CSG Species Accounts: European wildcat (Felis silvestris, sivestris group)

EUROPEAN WILDCAT: Felis silvestris, silvestris group

Wildcat pic7 Protection Status
Protection Status: CITES Appendix II
National legislation:
Fully protected over most of its range
Hunting prohibited:
Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Moldavia, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, Ukraine
Hunting regulated:
Azerbaijan, Romania, Slovakia
No legal protection (outside reserve areas):
Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania
No information:
Albania, Croatia, Slovenia, Yugoslavia (Stahl and Artois 1991, Ionescu 1993, Puzachenko 1993a, A. Bukhnicashvili in litt. 1993)
Hunting is permitted in Slovakia from 1 Dec-28 Feb without restrictions. Total harvest has declined from about 900 in 1968-1970 to about 160 in 1991, and P. Hell (in litt. 1993) recommends at least a five-year moratorium to allow populations to recover.