Wildcats and clotted cream in Devon

摘要

AQUIZ show contestant asked what the county of Devon is famous for might well say 'clotted cream', but in 10 years' time their answer might well be 'wildcats and clottedcream'.This prediction follows ongoing breeding and conservation work by a Devon farmer with the ultimate aim of reintroducing the European wildcat (Felis sylvestris) to England, where it once roamed freely as a truly native and wild feline predator, until becoming extinct in the middle of the 19th century. Since then, its last toehold in the British Isles has been Scotland, where it is commonly called the 'Scottish wildcat'. Given this close association with Scotland, most people never realised the predator was once a common feature in the woodlands of England and Wales.