Dear All
As you will know, we recently highlighted the fact that the Forestry Commission Scotland was allowing the hunting of foxes with dog packs in publicly owned forests. Some of this activity had taken place in areas that potentially contain wildcats. The hunting of foxes with dog packs is abhorrent to us for obvious reasons. However the disturbance impact on wildcats could be catastrophic, particularly during the breeding season. Many of you kindly wrote to the the First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, expressing your concerns. We now have the government response to one of those letters. You can see it in the news section at
The government tries to justify the activity because the foxes are driven towards people with guns, which incredibly is still legal in Scotland. What happens to any wildcat driven towards someone with a gun?
It’s terrifying that the apparent custodians of Scottish wildlife, including the wildcat, are allowing this to happen. Suffice it to say we are not satisfied in any way by their justification. Keep watching for further calls to action on this issue.
Thanks as always
The Wildcat Haven Team