Crowd-fund to help save Scottish wildcats
An innovative crowd-funding scheme is being proposed to help support the establishment of areas of land where the endanged Scottish wildcat can thrive.
For the last seven years, the Wildcat Haven project has neutered away feral cat populations to prevent Scottish wildcats from hybridising into the feral cat genepool.
Working alongside landowners and local communities they have delivered almost 500 square miles of "threat-free safe haven" in the north so far – which the organisation says is a desperately-needed lifeline for the estimated 35 Scottish wildcats left in the world.
As its fieldwork team prepare for another tough winter in the remote hills, expansion plans have been announced to accelerate the current work and develop a network of reserves across the west Highlands.
The reserves will be reforested and managed to remove invasive plant species, creating a natural Caledonian Forest ecosystem that wildcats can thrive within, and, while wildcat prey species and other natives will be encouraged, non-natives such as feral cats will be kept out.
To achieve it all, the project has borrowed a model from a long-term commercial sponsor, Highland Titles, which is a gift company that sells micro plots of land in its nature reserves with the hook that any landowner, however small, can style themselves as a laird or lady.
To raise funds, Wildcat Haven will be selling plots of land on the outlined reserves.
"It’s a bit of fun, being laird of an estate, even if the estate is only a square foot of land," explained Highland Titles chairman Peter Bevis.
"The important thing is that now all those square feet will add up to reserves and the resources to save the wildcat, driving fieldwork like feral cat neutering."
• Gift plots of land are available now from www.wildcathaven.com from £30
