Forget rewilding; start by conserving

Nature abhors a vacuum. So why should we even be considering rewilding (Can shooting and rewilding coexist?, 12 September)?

There is a reason why some apex predators have become extinct in this country; we should surely be concentrating on ensuring that our existing fauna survive and thrive before we try to reintroduce wolves or lynxes or whatever else is fashionable this week.

The Scottish wildcat is the UK’S largest surviving predator and only remaining true wildcat. Clever and resourceful, the cat survived 500 more years of human persecution than the lynx or the bear. There are thought to be only 35 pure Scottish wildcats left in Scotland; breeding with domestic cats has diluted the gene pool. Feral cats in the country outnumber the wild version by 3,000 to one.

In July, two Scottish wildcat kittens were found in the West Highlands (pictured). They were reported to conservation group Wildcat Haven, which found them “dehydrated and weak”. Having ascertained they had been abandoned — using remote cameras and bait to ensure that there was no mother looking for the kittens — they will be cared for until they can be released back into the wild.

Heartwarming as it might be, what is astonishing about this story is that those two kittens represent a boost of six per cent of the wildcats in existence.

Instead of reintroducing lynx — and Nature has found nothing to fill that particular vacuum — why don’t we concentrate on saving the beautiful, enigmatic and resilient Scottish wildcat?

J. S. Mcdougall, Inverness