Critically endangered kittens caught on camera for the first time

By Lauren Beavis

Critically endangered wildcat kittens have been caught on camera for the first time.

The four Scottish wildcat kittens have been born at the Saving Wildcats conservation breeding for release center, at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland’s (RZSS) Highland Wildlife Park.

Cameras installed inside the center have recorded female wildcats caring for their young in secluded den boxes for the first time.

The RZSS team hopes this unique footage will give animal keepers a new window into how wildcat mothers raise their kittens during the crucial first weeks of their lives.

Estelle Morgan, Saving Wildcats animal team leader, said: “With the population of wildcats in Scotland critically endangered, each birth has the potential to make a significant impact on restoring their numbers in the wild, and should be celebrated.

“It's a major advancement that, for the first time in the center, we can capture previously unseen behavior on camera, giving us greater insight into how mothers interact with their young during these first important weeks.”

The kittens, born to eight-year-old Morag and seven-year-old Margaret (both females), are being raised in a special off-show area of the park, near Kincraig.

The center is closed to the public to give the young wildcats the best chance of survival.

Wildcat kittens typically stay with their mothers for around six months, learning vital survival and social skills before heading out to live independently.

The new arrivals could be among the animals eligible for release into carefully selected sites in Scotland from 2026, as part of the Saving Wildcats partnership project.

Saving Wildcats is a partnership project led by RZSS in collaboration with NatureScot, Forestry and Land Scotland, Cairngorms National Park Authority, Nordens Ark and Junta de Andalucía.

Releases are being conducted with the support of Cairngorms Connect and Trap-Neuter-Vaccinate-Return work to mitigate hybridisation (interbreeding) is conducted together with Cats Protection.

Together, the team is working to prevent the extinction of Scotland’s wildcats by breeding and releasing them into the wild, while tackling threats such as hybridisation with domestic cats.