It’s the largest natural predator left in the UK, but it’s no tame tabby: It’s Felis silvestris grampia, the Scottish suspecies of the European wild cat, Wildkatze, El Gato Montés, Le Chat Sauvage. Still hanging on in pockets of wilderness in northern and western Scotland, today’s Endangered All-Star, the Scottish Wild Cat is considered Vulnerable by the IUCN, subject to hybridization with feral domestic cats throughout much of its remaining range, persecuted by farmers, snared by trappers, run over by cars. Last year, when an elderly retired art teacher in the town of Alness was scratched, possibly by a hybridized Wild Cat, a new charity arose to defend the species: The Scottish Wildcat Association, which supports captive-breeding programs throughout the U.K. and, along with other conservation groups, is working to ban snares in Scotland, set for rabbits and foxes but lethal to Wild Cats, badgers, otters, and other native wildlife. Learn more about the campaign to ban snares and how to identify a truly Wild Cat.
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