Campaigners fighting a housing development planned for a Highland town say the site may be home to the rare wildcat.

The Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) will today consider plans to build up to 300 houses at Kingussie over the next 15 years, with officials recommending approval of outline planning permission.

 

Environmentalists have now raised a new objection due to the site being a possible habitat for wildcats, which are threatened with extinction. Only about 400 are left in the wild and the national park is a stronghold.

 

Dr Gus Jones, of the Badenoch and Strathspey Conservation Group, said wildcats have recently been caught on a camera trap at the Highland Wildlife Park in nearby Kincraig.