A Thylacine Photo?

 

"This image was taken by a man named Peter Groves in January of 2019. He claims to have seen the thylacine when he was walking a trail in Clifton Springs, Australia. Groves said that the animal did not seem to be wary of him at all and that they stared at each other for about 5 minutes. Some believe it looks like a mangy canine or a fox, but others see a striking resemblance to the thylacine that was in the film The Hunter and dub it as a hoax."

For 5 minutes they watched each other and this was the BEST photo? He is describing fox behaviour and, sadly, not a thylacine, but a fox with mange and how anyone can think it is anything other than that beats me. Enlargement below

Badger Sett Interference N Yorkshire Police Appeal

 

Can you help with this wildlife crime investigation?

We need to trace these three men following a serious case of badger sett interference.

It happened in Nunnington, between Malton and Helmsley.

Police enquiries are under way and we believe the men pictured may have information that could help.

If you recognise them or have any other information, please email Jeremy.Walmsley@northyorkshire.police.uk or call us on 101 and ask for Jeremy Walmsley.

If you wish to remain anonymous, you can pass information to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Please quote reference number 12230203266 when passing on information.

To Answer A Question

 Yes, a few of the longer posts have been saved back to draft NOT deleted. The reason is that a lot of people read them but with no feedback or commenting it seemed pointless to keep them up especially as material was being used uncredited.

Genetic swamping of the critically endangered Scottish wildcat was recent and accelerated by disease -a brief response

 

The European wildcat population in Scotland is considered critically endangered as a result of hybridization with introduced domestic cats, though the time frame over which this gene flow has taken place is unknown.

Quadrupeds by Bewick as well as many other sources (see The Red Paper 2022 Vol. II: Felids) it is quite clearly stated that the British wild cat has only survived up to the 18th/19th centuries due to interbreeding with domestic cats. It was believed at that time that interbreeding had started taking place probably after the Roman conquest of Britain (this is dealt with in more detail in The Red Paper Felids).

The biggest problem here is that the term “European wild cat” is used. The DNA does indeed match the European wild cat for a very simple reason; they were imported into the UK for many private as well as travelling menageries as well as for sport -we have at least three pairs “turned down” (released) in North of England shooting territories in the 1920s. Wild cats escaped and there is enough anecdotal evidence as well as taxidermy to prove that wild cvats were in England and hybridising in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s.

Some of the most noted zoologists/naturalists and ‘sportsmen’ (hunters/shooters) on visiting museum collections in the late 1800s and early 1900s reported how they saw no true wild cat specimens but only hybrids and they used well established wild cat diagnostic features to show this. I have not found one UK museum with any taxidermy of what we define as true wild cats and all were acquired -/+1900. A meeting of Scottish naturalists and zoologists in 1897 declared that what would have been called the true Scottish wild cat had become extinct by the 1860s (Red Paper Felids). The only collection of genuine Scottish wild cats I know of is the Extinct Fox and Wild Cats Museum and these are specimens from the 1830s when the species was becoming rare.

Via contemporary records, and many exist and are not hard to find, we can date wild cat-feral domestic hybridisation having been known and recorded as far back as the Medieval period but more ‘modern’ accounts exist from the 18^th century and that is a date well beyond the claimed

“ onset of hybridization was only within the last 70 years” (ie. 1953)

Here, using genome data from modern, museum, and ancient samples, we reconstructed the trajectory and dated the decline of the local wildcat population from viable to severely hybridized. We demonstrate that although domestic cats have been present in Britain for over 2,000 years, the onset of hybridization was only within the last 70 years.

The question is where did the “ancient samples” come from -Europe? If so then they cannot be relevant to the Scottish wild cat. Britain was isolated from continental Europe over 10,000 years ago when Doggerland was submerged. Foxes, wolves and wild cats remained isolated and not affected by island dwarfism. We know that foxes had developed three types to survive in their specific habitats -the Greyhound or mountain fox (the largest), the Hill or mastiff fox (smaller than the former but of sturdy build) and the Common or cur fox -small and living near to human settlements. The counterpart to the Old fox existed in Western Europe until hunting allowed the red fox to move in.

