Numbering As Few As 35, Pure Scottish Wildcats Face Extinction Through Hybridization

Scottish wildcats, perhaps the United Kingdom's last remaining large wild predator, could be extinct within two years, warns a scientist  who conducted a genetic test of the wildcat.

Paul O'Donoghue, a biologist at the University of Chester, told the BBC that because the Scottish wildcat is cross-breeding with feral and hybrid cats, the extinction of the species is imminent unless urgent conservation action takes place.

O'Donoghue developed a genetic analysis that can scan all 63,000 genes that make up the individual cat and then compare the genes with the material in a genetically pure Scottish wildcat. The research concluded that the Scottish wildcat is facing extinction due to cross-breeding with other species.  

"Our research shows that the plight of the wildcat is now so serious that unless urgent and targeted conservation activities take place, its extinction due to hybridization is a certainty," O'Donoghue told the BBC.

"Recent estimates suggest that fewer than 100 remain, making it one of the rarest animals in the world. Unless decisive action is taken, the wildcat could be declared extinct with the next 12 to 24 months."

The Scottish wildcat has a storied history in Great Britain, having survived being eradicated by humans for 500 years longer than the British wolf and more than 1,000 years than the British lynx or bear, according to the Scottish Wildcat Association (SWA).

Weighing up to 17 pounds, the Scottish wildcat resembles a very muscular domestic tabby, the SWA states. Its tale is banded brown and black and its coat is made up of well-defined brown and black stripes and usually has a ruffled appearance.

"Unique to Britain, and now only found in Scotland, they are a sub species of the European wildcat (felis silvestris silvestris) and although similar to the European the Scottish is slightly larger with a thicker coat, more heavily camouflaged and hunts and lives across a wider range of habitats; it is also infamously known as the only wild animal that can never be tamed by human hand, even when captive reared," the SWA writes on its website.

An SWA analysis suggests there could be as few as 35 pure blooded Scottish wildcats still in existence, while estimates by other groups are less conservative.