Social and ecological feasibility of a European wildcat Felis silvestris reintroduction

Abstract

The restoration of species is increasingly seen as important for conservation though it is often contentious. To be delivered successfully, species reintroductions require in-depth knowledge and effective planning and assessment of their social, ecological and practical feasibility. In this thesis, I conduct social and ecological research towards assessing the feasibility of reintroducing the European wildcat (Felis silvestris). Wildcats have been regionally extinct from England and Wales for over 150 years, and their reintroduction provides a compelling case study with which to explore and address key gaps in knowledge. I achieve this by taking a multi-disciplinary approach towards key issues including best-practice in social feasibility, stakeholder acceptance, site suitability, domestic cat interactions/hybridisation, and long-term population viability. Together this thesis provides an evidence base from which to inform and develop the next stages of reintroduction planning for the wildcat, as well as providing insight and direction to practitioners interested in reintroduction and conservation more broadly. I begin by conducting the first global review of translocation literature to assess if, how and when assessments of social feasibility are conducted and use this to propose best practices in their implementation. I find that fewer than half of translocations conducted between 1922 and 2019 assessed social feasibility, and those that did tended to conduct narrow assessments focused on quantitative accounts of community attitudes. I argue that more comprehensive social feasibility assessments conducted early in planning could help address conflicts and improve outcomes, but that barriers, including insufficient expertise and prioritisation of ecological over social factors, persist. Successful projects are shown to make long-term commitments between implementing organisations, affected communities, and partners across sectors, improving resilience and outcomes. This work informs approaches to translocation planning as well as the use of the IUCN reintroduction guidelines. I then conduct two in-depth analyses, using semi-structured interviews, of two key stakeholder groups in the reintroduction of wildcats; farmers and cat owners. For both stakeholder groups, knowledge and awareness of wildcats as a native species is shown to be low, resulting in perceived costs and benefits being exacerbated and often not grounded in evidence. More broadly, the sampled farmers emphasise a distrust toward conservation, driven in part by a perceived anti-farmer narrative pursued by a few individuals in the media. Moreover, conservation is viewed as removed from the landscapes and communities it seeks to engage, with interviewees highlighting the value of face-to-face interactions and having an accessible presence as important to developing relationships. Among cat owners, I find a lack of consensus over who is, or should be, responsible for unowned cats. I propose the need for collaboration among a broad group of stakeholders to develop management strategies for unowned cats in the context of wildcat restoration and suggest a focus on cat welfare in communicating this. These interviews provide important insight into wildcat restoration but also key topics in conservation, namely, the perspectives of farmers on conservation practices and consequently the impact of this on conservation delivery, and the management of unowned cats. The findings of these two chapters can be used to inform approaches and topics for further engagement. The final chapters deal with ecological aspects but are still grounded heavily in social dimensions. First, I use corridor modelling and circuit theory to analyse connectivity between woodland patches to identify suitable release areas and candidate release sites across Wales and South West England. I conduct an Analytical-Hierarchy Process to assess and rank potential release sites based on key social, ecological and practical criteria. I determine West Wales to offer the greatest potential to support a wildcat reintroduction, due to having the largest connected landscape and multiple suitable release sites. Moreover, potential threats from roads, domestic cats and conflict with rural land use are fewer when compared to South West England and North Wales. This work is instructive for practitioners interested in a wildcat reintroduction; however, I emphasise the need for additional ground-truthing. The mixed method approach used can serve as a useful methodology for any reintroduction programme to consider. Next, I conduct single and multi-species occupancy models and temporal analysis to explore how habitat and competitive interactions influence the spatial ecology of domestic cats across three contrasting landscapes. I find that co-occurrence between cats and wild mesocarnivores is modified by habitat, but the influence of covariates differs between sites and species pairs. I observe significant spatiotemporal overlap between domestic cats and hybrid cats in Scotland, while increased densities of sheep, poultry and gamebird holdings are found to reduce co-occurrence between domestic cats, hybrids and wildcats. Results suggest changes in wild mesocarnivore occupancy and habitat conditions are likely to influence the spatial behaviours of domestic cats and consequently interactions between domestic cats and wildcats. Finally, I conclude by discussing the contribution of this work to wider research and knowledge. This research delivers an integrated foundation to determine wildcat reintroduction feasibility through combined ecological and social assessments. It emphasises interdependencies between human and species persistence. Outcomes present a template for evidence-based decision-making enabling controversial species restoration initiatives.