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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Sean Murphy

Scottish wildcat settles into new home at Highland breeding for release centre

The newest furry resident has just arrived at the Saving Wildcats conservation breeding for release centre in the Highlands.

A clip shared by the charity shows little Scottish wildcat Ordie settling into his new home after moving just a short distance from the Highland Wildlife Park, near Kingussie, where the release centre is also based.

The pioneering project is hoping to restore the critically endangered species in Scotland, which is under threat from the destruction of its natural habitat and interbreeding with domestic pets.

The elusive cats, dubbed the Tiger of the Highlands, are incredibly rare with there now thought to be less than 35 left in the wild, at small remote sites in the Highlands.

Posting on social media, the Saving Wildcats team posted: "Our newest resident Ordie hasn't travelled far to his new home in our conservation breeding for release centre!

"Already living in the Highland Wildlife Park, Ordie settled in quickly to his new enclosure and was immediately interested in investigating his new surroundings."

Ordie joins other wildcats like female Nell, who was the first to be introduced to the centre in March last year.

The centre provides breeding space, veterinary care, remote monitoring and training to prepare cats for life in the wild.

The project is led by RZSS in collaboration with NatureScot, Forestry and Land Scotland, the Cairngorms National Park Authority, Norden’s Ark and Junta de Andalucía.

The aim is to create a healthy, genetically diverse population with which they can breed from.

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