We need far more research on the Western European wild cats but it is possible that they were similar to those in Britain the size and power of which were legendary and even packs of dogs sent to hunt a wild cat were given leather studded collars to prevent them being killed. Wild cats were noted for their size and when still to be seen in England were known as “The English Tiger” as term later used for the Scottish wild cat -”The Highland Tiger” which indicated that the centuries of ‘sporting’ eradication as well as wiping out local populations for the bounties paid had pushed the true Scottish cat further north. What is seen today is the same as what we see in the red fox -imported animals that were released or escaped and due to various factors (Red Paper Felids) became known as the Scottish wild cat.

Our analyses reveal that the domestic ancestry present in modern wildcats is markedly over-represented in many parts of the genome, including the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). We hypothesize that introgression provides wildcats with protection against diseases harbored and introduced by domestic cats, and that this selection contributes to maladaptive genetic swamping through linkage drag. Using the case of the Scottish wildcat, we demonstrate the importance of local ancestry estimates to both understand the impacts of hybridization in wild populations and support conservation efforts to mitigate the consequences of anthropogenic and environmental change.

There is no true existing Scottish wild cat and has not been one since the 1860s and what is now called the Scottish wild cat has been surviving by breeding with feral domestic cats and both are snared, shot and killed in other ways on private estates despite legal ‘protection’[ for the former and just a survey I carried out two years ago on Scottish wild life groups showed how ‘diagnostic features’ were argued about “A short tail and it’s a wild cat” and “No, a short tail is proof of a hybrid” and for that reason gamekeepers and others can kill the cats with impunity because “no one can prove a cat is a genuine wild cat”. The feral domestic cat has been keeping what we now know as Scottish wild cats going as a population for a long time and the idea of a “pure blood” is something of a fantasy. Any cats released now as Scotti8sh wild cats will still be under threat while they and feral domestics can be killed with impunity.

Here, we generated and analyzed whole-genome sequence data to date the onset of significant hybridization in Britain and assess potential consequences for wildcats carrying introgressed

domestic cat DNA.Our data comprised domestic cats, 30 wild living individuals from Scotland sampled across the hybrid swarm, and six wildcats from the UK captive population (founded on wild animals from Scotland). Seven additional wildcat samples were obtained from Germany and Portugal. We also made use of low-coverage, whole-genome sequence data

from historicandarchaeological samples, specifically fourputative Scottish wildcats (museum specimens sampled 1906–1939, 0.3– 4.73) and two archaeological samples from Medieval (16th century, 0.93) and Mesolithic Britain (8,459–8,272 cal. BP, 0.23).3 Additional low-coverage genomic data (0.02–0.073) were obtained from 20 museum samples of putative Scottish wildcats.

Really the Mesolithic specimens would not show a great deal when compared to the current Scottish wild cat. DNA wo9uld probably work better on the oldest and specimens prior to the 1860s.

This study is interesting but has major flaws in that it appears that no historical documents, papers or books were consulted that might have given a better informed appraisal of the study material. If there is no knowledge of the historical records, of the mass importation of wild cats (and other species found in the UK due to the original animals being killed off by hunting -the red squirrel rather like the Old foxes and wild cats were amongst the species hunting killed off by the 1860s and hares, foxes, wild cats, deer and others were imported so any modern DNA testing will show a match to European species).

Without the basic knowledge that wild cats in the UK survived up until the 1860s because of hybridisation and without Old wild cat specimens the study means nothing. Wild cats from Germany and Portugal are not from the Old isolated British population of wild cats but on a continent where a species can spread out they would mat6cvh up with the European wild cat we see today -again there is no reference to wild cats being trapped and transported to other countries for repopulating or sport and that is very significant information that is needed prior to carrying out a study such as this.

An interesting read but not the claimed breakthrough study as reported online and in the media. We still know nothing of the true British (Scottish, Welsh and English) wild cats

Animal activist nearly killed in hunt attack says horror injuries won’t stop him protesting

 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/hunt-horse-attack-pytchley-northants-b2445511.html

Paramedics put Mel Broughton on a stretcher to airlift him to hospital

(Northants Hunt Sabs)

An animal-rights activist who suffered life-changing injuries including a split shoulder blade when a hunt member trampled over him with his horse says he has no regrets about trying to stop hunting.

