The simple answer to that question is "yes". I referred to this in a previous post: Why Are People Terrified of Truth But Embrace Dogma? (I include Publishers)
https://foxwildcatwolverineproject.blogspot.com/2024/10/why-are-people-terrified-of-truth-but.html
When I state something that is provable fact by checking one of the references I quote I am usually countered with a request for the full body of that text and for it to be sent before what I have posted is even read. Another response has been that "I am not going to spend any money on your book until you tell me what the evidence is, sources and your conclusions!" Which all means that these people want free education online and for the book, based on in depth research (on foxes since 1976 and Wild Cats since 1980) and everything stated fully referenced with as many sources as it was possible to find, to be pointless. I was taught that you always check one reference and quote it...then get a second, a third or fourth reference to make sure the first was accurate.
That is factual research which, sadly, no one does any more. I note the news recently of thousands of students using AI to cheat and produce papers.
We know it is well beyond challenging as a fact- that from the 18th century and throughout the 19th century foxes in Britain were becoming scarce and that many were imported from Europe. We know from descriptions by huntsmen, naturalists and other experts what the foxes that were native to England, Scotland and Wales as well as Ireland/Eire looked like.
When I first started out in 1976 I towed the line that the "little red fox" (red fox: Vulpes vulpes) had been the only fox that ever existed in the UK. I* watched and read all the big name naturalists had to say about foxes and was fooled. My work as a field naturalist merged with my archival research and I found reference to "Mountain foxes" and dismissed that as just being red foxes living on mountains. Then I read 18th- 19th century natural history books and far, far too many books by famous "stars" of the 19th Century "Golden Age of Hunting"which led in the 1860s to huge numbers of extinctions. These people all described the foxes as well as their hunting along with how to kennel foxes and prepare them for hunting season.
From the 1840s on so many writers bemoaned the fact that "the old type of fox" was quickly becoming extinct and that the new foxes (red fox) were simply not as much fun to hunt and kill. It is why "bagged" foxes were used -released to be hunted and if possible to be caught before the hounds got then so as to provide 2-3 more hunts later on. The mystery of how so many jackals became local news was also solved -as were the accounts of coyotes running loose. Newspapers announced "bagged jackal hunts" and coyotes were seen to be, like jackals, a much better chase and they put up a "better fight for their lives" than imported foxes. Wolf chases were also announced and the odd wolf capture or chase by worried locals (out to have some 'sport' themselves). Again, all fully documented and there are even 'fox' masks (heads) that have been identified by experts in those animals as coyotes, jackals and wolf -all fully documented along with photographs of the masks.
That thousands (up to 2000 known) of foxes were imported and transported around Britain to "keep the sport going" was chronicled in books, local, national and regional newspapers. We even know the markets they were imported to and that some hunts sent their own men to France to "steal" fresh foxes which annoyed the French as it meant they were not getting paid work. In the early 1900s the British Parliament had to discuss British hunts "stealing" foxes from the territories of Irish hunts -it was a near international incident (I will note that English hunts had sent gifts of mountain foxes to their hunt friends in Ireland after the species was wiped out there).
There were well known illustrations of a Mountain fox and other Old fox types in John Colquhoun's work -he was a noted naturalist-hunter (who was later a tad remorseful about wiping out wild cats and even eagles but, you know, "fun"). I always doubted accuracy as old illustrators can be notorious for "taking liberties". Then, one day, my colleague, LM, sent me a photo of a fox up for auction -it was the Colquhoun mountain fox and the illustration was accurate to a high degree. LM now has that taxidermy and others including the last two Old type wild cats shot by Colquhoun -no UK establishment is interested in carrying out DNA testing on wild cat or fox.
Throughout the 1950s to 1980s one naturalist after another dismissed the idea of a "mountain fox" -"In all my years I have never seen such a thing" -not surprising since contemporary accounts state that the Old type foxes had all died out by the 1860s! It did make one thing very clear, however: not one of these authors had carried out a single day's research on the subject and yet there were many -many- books available to them as well as Natural history papers and publications covering over 100 years. If you never bother looking you can ignore facts.
Another thing that became evident is that all the modern authors were simply copying what the other wrote. The wording was almost exactly the same and I am sure AI today would prove beyond doubt that this was going on. Someone who had never seen a mountain fox as the type died out 40-50 years before they were born dismissed the "tall tales" -he would have been a lecturer or senior man that no one dared challenged. He wrote "rubbish" so his students or people who read (more likely heard) his words dare not contradict and as they were not going to go into all the trouble of archival research dogma became 'fact'. The books, publications as well as taxidermy specimens are all there and were always there. Easier to get a grant or a book or even TV deal by not rocking the boat and, after all, who really cared -"just foxes".
When it comes to Wild cats we know that they were widespread across Britain -England, Scotland and Wales- and there are very good descriptions of "The English Tiger" when 'extinct' the Scots nabbed the title for their "Highland Tiger". Large and so ferocious that dogs used to hunt them were fitted with metal studded leather collars or spiked collars to prevent them being killed -though many were and hunters were also seriously injured or died from wounds inflicted. Again, in the 18th century it was stated that had it not been for feral domestic cats that the wild cat "would have ceased to exist hundreds of years ago" (again every source is quoted).
Some of the most famous naturalist/'sportsmen' from Colquhoun to Frank Buckland who were all familiar with genuine wild cats noted that in visit after visit to English museums every specimen labelled as "A Scottish Wild Cat" was very clearly "a hybrid" or looked nothing like a wild cat. When Scotland became a royal holiday spot in Victoria;s reign someone, likely a royal, shot a cat. That was seen as a Scottish wild cat as there was no way such exalted and great huntspersons as nobility would shoot anything other than that. Every museum then demanded that all (and there must have been many hundreds) wild cat specimens must conform to the standard type 0the pointy-eared tabby. Every museum I have contacted only have fox and wild cat taxidermy specimens from post 1900 so only red foxes and the wild tabby are ever seen.
