Two captive-bred wildcats die after their release

Two Scottish wildcats raised in captivity before being released into the Cairngorms National Park have died.

Saving Wildcats project said one of the females, called Midge, was knocked down on a road.

It said the second, named Oats, died of starvation four weeks after her release.

The cats could be tracked by their GPS radio collars and were found by park rangers.

Saving Wildcats, whose partners include Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS), NatureScot and the park authority, said Oats was in an area unlikely to have enough prey for her to feed on.

Supplementary food had been left in the area where she had been released, but she had not returned there.

Almost 30 wildcats have been released in the Cairngorms since last year as part of an effort to prevent the animals from vanishing from Scotland.

In the wild the species is extinct or on the brink of extinction, according to research.

Saving Wildcats said this year's release had been challenging due to bad summer weather.

But it said Midge's stomach was found to be full of voles and mice, suggesting she had been doing well before she was killed.

The project's Dr Helen Senn said life in the wild for animals was "incredibly challenging".

She said: "Immediately after release they are particularly vulnerable as they learn to adapt to their new life in the wild, to locate themselves in their environment, to learn about threats, and to become efficient hunters.

"Nobody is more saddened by the loss of these animals than the people working with them, because a lot of care is put into providing each released animal with the best chance possible."