Mel Broughton said he thought he was about to die under the horse, and was left screaming in agony when he suffered six broken ribs, a split in his shoulder blade from top to bottom, three breaks in his collar bone and a tear in one lung.

Paramedics had to give him morphine, and he was airlifted to hospital after the attack in Northamptonshire in 2020, which left him unable to work.

Mardles was jailed for 18 months

(Northants Police)

He had been with three other saboteurs going to monitor the Pytchley with Woodland Hunt when riders and hunt supporters clashed with his group.

Mr Broughton spoke out after Christopher Mardles, 27, from Petworth, West Sussex, a hunt member who rode his horse towards the protesters, was jailed for 18 months on Thursday.

Mardles had admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm during a hearing in March at Nottingham Crown Court. He was found not guilty on a further charge of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent when prosecutors offered no evidence.

After the sentencing, Mr Broughton, who still has eight screws and a metal plate holding his shoulder together, told The Independent he had no regrets.

“I don’t say that in a way of being very brave or anything, but hunting was supposedly banned in 2004, and all we see week in, week out is the tiny minority of people believe the law doesn’t apply to them and that somehow they have a right to carry on hunting, even though the vast majority of people in the country oppose it.

Members of the Pytchley with Woodland Hunt

(Northants Hunt Sabs)

“They act as though they have an intrinsic right to do this. I find it absolutely unacceptable.”

Since hunting was banned, hunts insist they follow a scent trail to stay within the law.

Mr Broughton said that on 5 September 2020 he and fellow protesters in the Sibbertoft area saw riders on horseback and masked supporters on quad bikes.

The saboteurs said that as they were targeted, their three cameras were either smashed or taken from them.

“Chris Marles recognised me – he called me by my name,” Mr Broughton recalls. “We were walking across a field and all of a sudden I turned and the horse hit me full-on.

“I remember going down, I remember the horse hitting me and I was thinking ‘I’m going to die, I’m going to die’.

“The pain was excruciating and I screamed out in agony.

“I couldn’t move. Two colleagues came over but I remember I saw Chris Marles and the hunt riders galloping off. Neither they nor the quad bikers looked back.”

The activist was airlifted to hospital

(Northants Hunt Sabs)

The veteran animal-rights campaigner, 63, who has been a hunt saboteur for nearly 40 years, said he still suffers constant pain from his injuries, which also affect his sleep.

But he said he still regularly goes out to try to stop wildlife crime, even though his mother has asked him not to because of the dangers.

Hunters who break the law were making a mockery of democracy, he added. Opponents say “cubbing”, for instance – training young hounds to hunt cubs – is common practice in autumn.

In a victim personal statement to the court, he wrote: “I still keep playing that moment over in my head all the time.

Mel Broughton

(AFP via Getty Images)

“I thought I was going to die, I really did. I was out to campaign, but I didn’t ask for that, I didn’t deserve that. I can’t understand that he was so unconcerned that he didn’t even look back.

“I keep seeing that moment and him just galloping on. I was screaming out in pain and they just carried on hunting.”

Lead investigator DC Craig Copeland, of Northamptonshire Police, said: “I welcome the sentence handed out to Mardles today as his reckless actions that day could have had fatal consequences.

“The injuries he left this man with were extensive and he continues on his journey to recovery.”

The Truth About UK Species Eradication -It's Nothing New

 Perthshire Courier - Thursday 18 February 1841

The print from the period is hard to read so...

