The Research Continues

 The research on wild cats (Old wild cats, the original species ) is still ongoing as we try to find out more about them and the regional variation in colour (see The Red Paper Felids).

The work on Old foxes from the UK and Western Europe never stops either. We are getting a better idea of their appearance, lifestyle and so on. It is even possible that a hybrid fox still exists with Old fox DNA but that is pure speculation at the moment.

We have never (by "we" I mean myself and colleague LM) stopped looking for old taxidermy, photographs and art that accurately illustrates the old canid and felid species. In fact we have a large data base now.

We have not, of course, forgotten the Old wolf of the British isles -England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. We have come to conclusions (see The Red Paper Canids) about these wolves and are currently gathering more data.

The Red Papers have quite literally slapped down the century plus of dogma and all of this is "out of pocket" -we receive no funding and so far European museums (barring one and I'll mention that in the new year) have been far from helpful. The Natural History Museum (London) is similar and if they are to be believed (and I believe them) they have, uh, "mislaid" important specimens.

We have enough now to take the next step which is DNA testing of Old foxes and Old wild cats and even wolves. Frustratingly that takes money and there is simply no funding for this work. Officially the UK is busy killing off species such as badgers and foxes amongst others to be bothered with historical research.

The Red Papers really need an established publisher to promote and sell them but let's say that the "horsey" hunt set has a lot of friends in publishing and no one wants to upset the apple cart. So the work will continue but at a snails pace sadly.