The orphaned Scottish wildcat kittens rescued by conservation group Wildcat Haven in July have starred in a photoshoot for National Geographic’s Photo Ark project, by world-renowned wildlife photographer Joel Sartore.
Over the last month half a million people have watched two tiny Scottish wildcat kittens tucking into their first rabbit, after a last minute rescue by conservation group Wildcat Haven. Alerted by a member of the public, the organisation confirmed that the kittens’ mother was no longer around and moved quickly to ensure their safety.
The kittens quickly settled in at a purpose-built rescue facility in the West Highlands set up by conservation organisation Highland Titles. It offers over an acre of natural habitat to explore where they can be raised with minimal human contact so that they can be returned to the wild as soon as they are old enough to fend for themselves.
The story was reported worldwide and caught the attention of the renowned American wildlife photographer Joel Sartore, who has spent the last 12 years documenting some of the world’s most endangered wildlife for his Photo Ark project with National Geographic.
Sartore explains; “I first heard about Scottish wildcats 20 years ago running some photography workshops in Scotland, and even then everyone said they were impossible to shoot. Now there’s only about 35 left so Wildcat Haven have two of the rarest felines in the world in their care and they will soon release back to the wild.
“It was an incredible opportunity to come in and see this cat up close and tell the world about it. The facilities here at the Highland Titles Nature Reserve are first rate, those little kittens have over an acre to roam around in and that’s going to prepare them well for returning to the wild.”
The Photo Ark project has a unique stylistic approach capturing studio-quality portraits of wildlife rather than traditional in-the-wild natural history images. For their shoot the kittens spent a few minutes in a small tent erected inside their enclosure, with a hole cut in it for the camera lens to reach through, and studio lighting arranged outside of the tent.
Sartore comments; “The Photo Ark at its heart is an effort to educate people, and to get them to care about the extinction crisis. We could lose half of all species on this planet by 2100, and it’s folly to think we can doom half of everything else to extinction and not have it affect humanity; it’s going to affect us profoundly.”
The images captured by Sartore are now part of the Photo Ark and were featured today on Sartore’s and National Geographic’s Instagram accounts to an audience of over 90 million people. This tops off a 12 month period where Scottish wildcats have enjoyed two viral videos, a Bing homepage and a 340,000 signature petition for their protection (www.change.org/SaveTheWildcats). The world is finally discovering the Scottish wildcat, as it teeters on the edge of extinction.
The kittens have continued to settle in comfortably at the rehabilitation and rescue centre, and are closely monitored with remote motion-sensor cameras which have captured footage of them chasing and playing with each other, even in their water bowl (latest video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9nZrfyUj5M).
The enclosure includes over an acre of multiple den sites, natural woodland, a small stream, dead wood piles, open meadow patches and some commercial forestry; a range of the habitat types they will come across regularly in the wild. Within just a few days they had been captured on cameras placed throughout the enclosure exploring every inch of their temporary home.
Their next step, when fully mature, will be a return to complete freedom back in the wild where they belong.
