Conservationists launch wildcat monitoring project along Czech-Slovak border

Czech wildlife conservationists have launched a two-year project to monitor wildcats in the shared border region with Slovakia. The aim is to determine the health of protected and endangered species, including in terms of genetic diversity.

The Olomouc chapter of the Czech group Hnutí Duha (Friends of the Earth) is leading the project, in cooperation with the Czech Institute of Vertebrate Biology and the Slovak National Zoo, where a rehabilitation station will be established.

Crossbreeding with domestic cats and the loss of natural habitats pose the main threats to the survival of wildcats that otherwise thrive in forests undisturbed by human activity.