Hi All
We are so excited to show this wonderful find. It is a huge wildcat found in Aberdeenshire. Beautiful body stripes, blunt ringed tail and just look at the bulk and body length of this cat. This cat was not found by our team, but instead was caught on camera by a local family, Dave Smith and his daughter, Erin Smith. They both have a very keen interest in the wildcat and have been camera trapping on their local patch. We of course won't reveal where this is for obvious reasons. Dave tells us that he positions the camera and his daughter Erin, lays the mackerel fillet bait, so it's a real team effort. What an incredible result? Dave and Erin now have more cameras and are going to try and get a glimpse of any other wildcats in the area. Hugely important work. 

This why we have so much hope that we can save the wildcat in the wild where it belongs, because we can work closely with local people like Dave and Erin and build up a picture of wildcat distribution. We can only protect them when we know where they, so this is an incredibly important find in a new area for us. 

Remember, according to the Scottish Government, the best way forward would be to capture and cage this cat, rather than protect it in the wild. They are currently spending 5 million pounds on a captive breeding programme and the really sad thing is, that the captive population by their own admission, is heavily hybridised. They have nothing in their programmes that looks anything like as impressive as the cat here. Finds like this prove that the Scottish wildcat is still out there in the wild and we will continue our work with the help of people like Dave and Erin, to make sure that they remain so. 

You can watch the video here:

www.wildcathaven.com/news/huge-wildcat-found-in-aberdeenshire

Thanks as always.

The Wildcat Haven Team and Finlay