We also know that European wild cats were freely available and every one of the many travelling menageries had pairs that bred and "excess" was sold off or exchanged for animals they never had or...were simply gone after a trip through wild countryside one night (nod and wink). Private menageries, of which there were many, also had European wild cats and apart from 'escapees' (genuine or otherwise) we now know, from a chance discovery, that wild cats were being released into shooting territories for sport right up to the 1930s which is why so many photographs of taxidermy hybrids exist (photos in the book).
Experts on wild cats called to give evidence into possible wildlife crime involving the killing of a protected species (wild cat) have helped lose cases as it is impossible to say whether the animal killed was a genuine wild cat or not -there is some talk of gut length but cases are still lost because feral cats are keeping the current hybrid wild tabby going. In 1897 at a meeting of Scottish naturalists one of those giving a talk was a man who had studied wild cats for over 40 years. He and others declared at the end of the meeting that the "true" Scottish wild cat had become extinct by the 1860s -remember John Colquhoun's later regrets?
Even European wild cats are by now hybridised and not what the species looked like in, say, the 17th or 18th centuries. European experts have no idea that what we have termed the Old fox type was also probably the Western European Old fox (British hunts importing heavily from Europe and Norway may have also helped wipe the species out there) before the red fox migrated while following human migrations from the East.
I sent out very polite emails to museums in Europe and outlined the research and simply asked whether they could help by checking their collections. What an outrageous thing to ask!! One person stated that he was an expert for 30 years in red foxes (nope -sitting on your ass in a museum and quoting from modern books or papers does not make you an expert in any animal) had never heard of any old type fox and my theory needed to be fully explained (he would not accept a copy of the book only a scientific technical paper that had appeared in a journal) and he would (as he stated) get out of his chair and look in the store room to the rear of where he was sitting without that. He had quite obviously not heard about how research is carried out where you gather evidence and then submit it for peer review. His 30 years had not been as active in research as my 40+ years obviously.
Why ridicule and insult (yes, some were very insulting) documented and fully researched work without reading it? Embarrassment at having to admit they had never heard of Old fox types or wild cat types? Looking a bit of a fool having written papers and books on red foxes that just involved repeating dogma and involving no archival research (which used to be the norm)? By the 1920s Old foxes and Old wild cats were long extinct and new experts cropped up who, again, never once mentioned or researched Old types and even though they produced photographs of the wild cats they caught for zoos no one seemed to look at those photographs (even they) and asked "Why do the cats look different in each?" A striped, club-tailed cat in one photo and a bulky tabby in another.
Even now people argue that "It's only a genuine wild cat if it has a short tail" or "It's only a genuine wild cat if it has a long tail" -old naturalists distinguished male and female by tail length at one time so those arguments are non valid.
Publishers have made money from publishing books on red foxes and wild tabby cats for decades but would they really lose face if there was unquestionable evidence that there were three old types of fox before extinction? As with zoologists you might think they would jump at the chance to accurately re-write wildlife history and get the prestige from that so why not?
Two publishers liked both Red Papers and in each case the editor was discussing details before suddenly announcing "I'm afraid that they do not currently fit in with our publishing schedule" -I only later learnt how many have people higher up in board rooms who are associated with hunts or "horsey set" and no one was going to anger them. I didn't believe that at first but then had the fact slapped in my face.
I contacted the BBC Wildlife Magazine as well as Natural History Unit but after several attempts the refusal to respond was obviously "not interested" (it is well known that many higher ups as well as celebrities working for the BBC are pro or active hunt supporters.
My last attempt was to send copies of both books and a covering letter and email to David Attenborough Productions and directly t to Sir David via the company. No response so I telephoned and was told "oh we usually respond" so I assumed the books had not reached them and sent two further copies (a set addressed to Sir David and one to the Production company) and the packages were signed for but even a follow-up email received no response. They were told I was sending copies and said they would let me know when they arrived but then ....nothing.
This leaves me in the situation where we have the taxidermies that can be DNA tested and we have all the photographic evidence and fully documented and researched evidence but it is of no interest to anyone in the UK -even groups dedicated to foxes refuse to review copies of the book.
I do wonder whether dogma prevents European publishers from being interested? Why can everyone and anyone write volumes about extinction of wildlife and true histories of species from every continent but a gag comes out when it involves British, and to an extent European and Irish wildlife history?
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The Red Paper 2022 Volume I: Foxes, Jackals, Wolves, Coyotes and Wild Dogs of the United Kingdom and Ireland
When the Doggerland bridge flooded the British Isles became separated from
Continental Europe and its wildlife developed uniquely. The British Isles, for the purpose of this work includes Ireland, and isolated the wolves on both became what would be island species not affected by the usual island dwarfism. These wolves, after millennia. Became “unwanted” and forests and woodland was burnt down or cut down for the specific purpose of lupicide; the killing of every and any wolf –and there was a bounty for “a job well done”.
The Red Paper 2022 Volume II: Wild Cats, Feral and New Native Species
In 1896 Scottish naturalists and zoologists declared that the true Scottish wild cat had become extinct by the 1860s. What we see today is nothing more than a wild tabby cat. In this work the true history and destruction of wild cats from England, Wales (where hybrids clung on into the 1940s) and Scotland is explored and after decades of research the true look of the wild cat is revealed. The "English Tiger" and "Highland Tiger" truly lived up to that name.
Dogma is finally thrown out.
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