Orphan kittens in Wildcat Haven feature in National Geographic
Two orphaned Scottish wildcat kittens rescued by conservation group Wildcat Haven in July have starred in a photoshoot for National Geographic’s Photo Ark project, by world-renowned wildlife photographer Joel Sartore.
The kittens, which are closely monitored with remote motion-sensor cameras, have delighted half a million people with their antics.
The latest video shows them tucking into their first rabbit from inside the enclosure which includes multiple den sites, natural woodland, a small stream, dead wood piles, open meadow patches and some commercial forestry.
The story was reported worldwide and caught the attention of the renowned American wildlife photographer Joel Sartore, who has spent the last 12 years documenting some of the world’s most endangered wildlife for his Photo Ark project with National Geographic. Sartore explains: ‘I first heard about Scottish wildcats 20 years ago running some photography workshops in Scotland, and even then everyone said they were impossible to shoot. Now there’s only about 35 left so Wildcat Haven have two of the rarest felines in the world in their care and they will soon release them back to the wild.
‘It was an incredible opportunity to come in and see this cat up close and tell the world about it.
‘The facilities here at the Highland Titles Nature Reserve are first rate, those little kittens have more than an acre to roam around in and that’s going to prepare them well for returning to the wild.’
The Photo Ark project has a unique stylistic approach, capturing studio-quality portraits of wildlife rather than traditional inthe-wild natural history images. For their shoot the kittens spent a few minutes in a small tent erected inside their enclosure, with a hole cut in it for the camera lens to reach through, and studio lighting arranged outside of the tent.
Sartore comments: ‘The Photo Ark at its heart is an effort to educate people and to get them to care about the extinction crisis. We could lose half of all species on this planet by 2100, and it’s folly to think we can doom half of everything else to extinction and not have it affect humanity; it’s going to affect us profoundly.’
The kittens have continued to settle in comfortably at the rehabilitation and rescue centre and footage of them includes them chasing and playing with each other, even in their water bowl – watch the latest video at www.youtube.com/ watch?v=V9nZrfyUj5M.
Their next step, when fully mature, will be a return to complete freedom back in the wild where they belong.