11       foxes

198    Wild Cats

246    Martin cats

106    Polecats

301    Stots and Weasels

67      Badgers

48      Otters

78      House Cats, going wild

27      White tailed Sea Eagles

15      Golden Eagles

18      Osprey, or Fishing Eagles

98      Blue Hawks, or Peregrine Falcons

11      Hobby Hawks

275    Kites, commonly called salmon-Tailed Gledes

5        Marsh Harriers, or Yellow-Legged Hawks

63      Gos Hawks

285    Common Buzzards

371    Rough-Legged Buzzards

3        Honey Buzzards

462    Kestrels, or Red Hawks

78      Merlin Hawks

83      Hen Harriers, or Ring-tailed Hawks

6        Jer Falcon Tag-feathered Hawks

9        Ash-coloured Hawks or Long Blue-tailed do

1431  Hooded or Carrion Crows

475    Ravens

35      Horned Owls

71     Common Fern Owls

3       Golden Owls

8       Magpies

And this was great work carried out to clear things for grouse hunting. The eradication of one species after another and this was going on in every other hunting territory. Anything not wanted was called by the hunting term “vermin” and killed.

By the 1860s the Old fox types were gone (note only 1 foxes killed on the above list imp[lying they were rare) as were the wild cats -note almost 200 killed on this estate which would have been adults as well as kittens. In fact in accounts from the 1830s it was noted that Golden Eagles were very rare as were wild cats and foxes were getting scarcer and the red squirrel was wiped out -they are not even listed here.

As for domestic cats “gone wild” it needs to be pointed out that there was an “in joke” about how game keepers always had the “best fertiliser” for their fruit and vegetable patches -domestic cats and dogs that wandered within shooting range of a game keeper were shot and disposed of pet dogs wandering a few feet from owners and off-the-lead were openly shot in front of the owners who could do little. So for a bounty on every animal and a race to se who could kill more on every straying pet was money in the pocket.

Despite noting all of the species declining and becoming rarer the ‘sports’ of the day still killed after all they could import more squirrels, more deer, more hares, thousands more foxes and even wild cats so they had a good hunt and shoot.

I would like to write that this was all in the past but it is not. A quarter million badgers slaughtered over fake science as recognised by many and not just in the UK. Red squirrels in commercial forestry are still trapped, snared and shot and hundreds of foxes are shot ‘for fun’ each week across the UK by ‘sportsmen’. Re-introduced birds of prey are still being killed as are hedgehogs in game-bird areas.

Oh, and this is all information from online news sources or sites and the great British ‘animal loving’ public sit back but, just one “lonely sheep” and thousands (undoubtedly many meat eaters) kick up a fuss until something is done.

The UK -The Blood Red Island

The Girt or Great Dog of Ennerdale

 Hello.

I wondered whether anyone here could help me out in trying to find post cards on a specific topic?

We all know that a train derailment, ship running ashore etc all appeared as images on historical postcards and although these tended to be localised there is one event that I can find no postcard for and yet I assumed that as a national story at the time it would have gotten a postcard at ;least.

In 1810 a great hound was running amock in Cumbria and became known as the Great or Girt dog of Ennerdale. Up until the early 1950s it was stuffed. mounted and displayed at Kendall Museum before it was discarded.

I have now been searching for a couple of decades but no photos or postcards yet it was on display over 130 years.

Has anyone come across postcards of the Great Dog? If you have please message me via Face Book as I would love to see what this great hound actually looked like!

Thanks, All!

Fox and Wild Cat Taxidermy In Wales and England

 

Hello.

The Wild Canid (f 1976) and Wild cat (f 1980) Studies are working with the Extinct Fox and Wild Cat Museum to try to build up a more accurate history of foxes and wild cats in the UK. We are currently searching Wales and Northern England to hopefully find out more.

Up to extinction (circa 1860s) there were three variations of Old fox in the UK. The largest was the Mountain or Greyhound Fox while a shorter and sturdier type was known as the Hill or Mastiff fox. The much smaller fox living near human habitation was known as the Common or Cur fox.

We know, from historical records as well as hunting and wildlife journals that the Old foxes were wiped out by the 1860s and what we are trying to do is find old taxidermies of these foxes that are labelled as such and have the location and date killed -this helps establish a few things for us. We know that many taxidermies were on display in country homes and cottages and would like to hear from anyone who may own such specimens.

The wild cat lasted much longer in England and Wales than is usually believed and once again these looked a lot different from what people now see as the wild cat (the Scottish cat). Here we are looking to find owners of taxidermies of such cats, again with date and location killed to complete our knowledge of the species to educate future generations.

