuals, which is incredibly low. A variety of causes are to blame, with the three most important ones being habitat loss, human persecution, and hybridization.⁶

Other major threats to the Scottish wildcat population are habitat loss and human persecution.¹²  The natural woodlawn habitat of these wildcats has become fragmented. Pieces of their home have split up due to human interference. As people construct roads, they lose corridors connecting their habitats. Areas of intense agriculture and urbanization scare these cats away from their home, leading them to endure harsh conditions that they are not prepared for. Human persecution has been constant since the 1800’s. People viewed these wildcats as pests. Their predation on smaller mammals, like birds and rabbits, made them competitors to hunters. This encouraged men to shoot these cats in order to destroy their competition. The Scottish wildcat was also hunted and persecuted for its beautiful fur. Today, the wildcat is legally protected by law. However, it is still a victim to human persecution. Its similar physical appearance to domestic feral cats makes people confuse them for each other. This can cause hunters to mistakenly shoot this protected species. Research is currently on-going in establishing important distinctions between the two species so that they are not mistaken for each other.¹³

intain a mostly-natural environment, in order that the kittens do not become used to people and therefore lose their natural behavior. After the kittens have grown up and can hunt, they are released back into the wild, in the Cairngorms National Park inside the Affric Highlands. They are all equipped with GPS collars, which will allow their movements to be tracked and followed. Ideally, 20 cats will be released each year. With time, the wildlife park will begin releasing these wildcats into other areas of Scotland as well.¹⁵

Another important species of the Affric Highlands is the pine marten, a native animal to the United Kingdom. These are animals from the weasel family that typically live on trees and hunt small mammals, like rodents, carrion, and insects.¹⁷ Like the Scottish wildcat, they are important predators for their woodland environment. They control the population of rodents and other smaller animals so that they do not become overpopulated. They are also an important species for the survival of the endangered red squirrel.¹⁸ The red squirrels have become endangered in recent years due to the introduction of gray squirrels into the United Kingdom, including Scotland. The invasive gray squirrels outcompete red squirrels due to being able to consume a bigger variety of food. The pine marten preys on both these species of squirrels. However, because the red squirrel is native to the habitat and is accustomed to the presence of the pine marten, it can avoid its predation more easily than the gray squirrel. This means that the hunting of gray squirrels by pine martens opens up an opportunity for red squirrels to establish their dominance once again.

However, despite its importance to Scotland’s ecosystem, the pine marten has had significant decreases of its population and territory in the past centuries. Its population first began suffering in the 18th and 19th centuries and the years since have decimated its population across the United Kingdom. Now, it’s mostly found in Scotland and a few remote areas in northern England. The population has recovered somewhat in recent decades, but the population numbers are still low, numbering about 3,700 pine martens. ¹⁹The pine marten shares similar conservation threats to the Scottish wildcat, which are habitat loss and human persecution. These animals prefer to live in woodland areas. They are constantly climbing trees and traversing through the underbush. This makes it particularly difficult for them when their natural habitat is destroyed. As deforestation takes place, pine martens are forced to move elsewhere, into smaller, and smaller pieces of land. They require trees and grass to avoid predation, which makes it difficult to survive in open spaces²⁰. The destruction of forests has made the lives of these creatures much harder.

The next most important threat has been the persecution of pine martens by humans. Pine martens have long-been viewed as pests by rural settlers. They hunt game birds, which interferes with hunters. To reduce competition for game, hunters have shot pine martens for countless years. Additionally, pine martens have beautiful fur, often sought out in fashion. Fur trapping has been another method of persecution that has endangered the pine marten.

Conservation efforts to protect the pine marten have been in the works for several decades and have had some success, though more work is of course needed. The Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981 granted these animals legal protection. Hunting them became illegal, and work related to pine martens requires the use of a license. Efforts to reduce their loss of habitat are also in existence. Scotland’s Forestry and Land agency has made recent pledges too support the planting of trees needed for the survival of the pine marten. Additionally, to increase population numbers, the agency is trying to create artificial dens for pine martens to facilitate breeding.²¹

Conservation efforts are alive and well for these two Scottish species. People are working hard to recover their numbers and rewild Scotland. The pine marten’s conversation journey began earlier than the Scottish wildcat, and today their numbers have recovered greatly from what they once were. They still require conservation efforts, but the pine marten’s journey could ideally inspire Scottish wildcat conservation. The status of these two species is an important metric useful in analyzing the Affric Highlands of Scotland. Only by understanding the health of the animals that live within in can they be appropriately conserved and protected. The conservation of the pine marten and the Scottish wild cat demonstrate that while conservation efforts are persistent, they still have a long way to go before Scotland is wild again.

1. August 2005 HM. 2006. Östliches Ende des Loch Affric. Hinter den Bäumen sieht man einen Teil der Affric Lodge. Im Hintergrund der Gipfel des Sgurr na Lapaich (1036 m). Bilck Richtung Nordweste. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Loch_Affric_bei_Lodge.jpeg. ↵
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14. Geograph:: RZSS HWP – Scottish Wildcat – Felis… © Rob Farrow cc-by-sa/2.0. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6250416. ↵
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