Sixty 60 European wildcats are to be released into the countryside some 500 years after the mammal was virtually hunted to extinction.
The cats roamed freely over most of the country but were killed for their dense fur.
Today the wildcat is Britain’s rarest native mammal.
Fewer than 200 live in remote areas of northern Scotland.
Conservationists hope the cat’s reintroduction will play a key role in the ecology of the countryside.
The cats will be set free in dense woodland in Devon and Cornwall.
Conservationist Derek Gow has five mating pairs of cats on his farm in Lifton, Devon.
They were given to him to breed by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland.
The breeding programme has proved a success and now is now working with the Devon Wildlife Trust for a release date.
The cats hunt small mammals like mice and rabbits.
They pose no threat to humans preferring to run off if sighted.
Mr Gow, 57, said: “If we can save a nearly extinct species, which once populated all of Britain until we hunted them to the brink, why would we not reintroduce them?
“Along with beavers and pine martins they will play a key role in restoring our landscape to its natural state.
“This is just one small step in the right direction, returning wildcats to our forests will help rejuvenate them.
“All animals have an essential effect on their ecosystems, and provided a check on rampant mice and rabbits whose populations have grown to uncontrollable numbers.
“As a species we have culled wild animals and now is the time for us to start reversing that trend.”
The Devon Wildlife Trust (DWT) had funding from the Devon Environment Foundation to research the project.
Peter Burgess, director of nature recovery at DWT, said:
“They naturally stay far away from human habitation, and it will be a miracle if people even find evidence that they have been around, never mind come across them.
“Ideally, we will be selecting coastal scrubland and dense forests as places where they can be released.
“With any luck they will slowly begin building up their population and repopulate the county and eventually the country.
“We are confident that people will get behind the project and support saving a species which is nearly extinct.”
