The SGA has added its support to the Cairngorms Wildcat Project which was launched by Environment Minister Roseanna Cunningham at the Highland Wildlife Park near Kincraig earlier this month.
The SGA joins the Cairngorms Park Authority, Forestry Commission Scotland, the Royal Zoological Society Scotland and Scottish Natural Heritage in the project which aims to give the native wildcat greater protection. Estimates suggest only around 400 pure bred cats are lefts, with their survival threatened by cross-breeding with domestic cats. The project involves raising awareness, neutering feral domestic cats and "wildcat-friendly" predator control.
Wildcats were once widespread throughout the UK, but by the 19th Century were thought to be extinct. The Cairngorms National Park is seen as a stronghold for their species. Steve Piper of the Scottish Wildcat Association (SWA) believes previous government agency attempts to survey and protect the wildcat were "half-hearted".
He said the animal was a unique predator that had been resident in Britain for at least two million years, sharing space with everything from woolly mammoths to cave lions and surviving entire ice ages. But he said more recently it had "fallen foul" of persecution, urban development and increasingly, hybridisation with domestic feral cats. He appealed to farmers and owners of shooting estates to help protect the species.
Meanwhile Roseanna Cunningham described the wildcat as one of Scotland's most charismatic species. She said the animals, known as the 'tigers of the highlands' were an important element of the highland habitat and it was important their numbers were stabilised and increased. Ms Cunningham added "they are beautiful animals".
"We are not the only country with a small species of wildcat, but they are ours and it would be a tragedy if Scotland's tiger becomes extinct. We get terribly upset about the extinction of Siberian Tigers; let's get upset about the possible extinction of the Scottish wildcat."
Dr David Hetherington, the first wildcat officer, will lead the project. He said the aim was to raise awareness of the plight of the animal while getting the public, gamekeepers, ecologists, vets and cat welfare groups to team up to save the species. One of the biggest threats to wildcats is mating with domestic and feral cats, creating fertile, hybrid offspring. Wildcats are rare but at least 100,000 feral cats live in the Highlands, it is thought.
Any domestic species of cat can breed with Scottish wildcats and produce hybrids. Dr. Hetherington said pet owners could help by having their cats neutered to stop tem breeding with wildcats, whil reducing the number of feral cats. Vaccination can also help to prevent the spread of disease to wildcats.
In February last year, the Scottis Government launched the first full survey for 20 years on the number and health of the wildcat, the results of which are due later this month. The previous full survey found the species was restricted to an area north of the Central Belt.