I have to admit that after 30 odd years (research notes first published in ) of being called all sorts of names because of my research findings on (just) wild cats it is nice to see that the "professionals" are catching up and providing even more solid evidence for my 40+ years of wild cat research.
Yet these people will not even accept the offer of free copies of my research work to solidify what they are finding.
On with life.
We are currently at a 26 pages long fox death register for 2025 and 351 foxes. These are only the reported ones and based on previous years the actual death number is likely twice that.
Interestingly there is more wild cat news, this time re Ireland in a post By Shane Ó Curraighín North West Correspondent RTE Wildcat bones found in Co Clare dated to 5,500 years ago https://www.rte.ie/news/munster/2025/1128/1546238-wildcat-bones/?fbclid=IwY2xjawOX4qFleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeU8Qdaykxy_dOafZ4niriwGP0ENSMVLQcudPTovkNA1j4_GqnU8SLrasf4Gs_aem_pjkQB5WFo6agPcsMNjFgSA
The first directly dated wildcat bones found in Ireland have been identified, confirming that the species inhabited the island more than 5,500 years ago.
Archaeologist Dr Marion Dowd of Atlantic Technological University made the discovery in Glencurran Cave in the Burren, Co Clare
Until recently, none of Ireland's prehistoric cat remains had been radiocarbon dated, leaving uncertainty over whether earlier finds were wildcats or domestic arrivals.
Radiocarbon dating conducted at Queen's University Belfast confirmed the remains of the species, extinct in Ireland, are more than 5,500 years old, dating to the Middle Neolithic period.
Dr Dowd discovered 39 bones belonging to an adult wildcat that were subsequently identified by zooarchaeologist Margaret McCarthy.
Ancient DNA analysis at the University of Rome Tor Vergata confirmed the animal was a male European wildcat, distinct from modern domestic cats and Near Eastern wildcats.
Dr Dowd said the breakthrough "transforms what we thought we knew about Ireland’s ancient wildlife".
"It’s important for us to build-up a database of the animals that once existed in the Irish landscape that have now become extinct.
"It joins bears, wolves and other animals that would’ve been a core part of the Irish ecosystem and landscape 5,000 years ago," Dr Dowd said.
Archaeologist James Kyle said Dr Dowd’s work is hugely significant as it pushes back the date range for this animal in Ireland at least 4,000 years.
"It’s the kind of thing that makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck. It answers a lot of questions, but it also poses a lot of questions in terms of the biodiversity of Ireland in the past.
"This is the first time we can say with certainty that European wildcats lived in prehistoric Ireland," Dr Dowd said.
Small numbers of cat bones were previously found on prehistoric sites, including the Mesolithic site of Lough Boora, Co Offaly and the Neolithic passage tomb of Newgrange, Co Meath.
Dr Dowd said that without radiocarbon dating, it was impossible to confirm the age or species of the previous archaeological discoveries.
Wildcats were once widespread across Europe but declined sharply from the 1700s due to habitat loss, hunting, and competition with domestic cats.
Archaeologist Adam Collins said the finding opens up the diversity of animals that were in Ireland during the early Neolithic period.
"I think it’s only going to get better between the scientific techniques and the opportunities that are available.
"We’re going to see a lot more of this type of work being done and hopefully painting a much clearer picture of our past," Mr Collins said.
Wildcat populations remain in Scotland and in Iberia, however, numbers of the legally protected continue to decline primarily through roadkill, poaching and habitat loss.
As the domestic cat population grew, wildcat numbers plummeted. Although similar in size and appearance to domestic cats, they are a different species.
Dr Dowd has said further radiocarbon dating and genetic analysis of discoveries from prehistoric and medieval sites would help in understanding our past.
"We’re interested in establishing when did wildcat become extinct. We don’t know the answer to that, only further analysis will determine the answer.
"It’s important because we want to understand the past landscapes in prehistoric Ireland; the animals that lived in those landscapes and the types of ecosystems," he said.
Dr Dowd’s findings have been published in a co-authored paper recently published in the Journal of Irish Archaeology.
