By Steve Piper
After all the excitement of our launch it's been a pretty quiet couple of weeks of administrative matters here at the SWA, there’s such an incredible range of ways people can donate to charities now and all of them need forms and faxes and everything else doing to them!

Cheques are clearing through banks and designs are getting worked out for the Wildwood tree walkways as I write this and we’re looking forward to having photos for you all to see soon, thanks as ever for the still ongoing donations rolling in that are going to add up to a real big difference for some as-happy-as-they-get Scottish wildcats!

A wonderful spin off from the Your Cat appeal and the general profile raising of the wildcat over the last year has been a renewed interest from wildlife parks in the breeding program; we now have 5 wildlife parks back in contact and up to date with the studbook keeper over just the last 6 months. Sadly a lot of these cats appear to be hybrids after a lot of breeding misunderstandings back in the 90’s, however all the captive cats are now being genetically tested for purity and the more parks involved the better for when those results are in and a whole new stage in the breeding-for-release program can begin.

Back at the SWA we're also getting organised in terms of bringing together a dedicated team of volunteers to help really get the Association doing everything it possibly can to save wildcats; we really want to make a big push on our campaigns and make things happen as fast as possible to get the wildcat protected before it’s too late and getting volunteers to help move everything is going to be essential; if you might have some time free to help with things, and we’re looking for volunteers to help us at cat shows(!), please drop by our website.

Finally, stored squarely under "heart-warming" I received a bunch of donations this week all randomly coming from the same small area of the USA; of course we get donations from the US all the time but it's odd to get 5 or so all coming from pretty much the same town in the same week. Fortunately one of the donors wrote to me to explain that her six-year-old daughter, who loves cats and is very proud of her Dad's Scottish heritage, told everyone not to get her a present for her birthday this year but to make a donation to the Scottish Wildcat Association instead.

After all the form filling hearing that really lifted my spirits, giving up your 6th birthday presents is almost beyond comparison in the adult world I think and it’s so amazing that someone so young half a world away could care that much about our wildcat.
 
Please keep the support coming in whether it’s donations, volunteering or just spreading the word, you’re all helping make a big difference!