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Become an RZSS member and receive a whole host of benefits while helping to care for animals around the world.
We currently have two wildcats at the zoo, Talisker and Rhu. Talisker, a male wildcat, was born in 2015 at our charity's Highland Wildlife Park, and arrived in Edinburgh in 2016. Rhu, a female wildcat, arrived from Highland Wildlife Park in 2022.
Sadly, Scotland’s wildcats are on the brink of extinction after hundreds of years of persecution and habitat loss, followed by breeding with domestic cats (known as hybridisation). Now critically endangered in Britain, there are barely a handful left and scientific research has confirmed the species will not survive without help.
The last hope for this iconic species is the Saving Wildcats partnership project which RZSS is leading in collaboration with NatureScot, Forestry and Land Scotland, Cairngorms National Park Authority, Nordens Ark and Junta de Andalucía.
Based at Highland Wildlife Park and building on the work of Scottish Wildcat Action (2015-2020), the project brings together national and international expertise to prevent the extinction of wildcats in Britain by breeding and releasing them into the wild.
Become an RZSS member and receive a whole host of benefits while helping to care for animals around the world.
Every month, we need thousands of pounds just to feed and care for the animals you love. If you can, please help your zoo survive long into the future by giving a donation today.