They are among Scotland’s most iconic animals.
But there are estimated to be only between 100 and 300 wildcats in existence, which puts them in the critically endangered category.
Now a leading wildlife organisation has urged everybody with a pet cat and every farmer with a colony of mousers to have their animals neutered and vaccinated.
Duncan Mckenzie, of Scottish Wildcat Action, warned there is no margin for error in striving to stop the species from vanishing.
He said: “Helping save them from extinction is clearly a very challenging task.
“The main threats to the wildcat are hybridisation with domestic cats, disease from domestic cats and accidental persecution.
“As a result, we find ourselves working with a whole variety of stakeholders, including cat owners, farmers and gamekeepers.
“It is likely that most or maybe all of the remaining wildcats have some domestic cats in their ancestry, such is the extent of the hybridisation.
“So, one of our biggest challenges is to identify and neuter hybrid cats, while we preserve enough genetic diversity within the remaining wildcats for the population to be sustainable in the future.”
Mr Mckenzie insisted he was optimistic, but he admitted the work never stopped for SWA’s officials.
He said: “Our three project officers have already been working hard to gain land manager permission to camera-trap on their land within our priority areas – Strathpeffer, Strathbogie, Morvern, Angus Glens and Strathspey.
“It is quite possible the number of wildcats living in Scotland is so low they will not be able to survive on their own and, at some point, the wild population is going to need to be supplemented by cats from the Conservation Breeding Programme, run by RZSS (Royal Zoological Society for Scotland).
“We need to ‘turn off the tap’ if we are to protect the wildcat in the longer term, because hybridisation and disease are among the main threats.
“Essentially, a situation where everyone with a pet cat and every farmer with mousers has had their cats neutered and vaccinated would be one of the things we would most like to see happen.”
He encouraged anybody who thinks they might have seen a wildcat to record it via www.scottishwildcataction.org