If anyone has such a taxidermy then they can send a photo of the specimen to the following email address: blacktowercg@hotmail.com

Thank You

Terry Hooper

Study Co-ordinator

At Least Study The Research

 Am I a complete fruit-loop making wild claims that are unfounded about Old Foxes, wild cats and even what I term new introduced large cat species?  

Well, if you are a zoologist, publisher or institution who have invested a lot of time and energy into promoting dogma then, yes, I am. 

Up until the early 1900s there was no internet (take a deep breath, you will be okay) so if you were a naturalist or zoologist you learnt the old way. You read journals, books and even corresponded with experts in the field you were interested in. You accumulated knowledge that you then added to by field work -you know, going out in all types of weather and getting mud splattered but observing and studying.

Now, here is where the problems start. You see, by the early 1900s all people saw were the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and the "wild tabby" -the New Fox and the New wild cat. In the 1920s and 1930s when cameras and rather awkward auto-photo systems began to be used people such as H. Mortimer Batten and Richard Clapham presented us with photographs of the wild cats and foxes as they existed in that period.

H. Mortimer Batten's photo of a "typical wild cat" -note it is not of the "wild tabby" variety

Above Richard Clapham's photos of foxes from the 1920s -New foxes that had been imported by the thousands every year over two or more centuries.

These were the types of cats and foxes people were seeing but even the type of cat Batten photographed and even trapped and sent to zoos were soon forgotten. Budding zoologists and naturalists did what all such people do; they visited their local museums and here is where the dogma truly set in. For my research I contact5ed every museum with a natural history section and this includes the Royal Museum of Scotland and Natural History Museum (London). These are the two simple questions I asked:

Q 1: "Do you have on display or in storage any pre-1900 fox taxidermies?"

Answer from each and every one (all on file): "No. All of ours are post 1900"

Q2: "Do you have on display or in storage any pre-1900 wild cat taxidermies?"

Answer (again) from all of those contacted: "No. All of our specimens are from 1900 or after that period"

And when those budding naturalists and zoologists saw these specimens and in museums to boot then those were the foxes and wild cats that had always existed. They wrote about these foxes and wild cats and more than likely joined in their ancestor zoologist/naturalist and shot a good few -in fact we know wild cats were released into shooting territories for the 'sportsman'. 

From that point on everything from Bewick's Quadrupeds, Colquhoun's  The Moor and the Loch and every other pre 1900 book and journal 'never existed'. You find that by the 1960s some writers will refer to the 'tall tales' of exceptionally large foxes in the same way that people joke about anglers and "the one that got away". 

By the 1970s we can read that an author has heard of "large hill foxes" but doubts they existed "because I have never seen one" and the same line is repeated in the 1980s and even 1990s. This just shows the lack of knowledge and the "I learnt everything I need to know in the field" excuse is common. Of course these people in the 1970s-1990s have never seen a "Hill fox" -this is incorrect for a start as although Hill foxes were larger than the common or cur fox the really big foxes were known as the Greyhound/Mountain fox. Also, they were very likely wiped out by the 1860s -a period of a number of extinctions thanks to hunting. 

"I have never seen a Dodo therefore it was probably just a story made up" -far more is in writing about the Mountain, Hill and Cur foxes than on the Dodo. "Yes, well we have a stuffed and mounted Dodo bird!" Well, yes. And guess what?  We have Old fox taxidermies and much more.

Everything I write is based on 47 years of ongoing, daily research. Constant communication with museums and canid experts not just in the UK but Europe and the United States as well as Australia, China and so on. It took over five years to identify the type of fox that colonialist hunters wiped out in Hong Kong -no one there or in mainland China had any records or idea. Every item/paper/book referred to has been fully referenced and is open to peer review if necessary and in fact I strongly urge peer review rather than just accepting in blind faith.

