Cops seize Scottish wildcat kitten taken out of Scotland due to strict laws - now £250k has been raised to help him

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A conservation group has raised nearly £250,000 to help save a Scottish wildcat which was seized by police. Finlay, a 17-month-old kitten, was said to be “close to death” by animal welfare group Wildcat Haven when it rescued him from the Scottish Highlands.

The organisation, headed up by scientist Dr Paul O’Donoghue, then took the animal – known as a Highland cat – to its Welsh base to nurse back to health.But the organisation’s headquarters was raided by the police on February 14 with Finlay seized.North Wales Police are currently investigating whether taking Finlay to Wales may have been a crime.According to Scotland’s nature agency NatureScot, the capture, possession or release of a wildcat outside its native habitat range requires a licence, which Wildcat Haven is understood not to have.The organisation had already raised over £30,000 to pay for an enclosure for Finlay through the Crowdfunder website before the police raid.Since then the organisation have continued to raise funds and post updates about Finlay and its attempts to get him back.Last month, it urged supporters to donate to their efforts to save all wildcats as well as to “get Finlay back”.That separate Crowdfunder, due to close at the end of the month, has raised £200,000 towards a target of £250,000.One donor, who gave £10 to the organisation, posted on the Crowdfunder website that she had “cried when I heard Finlay was taken away.”Wildcat Haven, run by biologist Dr O’Donoghue and his wife Emily, described how it had been contacted by a couple who had found the kitten “weak, dehydrated and almost hypothermic” during a storm in October 2020.It said that it feared for Finlay’s safety under Scotland’s right to roam laws if he had been rehabilitated here.