The Scottish wildcat situation - extinction or misidentification?

Quick question for the cryptozoology crowd: Scottish wildcats are technically still 'real' animals (not cryptids), but functionally they're in that weird space where they might as well be. Fewer than 400 probably exist in the wild, most likely interbred with domestic cats, and sightings are extremely rare and hard to verify.

But here's what interests me as a potential cryptid case: there are consistent reports of larger, more aggressive wildcats from the Highlands that don't match the physical specs of known wildcats. Bigger specimens, darker colouration, reported predatory behaviour toward livestock that seems excessive.

Question: are these legitimate undocumented wildcat variants, or are people misidentifying large feral domestic cats and attaching 'wildcat' labels because that sounds more credible? And would documenting these specimens - if they exist - be cryptozoology or just wildlife biology?

This is a brilliant example of the liminal space cryptozoology occupies. Scottish wildcats are real but extinct/extinct-in-the-wild, so any solid population constitutes both a cryptozoological and conservation discovery. The larger specimens you mention could be: hybrids, melanistic variations, or just large domestic feral cats misidentified.

I've been involved in Highland conservation work, and what most people call 'wildcats' are 80% feral domestics. The genuine wildcat population is so small and so interbred that the species distinction is practically meaningless now. 'Larger wildcats' are almost certainly just well-fed ferals or domestic crosses.

The livestock predation angle is interesting. Feral cats and even domestic cats can coordinate hunts on small livestock. But genuine wildcat predatory behaviour is spectacularly documented in historical records - they were feared animals. Modern reports might simply be reflecting size bias. What seems 'too aggressive for a domestic cat' might just be normal feral cat behaviour we've forgotten.

The boundary between cryptozoology and animal biology is blurry. If someone discovered a breeding population of legitimate Scottish wildcats, that's biology and conservation. If someone found an unknown large felid, that's cryptozoology. The Highland reports sound like the former misidentified as the latter.