Red Paper II: Felids Completed. the True Scottish Wild Cat is EXTINCT

 

Not that anyone is that interested but...

The current cat held up as an example of a "pure blood" wild cat is nothing more than a Wild Tabby. All the "markers" that show it to be a pure wild cat are made up based on Museum Specimen Types.

It was stated in a Scottish zoological journal at the end of the 19th century that the true wild cat had been extinct for some time. I am not referring to a fringe journal of crackpottery but a quite prestigious one and the person who, in collaboration with others stated that the wild cat was extinct had spent over 30 years studying the subject.

There is the First Generation wild cat that was replaced by the Second Generation type that started petering out in the early 1800s -and this was declared by some of THE top naturalists and zoologists of the time. The Third Generation type then replaced it and may have had some wild cat DNA in it but heavily diluted and these were to carry on (documented) into at least 1940 in England and Wales and Scotland. 

The Fourth Generation type is what we see today and is simply a Wild Tabby and has absolutely no resemblance about it to the "true" wild cat. Ask any museum in the UK (I have) and they will all respond that the only wild cats they have are post 1900 and Scottish and all had to conform to that Museum Type. 

This is from 40+ years research and by consulting historical documents and journals as well as other items. The full history is in the now completed Red Paper II: Felids and it goes to show that as with the Old British foxes (Red Paper I: Canids) generation after generation of zoologist and naturalists -many who have easy access to the old sources- have been content with simply taking the easy route and pushing dogma as fact.

Both books are not intended to be self published this time around but so far a "proper" publishing house has yet to show interest.

So when you see those photos of the Wild Tabby remember: it is not a true Scottish wild cat.