A zoo in England is to launch the country’s first breeding programme for Scottish wildcats, amid fears the iconic animals could be driven to extinction.

Port Lympne Wild Animal Park in Kent is to recreate the wildcats’ natural habitat in an enclosure designed to encourage the animals to hunt and breed as they would in the wild.

The cats, which will not be on display to the public, will be fed through hatches and trap doors to encourage them to forage for food. Human interaction will be kept to a minimum, making it easier for them to be returned to the wild later.

The enclosure, which will feature a copse of trees and a running stream, will initially house a pair of wildcats and any offspring. As the animals multiply, separate enclosures would be built to accommodate up to five breeding pairs.

Scotland is the last mainland stronghold of the wildcat, which had disappeared from England and Wales by 1862. The animals have died out as a result of breeding with feral domestic cats, disease and the vanishing of their natural habitat. It is estimated that there may be fewer than 400 left in the wild. Neville Buck, who is leading the project, said: “This is a way of helping us safeguard the future of the species.”

The Port Lympne project, which will be funded by donations, is the brainchild of the Aspinall Foundation, which runs the park and has successfully reintroduced lowland gorillas to the Congo. The group intends to take on one endangered species a year, starting with the wildcat.

Several other wildlife parks have expressed an interest in the programme which, if successful, could be extended across the UK.

Although conservationists have welcomed the project, they have criticised the refusal of Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) to fund a captive breeding programme north of the border.

Steve Piper, of the Scottish Wildcat Association, which helped organise the new breeding scheme, said: “Scottish National Heritage’s inaction leaves a big question about what’s going on in rural Scotland.”

SNH policy is to encourage conservation of animals in their natural environments. It spent £60,000 recently on appointing a wildcat officer for the Cairngorms national park who will work with landowners to maintain cat populations there.

Professor Colin Galbraith, director of policy and advice at SNH, said: “No conservation problem in the UK or Europe can be solved by using one solution. You have to look at the habitat, the animal and the people that are responsible for managing or impacting on that population.”

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