Neutered facts

Scottish Wildcat Action (SWA) is doing a brilliant job (your report, 1 March) with its campaign to prevent crossbreeding of the wildcat with domestic cats.

Your pull-out quote stating “Cross-breeding is the key threat to wildcats” is completely correct yet hardly portrays the vast scale of the challenge. Let’s just take a peep at the odds – there are around 7 million domestic cats and another 2m feral cats on mainland Britain, so we can estimate around 4 million unneutered cats of the domestic species. Wow, the odds don’t look too good for the few hundred wildcats left.

But here’s the good news – SWA has achieved the first (and the most difficult) step in protecting wildcats. They are successfully trapping, neutering and vaccinating the feral and stray cats in the wildcat hotspots.

The next step has to involve all the rest of us in Scotland.

The achievements of SWA will soon be lost unless we stop the flow of un-neutered domestic cats into the environment.

And let’s be clear, the prevailing lack of regulation over cat breeding also results in heartbreaking suffering for those feral and stray cats and their kittens that end up eking out an existence (or not) in nooks and crannies across our countryside and towns.

All it takes (as we can see from other countries) is the regulation of cat breeding through basic training, standards and licences. Don’t worry, it wouldn’t stop people having companion cats.

Scotland could have a blossoming regulated cat breeding sector, resulting in hugely improved cat welfare and peace of mind for the public, not to mention saving our magnificent Scottish Wildcat. What’s not to like about that?

Scotland would have a lot to be proud of. Parliamentarians – who’s up for saving the Scottish wildcat and hiking up the standards of moggy welfare, in one swoop? DR ELSPETH STIRLING

Kinnettles, Tayside