Evidence suggests that the present Scottish Wildcat is the descendant of continental European ancestors that were isolated in Britain after the last ice age. By 1800, their distribution was already restricted to northern England, Wales and Scotland. With the rise of large sporting estates, particularly in Scotland from the mid-nineteenth century, gamekeepers were charged with eliminating all carnivores. By 1915 the wildcat was restricted to the north-west of the Scottish Highlands. Their persecution declined during World War 1 when gamekeepers were at war, and wildcat numbers rapidly increased.
Today, the small number of wildcats that survived persecution are now heavily outnumbered by human introduced feral domestic cats. The two species are closely related and readily mate, causing the wildcat genes to slowly water down and disappear into the huge domestic gene pool.
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