Evidence based ex situ strategy for breeding and release management to support European wildcat Felis silvestris recovery in Scotland

Abstract

Following a 2019 International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) status review, the wild population of the European wildcat Felis silvestris in Scotland was considered to be non-viable and in need of reinforcement if its extinction was to be prevented. In 2020 ‘Saving Wildcats’ was established as a European partnership project led by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland and supported by European Union LIFE funding. Saving Wildcats was developed as the first UK project to breed wildcats for release. In 2023, the first releases of captive-born wildcats in Great Britain were carried out and 10 months later post-release survival is estimated at 95% (18/19), with wild reproduction recorded in 2024. A critical tool for this project has been the development of a dedicated “Conservation Breeding for Release Centre”, which between 2022-2025, produced 56 offspring, with 51 surviving to a minimum of 6 months old (91%) and 48 individuals surviving to the point of release (1-2 years old; 94%). Here, we present a detailed overview of the ex situ management strategy, focusing on population management, animal husbandry, and remote behaviour monitoring and analysis. We provide summary data on the reproductive and behavioural profiles of the first two years of releases (2023 and 2024, n=32), documenting for the first time individual variation in pre-release behaviour of wildcats through behavioural assessments. These data can now serve as a benchmark for future recovery programmes committed to reintroducing threatened carnivores and help generate long-term understanding of ex situ pre-release behavioural and management factors contributing to individual post-release survival in the wild.