Travel News - Edinburgh

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Check out the Highland Tiger from Edinburgh

Perhaps not what you might expect to see while staying in an Edinburgh hostel but, if you decide to head out on a day trip to some of the lovely countryside that surrounds the city, you might be lucky enough to come across the Scottish wildcat, an animal that wildlife tourism professionals in the area are trying to make people more aware of. Apparently, it's the only native feline that Scotland has, although I'm ashamed to say that I've never heard of it.

That said, I've just paid a quick visit to the Highland Tiger official website and I can officially report that the wildcat is beautiful and bears an uncanny resemblance to the domestic tabby. Now I definitely want to go and visit the Highlands to see if I can spot one or two, although this might be tricky as it's becoming extremely rare - more so than the Bengal tiger - with as few as 400 left in the wild.

Apparently, visitors to Scotland in 2009 have been going there primarily to do a bit of animal watching, with 61 per cent of members of Wild Scotland saying that they have had a better time of it this year than in 2008. I say that if lots of people are heading to an area, then there must be a good reason for it so, if I were you, I'd pack my troubles in my old kitbag right away and disappear off to bonny Scotland for a week, just to see what's got everyone so interested.

And you'll be doing some good, just by visiting the area. Wild Scotland's Caroline Warburton has said that by making people more aware of Scottish wildlife, an increasing number will want to be involved in the best ways of managing it.

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