Cash shortage could halt project to save wildcats from extinction
A PROJECT to save the critically endangered Scottish wildcat could be halted due to a funding shortfall caused by the coronavirus pandemic, it was revealed yesterday.
Ironically, the announcement by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) came on the same day the conservation charity celebrated the birth of two wildcat kittens at Edinburgh Zoo.
The RZSS leads a partnership project, Saving Wildcats, to secure a future for the famous species by breeding and releasing the animals into the wild.
Proposals for a breeding facility at the RZSS’S Highland Wildlife Park near Aviemore, Inverness-shire, were given planning consent in September.
David Field, chief executive of
RZSS, said work had begun at the site to offer a last chance for the species after a report concluded there was no longer a viable population in the wild.
But he warned progress could be delayed or even “stopped in the worst case scenario” due to a funding shortage.
The RZSS had to borrow £5 million to keep its two sites operating during lockdown due to the loss of visitor income.
Although the Saving Wildcats project is supported by millions of pounds of funding, including a £3.2m grant from the European Union, the current funding gap faced by the RZSS is understood to be about £500,000.
Mr Field said: “We have always said we would begin the Saving Wildcats project despite the financial challenges we are facing and have now started to build the breeding centre at Highland Wildlife Park.
“This is encouraging, and we are determined to do all we can with our partners to help save wildcats in Scotland from extinction.
“However, we do have a funding gap due to Covid-19, which could mean this vital conservation work will have to be deferred or even stopped in the worst-case scenario.
“We have not been able to access the emergency fund for zoos, but we are in talks with the Scottish Government about possible support.”
The Scottish wildcat is the only wild member of the cat family to survive in Britain. The same subspecies of wildcat found in continental Europe, it has been separate since the end of the last ice age, about 9,000 years ago.
Recent research found there is no longer a viable wildcat population living in Scotland, leaving them on the brink of extinction.
Hybridisation with feral and domestic cats is thought to pose the greatest threat to the species in Scotland.
Other threats include historical and
accidental persecution, disease and collisions with vehicles on roads.
The Saving Wildcats partnership is being led by the RZSS in collaboration with Naturescot, Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS), the Cairngorms National Park Authority and international partners Norden’s Ark in Sweden and Spain’s Junta de Andalucia, which have led the successful recovery of the Iberian lynx.
The £5.5m project is being funded with a £3.2m grant from the Life Programme of the European Union and support from the Garfield Weston Foundation, the National Trust for Scotland, the People’s
Trust For Endangered Species and
the European Nature Trust. The project aims to deliver the first UK reintroduction scheme for wildcats.
The plans include the development of a dedicated wildcat reintroduction centre, based in a remote part of the Highland Wildlife Park. Once built, the new facility would provide the “perfect environment” for breeding genetically tested wildcats with the aim of restoring a sustainable population.
It was hoped up to 60 wildcats from the centre would be released into sites in the Cairngorms National Park over three years from 2022.
However, experts have previously warned the lifeline scheme could be delayed by an entire year if
construction of the breeding centre is not completed by around Christmas.
Meanwhile, RZSS yesterday also announced that two critically endangered wildcat kittens were born at Edinburgh Zoo in September.
Staff have asked the public to help name the male and female kittens, born to the attraction’s breeding pair Caol Ila and dad Talisker.
Alison Maclean, carnivore team leader at Edinburgh Zoo, said: “We are thrilled to have welcomed the birth of two wildcat kittens to mum Caol Ila and dad Talisker.
“The youngsters are doing well and we will be asking for the public’s help to name them in the coming weeks.”
We do have a funding gap, which could mean this vital conservation work will have to be deferred or even stopped