At Aigas Field Centre we are committed to conserving wildcats in Scotland. From our inception in 1976 we have been spreading awareness of the threats facing these creatures whilst championing their protection in the wild.

‘The Aigas Wildcat Conservation Breeding Programme’ was set up in 2011 and we are now breeding these animals in collaboration with over 40 other organisations, who share the ultimate goal of releasing wildcats back into large tracts of healthy Highland habitat. The organisations make up the UK Wildcat Conservation Breeding Programme.

Any kittens born at Aigas are extremely important for the future of the species in the UK. A female wildcat called Skye, born at Aigas in 2019, is now living at the Highland Wildlife Park’s breeding for release centre. She gave birth to 4 kittens there in 2024, and three of them met the criteria to be released in the wild the following year. Now they are free in the Cairngorms, and have likely have produced kittens of they own! 

To read more about the Aigas wildcats and our successful efforts to contribute to a secure future for the wildcats, please read the Hope for Wildcats blog, written by our former Staff Naturalist Flavio Winkler Ford. In 2026, our wildcat officer Maria Giulia Checchi released a series of posts called Wildcats Behind the Scenes which tell stories, observations and experiences through the eyes of the wildcats at Aigas. You can find them in our news section here.