It is NOT another "Big Cat" fantasy book.

 

I need to correct what someone said in a comment elsewhere.

The Red Paper 2022 Vol. II: Felids is not a "British big cats book".

I am a naturalist who has specialised in canids and felids since 1977 and from 1977-2017 (still occasionally) I was an "exotic animals" consultant to UK police forces from the Scottish Highlands, Wales, Northern Ireland and across England. We have enough evidence to say that the various medium, small and one large cat is present in the UK and I have mentioned some of that evidence on this blog before.

I have also, since 1980, studied wild cats and wild cat history going as far back as possible. I have also looked into feral domestics in the UK and have looked at island feral cats in the UK and wild cats in the Mediterranean.

The Red Paper does have a huge section on what I term New Native Cat species and there is evidence of breeding etc going a long way back. I look at this, what impact they may have had on the eco system as well as the physical evidence we have. I am a naturalist so follow the evidence whether anecdotal or physical and the book is fully referenced so that it can be peer reviewed.

The book also looks at the history of the English and Welsh wild cats and how they survived longer than most conventional text books state (some dates online are off by 300+ years when it comes to their extinction). I look at the former Scottish wild cat which even zoologists in Scotland declared extinct in 1897 -the wild tabby promoted as Felis silvestris today is a hybrid cat. This, again, is shown by citing references from experts on these cats going back to 1790 and even into the early 20th century when dogma set in.

I do take a look at various smaller cats that we know are in the UK and may have been misidentified as puma and panthers in the past.

The book is wide ranging as it is re-writing British wildlife history and I am quite sure the promoters of dogma will attack it and make various claims (I note how very uncooperative the Natural History Museum in London was while wanting to know the scope and contents of the book)  -this is why the book is fully referenced so that any challenge can be countered.

There are many rare and never before seen photographs (most in colour) and I hope the book will lead to a new, better educated, generation of naturalists and zoologists.

It is NOT another "Big Cat" fantasy book.