Wildcats could be reintroduced to the English countryside in an effort to reduce the grey squirrel population, it has been reported.
Ben Goldsmith, a non-executive board member at the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, has offered to fund a scheme that would see the animals settle in rural areas across the country.
A source close to the environment secretary Michael Gove said he was “open to the idea”.
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Goldsmith is the brother of Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith and was appointed to the board of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs last month.
The City financier has already ploughed £200,000 into the reintroduction of beavers to the UK.
Goldsmith told the Sunday Telegraph that if the wildcat plan gets the green light it will be implemented in consultation with farmers and rural communities in order to avoid endangering livestock.
He added: “We have a duty to put right moral wrongs from the past. They are non-controversial.
“They are pretty small and are not going to harm farming interests. A healthy population lives at pretty low densities…
“They are a small mammal specialist hunter, hunting rabbits, field voles and grey squirrels.
“Grey squirrels exist at very high density quite commonly. These cats would certainly kill them.”
However, Claire Robinson, the National Farmers’ Union countryside adviser, said: “Any species introduction, particularly if it has not been in this country for hundreds of years, can have a massive impact on the many benefits that farming and the countryside deliver.”