Scottish Wildcats

That's not a tame puddy, or even a runaway; it's a Scottish wildcat, Felis sylvestris grampia. The local variant of the European wildcat is about 50 percent bigger than the average house cat, with males typically between 13 and 17 pounds (6-9 kg) and females 11-15 pounds (5-7 kg). Their favorite food is rabbits, which makes me wish we had some in my neighborhood.

There are only about 400 of these fierce little creatures left in the wild. The biggest threat to the wild species is actually hybridization with feral house cats; according to the Scottish Wildcat Association, there are 100,000 feral cats in Scotland. Even though most feral cats live in cities and suburbs, and wildcats in the highlands, there is still a great danger that the wild species will be swamped by domestic genes. Occasional sitings of wildcats near cities and in northern England are thought by the SWA to be hybrid animals, with the wild strain surviving only in remote areas of the highlands.

So the SWA is trying to create 7,000-square-mile wildcat haven in the highlands, a zone free of un-neutered house cats. This, plus captive breeding, may allow wildcats to survive in the new millennium.