The wild cat. Firstly, it did not become extinct in England or Wales as far back as is claimed. There are taxidermy specimens. There are news and hunt accounts and we have specimens of what would have been the final generation of the Scottish wild cat. We even know that the European wild cat was released into English hunting territories for shooting purposes and we have photographs of taxidermy examples of hybrids from the 1920s and 1930s as well as accounts of "the last wild cat" accounts from England. You cannot get a hybrid unless mating takes place and this going back over 100 years and not just 50-60 years ago.

Again, everything is fully referenced and all the photographic evidence to hand at the time the book went to print is included. As with Old foxes we are finding more about wild cats.

When it comes to the more exotic wildlife then that, too, is fully referenced and the evidence presented. For, say, large cats such as puma and leopard we have a great deal of evidence -DNA and otherwise. We can push the history of leopards (feral) in the UK back to at least the 10th century now not all would have bred but in later centuries pairs were common and bred and in some of the most insecure places possible -the famous anatomist John Hunter even had to run after and catch his two leopards after they escaped and ran after a dog.

There are areas where there has been a history of these cats and we can trace these territories going back to at least the 1920s. That some people living in cottages kept puma as pets is beyond doubt -I even discovered an account concerning the escape of a pet (but quite wild) puma in Surrey that eventually ended up in a zoo. Yes, and the account was even titled "A Surrey Puma Hunt".  

Large cats such as leopards, pumas, lynx and the ubiquitous European wild cat were all in travelling shows as well as private menageries going back to (let's say to keep it simple) 1700 and escapes even at established animal dealers were not rare. One case I recall from Wales in the 1970s involved the sighting of a puma, a cat type that was her favourite to go and see at a zoo, and what she could only call a "sphynx type cat". The lady had never seen a puma cub but on being shown a photo of one exclaimed "That's the cat -what is it?" To have a female with a cub requires a mating to have taken place. At one point we had not only been able to ide4ntify the territory of a male puma in Wales but also that of his mate -and later of their three offspring. The plan was to trap one, have a zoo vet (who was on hand) take the necessary samples ands then radio collar the cat so it could be studied.  Unfortunately someone (and we know who) informed the then Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food of the plan and everyone involved received official threats so the plan was dropped.

There is enough anecdotal and observational evidence of these cat types breeding in the wild from naturalists, members of badger watch groups, ornithologists, zoologists and police officers and university professors going back to the 1970s. We know they are here and that they have filled a niche in the environment left by all other apex predators having been wiped out. And, to counter the sensationalist and false so popular with the 'big cat' fans; there has never been a proven and recorded account of anyone having been attacked or killed by any such cat living feral in the UK going back to the early 19th century. There are millions of deer, millions of wild rabbits as well as wild birds that would keep any large cat happy -a sheep occasionally is an opportunistic kill as are dogs (for which there is evidence).

As far as I am aware no one has been involved in long term research on British foxes or wild cats than myself. That is not a boast but a fact. The same applies to "exotics" which as a person involved in the environmental issues and impact on other species I have studied since 1976 and from 1977 on as an "exotic wildlife consultant" to UK police forces and many of my peers such as Arthur Cadman, Lawton Watts, Gwillam Thomas and others have passed on so I am the last of "the old guard" as one person put it (newspapers and radio/TV preferred calling me "Britain's Big Cat Detective" which I had to accept or else it was back to "big cat hunter").

The fact that all of the evidence is presented for peer review or simply to read and get a real idea of the actual history of foxes, wild cats and "new fauna" is a problem for many. They do not want to read to either maintain the dogma or because of other implications.

"So why has no big publisher taken on these books?"

The 2010 edition of The Red Paper: Canids was called by David Bellamy "explosive" but even that could not find a publisher for it so it was self published. 

Even the 2022 books were stated to be "highly researched" and "well written" by various editors at UK publishing houses but "doesn't fit in with our publishing direction at the moment". 

What I had not considered was that, rather like establishments pushing dogma, publishers were doing similar in books for decades and the two Red Papers would overturn all of that -so it would take a brave publisher. Also, I had not realised how many running publishing companies were involved in the "horse and hound" set so my work would definitely not be looked at with any openness.

An American or European publisher would be ideal but those seem to be few and far between and my mind is set on the work rather than publisher trawling. 

