Over the centuries, Britain's most formidable wild animals have fallen to the thoughtless march of humankind. A war on predators put paid to our lynxes, wolves, and bears, each hunted until the last of them was killed. Only our wildcats lived on. The Scottish wildcat's guile and ferocity are the stuff of legend. Those who saw one would always remember its beauty - the cloak of dense fur marked with bold tiger stripes, the green-eyed stare and the broad, banded tail whisking away into the forest's gloom. Driven to the remnants of Scotland's wilderness, the last few wildcats now face the most insidious danger of all as their domesticated cousins threaten to dilute their genes into oblivion. This book tells the story of how the wildcat of the wildwood became the endangered Scottish wildcat, of how it once lived and lives now, and of how we are now striving to save it in its darkest hour.