So the wild cat/domestic hybrid is a somewhat complicated affair that most people including the powers to be simply don't grasp.
I will try to show what happened giving my experiences in the north highland, eg Inverness north.
When I first came up north in 1981 the wild cat population was strong and the further north you got the stronger the population.
Now at the same time the population of rabbits was through the roof, so much so that it was NOT possible to drive past any field in Caithness and not see rabbits, rain or shine.
It was quite common for me to flick a lamp on a field and see rabbits going round in circles with broken spines, where adult wildcats were training kits, a very efficient training method.
I say wild cat, these were as pure as you can imagine, genetic test were done in the late 80s and they were still pure.
However these cats were all living in the wilder areas of the county well away from human disturbance.
When a new strain of myxomatosis struck in 1990 it removed about 80-90% of the rabbits and that had two effects, one the cats had to travel to find the rabbits and two it often took them closer to human habitation, simply looking for rats and the like.
The rabbits soon started to bounce back only to be clobbered by RVHD1 in the early 90s, this time it removed nearly all the rabbits and only left tiny pockets of a handful and it spread from Caithness to Sutherland onto easter Ross and so on down the country..
Again the wildcats found themselves facing starvation and at the same time house building on a large scale took of in Caithness and the rest of the North highland.
These houses were not necessary a boost to numbers of people, just a re distribution of them and the animals they kept.
As the houses were in rural areas people often got chickens and the like, these not only attracted rats and mice, but also ground predators.
These people often saw the rats and got mice in the house, being from towns etc, they were not used to this or farms and were used to it, both got cats to deal with the issue. The wild cats were often blamed for killing the birds and hammering the domestic Cats.
However the otters, martens etc were more to blame for the latter.
However the wild cat got the blame and was dealt with by uneducated fools , I found 3 legged cats from gin traps and snares, gun wounded cats and even more common poison was used, it killed all sorts on mammals.
The wild cats spread from 4/5 major strongholds in the county to the whole county, and when females were in season, males were often absent, but domestic toms were common.
So we ended up with a lot less wildcats from starvation, killing by people and those that were left were diluted by domestic blood.
I still see them[pure] but rarely. The last one I put down[legaly] was rested and was as near as it could be to pure.
But even hybrids are few and far between as there simply is no food for them.
I sit and look at my photos and remember them fondly and reminisce about supplying them for Sporrans etc, I have no regrets because I had little impact on them. The person who brought VHD to Caithness is the one to blame, he proudly boasted about moving myxy rabbits from Newcastle to Caithness and then vials of RvHD and RVhd 2 into Caithness.
He was reported but no proof of the deed so its hearsay.
Would I shoot a wild cat, no because the circumstances are wrong, but in the right circumstances if legal, yes I would.
