The Scottish wildcat is considered the rarest mammal in Britain and possibly functionally extinct in the wild, with its welfare compromised by hybridisation with feral domestic cats, disease, and habitat loss in the Scottish Highlands.
Scottish wildcat welfare in the wild is severely compromised by the near-impossibility of surviving without hybridisation in a landscape saturated with feral and free-roaming domestic cats. Snaring causes injury and death despite the species full legal protection. Disease transmission from domestic cats, including FIV and FeLV, affects wild population health. Captive breeding welfare requires managing highly territorial animals in conditions that maintain wild behaviours needed for eventual reintroduction.