Oh, also almost 50 years of filed work and research are not considered of any value because I am not associated with a university. Not bitterness just fact. There are some naturalists out there who have written excellent books and papers on wildlife but they, likewise, do not have a chance due to lack of any university connection and universities are not that interested in wildlife in the UK unless it is based on something currently trendy such as the impact of environmental changes.

So, before consigning me to "The Nut Drawer" at least study the research.

International research transforms understanding of the history of cats in Europe...Dubious Research At Best

 This is how the story reads and has been posted on many groups across the internet so although I have responded to some I will make my main comment here after the item

Domestic cats introduced from the Near East and wildcats native to Europe did not mix until the 1960s, despite being exposed to each other for 2,000 years, a new study suggests.

Researchers have found new archaeological and genetic evidence which they say transforms the understanding of the history of cats in Europe.

According to the findings, since their introduction, domestic cats and European wildcats generally avoided mating.

Wildcats and domestic cats have only hybridised very recently. It is clear that hybridisation is a result of modern threats common to many of our native species

But that all changed about 50 years ago in Scotland.

Around this time, rates of interbreeding between wild and domestic cats rose rapidly, perhaps as a result of dwindling wildcat populations and a lack of opportunity to mate with other wildcats, researchers say.

Jo Howard-McCombe from the University of Bristol and the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, said: “Wildcats and domestic cats have only hybridised very recently.

“It is clear that hybridisation is a result of modern threats common to many of our native species.

It is fascinating that we can use genetic data to look back at their population history, and use what we have learnt to protect Scottish wildcats

“Habitat loss and persecution have pushed wildcats to the brink of extinction in Britain.

“It is fascinating that we can use genetic data to look back at their population history, and use what we have learnt to protect Scottish wildcats.”

Researchers analysed genetic data of both wild and domestic cats, including 48 modern individuals and 258 ancient samples excavated from 85 archaeological sites.

Then they assessed the patterns of hybridisation after domestic cats were introduced to Europe more than 2,000 years ago and came into contact with native European wildcats.

Our data suggests that, at least with respect to avoiding interbreeding with their wild counterparts, dogs and cats are much more similar to each other than they are to all other domestic animals

Professor Greger Larson, from the University of Oxford, said: “We tend to think of cats and dogs as very different.

“Our data suggests that, at least with respect to avoiding interbreeding with their wild counterparts, dogs and cats are much more similar to each other than they are to all other domestic animals. Understanding why this is true will be fun to explore.”

Domestic animals including cattle, sheep, goats, dogs, and pigs have been closely associated with people since the emergence of farming communities more than 10,000 years ago, leading to the dispersal of plants and animals well beyond their native ranges.

Experts say that over the last 20 years, analysis has revealed that as domestic animals moved to new regions, they interbred with closely related wild species, dramatically altering their genomes.

The findings are published in the Current Biology journal.

https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2023-11-06-international-research-transforms-understanding-history-cats-europe

*********************************************************

This is actually incorrect and based on poor research.

There are books and papers on wild cats going back to the 1700s in which it is noted that wild cats would not have survived and become "extinct long ago if not for interbreeding with cats of the domestic variety"

In fact, I set up the wild cats and ferals study in the UK in the 1980s as no universities or academics were interested in the subject.

The Red Paper 2022 Vol II: Felids looks at the history of wild cats in the UK -England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland and has even referenced (everything is fully referenced anyway) a meeting of zoologists and naturalists which included a zoologist who was THE man on the subject who had spent 40 years studying wild cats; they concluded that "The true Scottish wild cat became extinct in the 1860s"

That meeting, well publicised and reported on, was in 1897.

This new theory is hooked into the whole climate emergency and so on which is quite popular at the moment but ignores all text publications and studies before 60 years ago. In fact it is shocking to find that some supposedly top zoologists are unaware of historical records and specimens that they are supposedly expert on. Their ignorance and constant promulgation of dogma on wild cats is as bad as their ignorance on Old British foxes and the real history of foxes.

Dogma is set to be refreshed with a sexy new "environmental" tag to it.