For the first time in hundreds of years, wildcats could be released back into the wild in England.
In recent years, England has seen the introduction of both beavers and bison in an effort to help restore biodiversity and to enhance landscapes. Could it be the turn of wildcats next?
After being hunted to extinction, the European wildcat is now the UK’s rarest native mammal. They are larger than the domestic cat, which are bred from the wildcats of Africa. It has not been spotted in southern England since the 16th century, but now it looks possible that the animal will be found stalking the landscape once more.
After the Vincent Wildlife Trust found the brambly woodland of Devon and Cornwall, in south west England, the most suitable place for the feline predators to be released, the local Wildlife Trust has begun taking steps in earnest to see if they can reintroduce them.
Once widespread across the UK, the cats are found only in the remote reaches of Scotland. However, this small population is judged no longer viable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Peter Burgess, from the Devon Wildlife Trust, is partially responsible for the successful beaver trial on the River Otter, which boasts a thriving wild population of the once locally extinct rodents. He is now looking at how wildcats could be reintroduced by the Wildlife Trust in Devon.
“Preliminary feasibility studies have shown that there is really strong potential for them in the south-west of England,” he told The Guardian. “Now, we are bringing it to the next level, looking at any impact they would have on the ecosystem, and seeing if there is support in the local community.”
Burgess hopes it will be possible for them to be reintroduced. “They used to be really widespread across the whole of the UK and are now our rarest mammal on the verge of extinction.”
The wildcats would bring ecological benefits, according to Burgess, as “an important predator which has been removed from the landscape.”