Friday, April 11, 2014

Scottish wildcat trapped in 1942

A consequence of trapping is that you can seldom be sure what you will catch. The Scottish Wildcat is now 'critically endangered, and the latest surveys suggest less than 100 individuals survive in the wild. Numbers originally decreased due to deforestation and human persecution, but today the primary threat is cross-mating with feral domestic cats'.

From the Aberdeen Journal - Friday 24 April 1942, via British Newspaper Archive:

Wild Cat Trapped

A genuine specimen of the native wild cat was found trapped by Mr Low, trapper on Fasque moors last week. As far as known, writes correspondent, it is over eighty years since the last wild cat found in Kincardineshire was shot in Glen Dye.