Return of the Devon Tiger?
They have been driven to the verge of extinction in Britain.
But after nearly two centuries, wildcats may soon return to england.
So- called Devon Tigers could be released in the county by 2024. They are similar to a domestic tabby but are larger, stockier and with a bushy tail.
The wildcat is Britain’s only remaining native cat. Its last redoubt is in the Scottish highlands.
The Devon Wildlife Trust, which is behind the plan, has advertised for a Wildcat Officer, asking if applicants ‘would like to be at the forefront of a radical species recovery programme and play a pivotal role in reversing the fortunes of Britain’s rarest mammal’.
The Devon Wildcat Project is a partnership between Devon Wildlife Trust, Wildwood Trust, Derek Gow Consultancy and Forestry england. Pete Burgess, of the Devon Wildlife Trust, said an 18-month feasibility study is under way.
he added: ‘The success of the project will depend on whether communities want to share the landscape with the animals.
‘It’s only a couple of hundred years ago they were commonplace around england, that’s a blink of an eye in ecological terms’.
Derek Gow said the earliest likely reintroduction would be in 2024 or 2025.
Mr Gow added: ‘In this country we have killed everything. To re-establish an animal like this we have managed to scour from the face of this island, it will require hundreds if not thousands of reintroductions of wildcats throughout the landscape.’