While Scotland is well known for its whisky, it’s also home to threatened and elusive wildcats. Can a distillery help save the cats?
The Scottish Wildcat is hanging on by a whisker. Since 2010, when conservationists raised the alarm about the survival of the species, a host of conservation groups, government agencies, and landowners — including a whisky distillery estate — has supported efforts to save the “Highland Tiger” from extinction.
“There are barely a handful left in the wild in Britain,” says Helen Senn, head of the Conservation and Science department at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS). She’s also Project Lead for the Saving Wildcats Project. “Their only hope for survival,” she says, “is releasing wildcats from the UK’s conservation breeding program into the wild.”
On October 13, 2023, conservationists did just that, releasing nineteen young Scottish Wildcats in small clusters around Cairngorms National Park in northern Scotland, all equipped with GPS-radio collars for tracking. One landowner in the park is the sprawling eighty-nine-square-mile Glenlivet Estate. In 2014, some fifty camera traps were set up across its territory to track wildcats.
Founded in 1824, Glenlivet is Scotland’s oldest legal distillery and second only to Glenfiddich in worldwide scotch sales. The distillery uses pure park spring water to distill Glenlivet whiskies, so it’s no wonder the estate has been supportive of efforts to preserve the park and its inhabitants.
– Courtesy of Saving Wildcats
Camera traps were instrumental in proving that hybridization with domestic cats is a major threat to wildcats. Conservationists began a program to trap, neuter, vaccinate, and release feral domestic cats to prevent interbreeding. While the Scottish Wildcat (Felis silvestris) resembles a tabby cat with tiger stripes in shades of gray (though, typically, slightly larger), it’s said to be untameable — the only native cat still roaming forests and grasslands anywhere in Britain.
“The wildcat has a long history in Scottish culture and mythology,” Senn says. Clan Sutherland is just one clan that designed its crest around the wildcat, honoring its legendary ferocity. The Duke of Sutherland is called “Morair Chat,” or “Great Man of the Cats,” and the clan’s motto is “Sans Peur,” or “Without Fear.” Such associations may explain why some sporrans — the pouches worn on Scottish kilts — were once made of wildcat fur.
The time of wildcat sporrans is over; the release program begins a new era. “We’re pleased with how the majority of released wildcats are faring in their new homes,” Senn says, noting that camera traps are showing cats with wild prey. “This is a great indication that they are doing well, as it shows that they are successfully hunting.”
At the same time, Senn says, “This is only the tip of the iceberg for wildcat conservation in Scotland. Many more years of targeted conservation action will be necessary to restore the wildcat.” Plans are already in the works for future releases totaling forty young cats, including thirteen recently born at the Saving Wildcats breeding center and scheduled to be released in 2024.
