Main Menu

Wildlife
- Close
- - We protect wildlife in Britain and around the world by bringing our most threatened species back from the brink of extinction. We do this through ground-breaking research, practical conservation and education, all with the help of our supporters.
Wild places
- Close
- - Some habitats contain such a richness of life that we need to protect them at all odds. We are working to preserve ancient woodlands, orchards and wood pastures and parklands, as well as the countless species they support.
What we do
- Close
- - Everything we do is based on scientific evidence. We gather this through surveys, which you can take part in, and by awarding research grants to the most inspiring scientists worldwide. This evidence guides our conservation efforts and is shared through our events and publications.
Who we are
- Close
- - People’s Trust for Endangered Species was set up in 1977 to save our wildlife. We are governed by a board of volunteer trustees and our team of staff are passionate about protecting endangered species and places.
Success stories
- Close
- - We strive to bring our most threatened species in the UK and around the world back from the brink of extinction. Our successes come from ground-breaking research, practical conservation and education, all with the help of our supporters.
Get involved
- Close
- - There are so many ways you can help save endangered species. Fancy taking part in a survey, joining us on a wildlife event or becoming a regular supporter?
Shop
- Close
- - Support our work in our shop with a range of charity gifts, home-ware, cards and more. 100% of the profits go directly to help wildlife both in the UK an overseas.
Donate
- Close
- - There is nothing natural about the alarming rate at which we are losing animals and their homes. It is absolutely avoidable. We can stop the loss of our wildlife – but we need your support. You can act now by choosing to give to our cause. Thank you.

Basket Search

Donate

Wildcat appeal

I'll help save wildcats

Wildcat appeal

I'll help save wildcats

Clinging on by a claw

Wildcats are impressive and fierce native predators. They’re genetically distinct from domestic cats; generally larger, with longer legs, bigger heads, thicker tails, denser fur, and powerful bodies. They play an important predatory role in the food chain, with territories as big as 40 square kilometres, and used to live across Britain. But they’ve lost so much habitat, and were persecuted so heavily for centuries that, by the First World War, they were only found in northwest Scotland. Once persecution eased, their numbers began to recover but the surviving population was threatened by roads, disease, and hybridisation. There are now less than a hundred left in the wild.

We’re funding Saving Wildcats – pledging £100,000 over six years to breed and release wildcats. Our partnership has already made some incredible achievements.

2018: we funded preliminary research needed to kick start the project.

2019: our six-year partnership with the Saving Wildcats breeding for release programme began.

2021: 16 wildcats bred in zoos and wildlife centres arrived in Scotland and were paired up in special enclosures for the first breeding season.

2023: 19 of the 22 wildcats born in 2022 were prepared for the wild and, in June, released into the Cairngorms National Park. 16 more kittens were born at the centre in 2023.

2024: Nine wildcats were released and a further 16 kittens born at the centre. Nine litters were recorded in the wild.

2025: the fourth breeding season is here. The 16 wildcats born last year are being prepared for their release.

The wildcats which have been released are adapting to life in the Cairngorms and being tracked by the team via GPS-radio collars and camera traps. Most have stayed local to their release site in grassland and woodlands with plentiful shelter, food and water. The kittens born in the wild haven’t been fitted with collars yet as they’re still growing, so the team is relying on public sightings and camera trap images.

Back at the shelter, wildcats Torr and Embo, Morag and Fergus, Skye and Mallachie, and Margaret and Oscar have been paired up. We hope to see kittens later in the season. The newborns will be kept well away from the public and, when old enough, they’ll move into large pre-release enclosures full of foliage and dens. They’ll be health checked, vaccinated and acclimatised so their transfer from mum to new home goes smoothly. Once in the enclosures, they have very little interaction with humans, so they retain their wild behaviours that’ll help them thrive in the wild.

Your donation could help look after this year’s kittens until they’re released into the wilds of the Cairngorms.

£15 could help track a wildcat in the Cairngorms National Park.

£25 could help look after a kitten until they’re released into the wild.

£50 could help release more wildcats later this year.

Thank you.

Donate

Header image credit Mark Bridger | shutterstock.com. Central images credit RZSS and Saving Wildcats.