WILD CAT Felis silvestris
STATUS: Extinct

Native but long extinct. According to Pilkington (1789) ‘wild cats are sometimes seen in woods in the wild state’ implying they were still present towards the end of the 18th century, but there is no subsequent information. Wild Cats probably disappeared from the county some time in the early 19th century. Two reported sightings in the Derwent Valley in the 1970s must have been misidentifications or releases (Branson 1996). Feral domestic cats are occasionally reported but no established populations are known.