‘Kitten camp’ survival class for wildcats

IT’s the kind of playful frolicking you might expect from a household cat.

However, it has emerged scottish wildcats are being taught to hunt toys at ‘kitten training camp’ ahead of a programme to reintroduce them to the wild.

Conservationists are pinpointing the best areas to release the ‘Highland tiger’, which was once widespread in forests across the UK.

However, due to hunting and habitat loss wildcats have been left in only a few areas of the Highlands. Their numbers are now dwindling towards extinction.

The first release is being planned in the Cairngorms in 2023, with the kittens being bred and trained to hunt rabbits in a special facility by scientists from the Royal Zoological society of scotland (RZss).

Wales will be next, with plans to set wildcats free in the next seven years. In England a date has not yet been set.

Helen senn, head of conservation at the RZss, said: ‘What we are trying to do is to mimic the natural conditions that these cats would encounter in the wild as much as possible, to give them the best chance once they are released.’

she explained that the wildcats are taught to ‘chase and play across the enclosure’ and ‘mimic hunting’.

Once released, they will be fitted and monitored with GPs collars.