The British (England, Scotland and Wales) Wildcat Felicide

According to the Game and Conservation Trust which exists solely to help keep animals 'conserved' to hunt and kill have this to say about the wildcat (F. silvestris):

 "The wildcat is Britain's only remaining native cat species. It is similar to a domestic tabby but larger, stockier and with a black-banded bushy tail. It is restricted to Scotland, where it inhabits the forested margins of moorland. It is under severe threat from hybridisation with feral cats and disease. The animal was routinely culled to reduce predation on game, but it was protected in 1988 under the Wildlife & Countryside Act. The wildcat has been recorded by the NGC only between 1971 and 1987."

When it is time to call bull-shit then bull-shit has to be called. Readers may recall the G&CT andhow it got help from Bournemouth University to track and then kill a fox that had posed no threat to livestock -the only legal reason why a fox can be shot under law - but was killing rodents etc as is natural.

https://foxwildcatwolverineproject.blogspot.com/2021/05/oh-scientific-hunting.html

I am guessing that the G&CT assumes that some organisation with a fancy title and logo are respectable. The face of respectability is always used by those hunting for 'fun'. But let's get back to the wildcat. Let's read tht again:

"The animal was routinely culled to reduce predation on game, but it was protected in 1988 under the Wildlife & Countryside Actof the wildcat in the UK"

Well this simply shows an outright lie or no idea about the history . . With foxes there was an accurate phrase given to killing any and very fox that could be found to collect a bounty -even if those foxes were nowhere near a farm but up in hills or living in forests: vulpicide. Basically, and as declared by some of the "great names" in the 'sporting world', the murder of every and any fox. That is something to discuss another time.

However, another name might also have been created (it probably was): "Felicide" because as with the fox every and any wildcat found was killed for a bounty -kitten or adult. In forests and woods, on farmland, up in hills and mountains -good drinking money was to be had in killing wildcats.

Above: Kellas Cat, Aberdeen University

Bounties for foxes were paid by the head presented -more for an adult fox than a cub. With wildcats the bounty seems to have been adult heads as the young would have been "worthless" and killed.

"Mustelicide" is another apt one -badgers killed out and proudly declared to have been wiped out in areas due to the "great work" of locals. Polecats, Martens, otters -mkilled in their hundreds for some money.

But whether mustelicide, felicide or vulpicide one thing is made very clear by the records and boasted about; as each year progressed the number killed of all species fell or simply stopped. They were knowingly being wiped out simply for fun and money. That includes killing them so that any eggs of birds that the 'sportsmen' wanted to kill later on were not damaged. Rabbits, rats, voles and other wild animals were the main prey of foxes and wildcats and historical accounts by huntsmen note how many cases of poultry theft etc were blamed on foxes and others when human culprits were involved.

Please let's flush this hunters lie down the toilet. And 'protection'? While I was a wildlife advisor to UK police forces (1977-2015) I spoke to many estate owners as well as game keepers and was told quite openly that wildcats were "disposed of" as 'vermin' and that it was okay because "this is private land". Even now in forestry in Scotland where they are seen as a "pest"/"vermin" red squirrels (protected) and wildcats(protected) are killed and that police, local authorities and probably some in government are aware of this yet do nothing is shocking. The G&CT knows this is going on.

Then we have this:

" It is under severe threat from hybridisation with feral cats and disease."

Firstly, again, a total lack of knowledge on the wildcat. In recognised works on natural history from the 17th century on it is declared that Scottish wildcat numbers were so low that for "a great many years" only the input of fresh blood from domestic cats gone wild (ferals) had kept the species going. That was also declared in 1680 and this knowledge of the near extinction of wildcats led to...felicide. Felicide on a massive scale -just look at the number of stuffed wildcats in museums and collections in the UK -all having to conform to the "museums standard type" which gives a false impression of what a wildcat looked like.

Above: The "Museum specimen type"

Feral domestics were keeping the wildcat populations going and still do. Hybridisation is something that happens when something catastrophic affects a breeding population and nothing is as catastrophic as humans. There is in fact the likelihood that there is no true 100% wildcat in existence and court cases have failed when experts are asked to declare whether a cat killed was a genuine pure wildcat. The hybrid "Kellas cats" are shot, snared, poisoned and killed by any means available as hybrids. This hybridisation is called "evolution" -an evolution created by humans that cannot be reversed and anyone with an IQ is perfectly aware of this but "killing stuff is fun" for some people.

Looking at the many -many- taxidermy specimens one thing becomes clear and that ios that not all wildcats conformed to that "museum standard" -some were lighter in colour with slightly varying patterns but were all clearly identified locally as being wildcats and it seems that the wildcats of Wales, England ad Scotland may have had  regional differences in look. This is something the wildcat and Ferals Study is looking into. The major problem is that bounties called for heads so it is difficult to find full bodied wildcat taxidermy declared as English or Welsh. Most dealers simply label specimens "Scottish wildcat" as, almost unbelievably, they think England and Wales never had wildcats only Scotland.

As with foxes and the British Canid Historical Society's work to re-discover and educate on Old Foxes so the BWFS is having to educate from the ground up and correct bthe glaring inaccuracies found online or in literature.

Wkipedia:

"It is estimated to comprise between 1,000 and 4,000 individuals, of which about 400 cats are thought to meet the morphological and genetic criteria of a wildcat. The Scottish wildcat was once widely distributed across Great Britain"

This figure, of course, puts to bed recent "inaccuracies" that there are only 95 such cats in existence. We also see here the idea that cats have to fit a criteria and only 400 do so which ignores that fact that those 400 may well not be what the original wildcat was and "museum types" are not anything much more that "looking nce" versions.

All of the 1,000 to 4,000 (a pretty big gap there) cats need protection whether Kellas or feral domestic breeding with wildcats for one very good reason: they are still wildcats but cats that have changed because of human felicide. It is an evolutionary step that the species had to make while any considered "pure" are kept in captivity and bred...to be captive "pure bloods".

Mass killing of animals that are not what you want is what has led to a global crisis in animal extinctions. It is time to accept that we can never return to Old Wildcats but have to live with the New Wildcat.

Humans have to live with that because they caused this.