(c)2025 T. Hooper
Science has a very interesting item but, sadly, in the
You can check the summary out
here:https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adt2642?fbclid=IwY2xjawOX1TVleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEe7fIQ2KaTst1mbR52NHR1jcQsURa9GykgMoRxVwqmiDhmQmOdNfKdnJvxFfo_aem_2lYuqmXFreAdp8o6CkmxiQ
The dispersal of
domestic cats from North Africa to
Editor’s summary
Tracing the origins of domestic cats (Felis catus) has been limited by a lack of ancient DNA for these animals, as well by their morphological similarity to the African wildcat (F. lybica lybica) and European wildcat (F. sylvestris). De Martino et al. generated low- to medium-coverage genomes for 87 ancient, museum, and modern cats (see the Perspective by Losos). They found that domestic cats are most genetically similar to African wildcats, although there has been widespread gene flow between wild and domestic populations. European samples that cluster with domestic cats only appear in the 1st century CE, suggesting a later dispersal of domestic cats than previously thought. Although broader sampling is needed, this study shows the complexity of population dynamics that is often revealed when looking beyond mitochondrial DNA. —Corinne Simonti
Structured Abstract
INTRODUCTION
The domestic cat (Felis catus) originated from the African
wildcat (Felis lybica lybica), which is presently distributed across North
Africa and the
RATIONALE
The timing and circumstances of cat domestication and
dispersal remain uncertain owing to the limited number of ancient and modern
genomes analyzed thus far. Questions remain about the natural distribution
ranges of African and European (Felis silvestris) wildcats in the past and
their potential admixture. A recent study showed that ancient gene flow might
confound the reconstruction of cat dispersal, particularly when based on mtDNA.
The origin of African wildcat populations in the Mediterranean islands of
Sardinia and
RESULTS
We generated a genomic time transect spanning the past
11,000 years and found that cats previously identified as carrying a F. l.
lybica mtDNA clade from Neolithic and Chalcolithic southeast Europe and
Anatolia, dated between 9500 and 6300 years ago, were F. silvestris wildcats
whose ancestors hybridized with F. l. lybica. Ancient genomes revealed an
increasing trend of African wildcat ancestry ranging from 9 to 34% eastward,
from
The earliest cat belonging to the genetic cluster of as F.
l. lybica and F. catus in Europe originates from the site of Genoni, in
Sardinia (
CONCLUSION
Our findings challenge the commonly held view of a Neolithic
introduction of domestic cats to
The introduction of domestic cats to
The genomes of ancient cats from archaeological sites across
Europe and Anatolia (dark circles in the map) revealed that domestic cats were
introduced to Europe from North Africa starting at ~2 thousand years ago (kya),
several millennia after the onset of the Neolithic in
Abstract
The domestic cat (Felis catus) descends from the African
wildcat Felis lybica lybica. Its global distribution alongside humans testifies
to its successful adaptation to anthropogenic environments. Uncertainty remains
regarding whether domestic cats originated in the Levant,
fin summary
(c)2025 respective copyright owner
There was established trading through sea merchants and it is how a barbary macaque (baboon) got to Iron Age Ireland as a "gift" or some such -dug up on the Time Team TV series. There are (if you do not read or study or follow evidence) supposedly no wild cats in Ireland -in more modern times European wild cat types have been out in the wild and if not escapes from private collections likely released for shooting 'sport' as in England. However, the historically reported (but not believed by the established zoological hierarchy who discredited their own colleagues) was North African wild cat and there is at least one pelt of a descendent to prove it.
Romans are always given the credit!
Wild cats in the UK were shot, poisoned, clubbed and torn to bits by hounds for fun and succumbed to extinction by the 1860s -for over 100 years before that naturalists wrote that if it were not for feral domestic cats interbreeding with wild cats then the wild cats would have become extinct "hundreds of years ago". Gamekeepers, "country squires" and 'sportsmen' still kill the current generation of New wild cats (themselves hybridised) along with any other cat they see to "prevent inter-breeding with wild cats" -that inter-breeding is what has kept the New wild cats in existence.
(c)2025 respective copyright holder
Humans kill for fun and then pretend it was conservation and
as a reminder of that 'fun': in the 1960s in
Protected species status means nothing in the
And squirrels?
1981: The original protection was granted under the Wildlife
and Countryside Act 1981, making intentional acts against red squirrels and
their shelters illegal.
2004: Protection was extended in
2006: Red squirrels became a Section 41 species of Principal
Importance for Conservation under the Natural Environment & Rural Communities
(NERC) Act.
So why are forestry companies still killing them with impunity -money? Why are private estate gamekeepers still killing them as "vermin"? Where are all of the prosecutions because it seems that everyone involved in wildlife knows this is going on but...oh. "Private property" (and money) and Royal Estates.
If you want to learn the truth about British wild cats then
read the results of 40 plus years research: The Red Paper 2022 -Felidae.
While a youngster living with my grandparents in a house with a big park behind it (Mina Road Park, St Werburgh's) , I saw an approx. 6 ins (15cms) long what I assume was a caterpillar. This was noticeable as it was climbing up the coal shed wall near the window and was a light fawn-ish colour with long hair. It was like an old "window mop" and to this day -some 50 years on- I have been unable to find anything that matches. It is possible that it belonged to a more localised species now long gone.
At secondary school (Greenway Boys Secondary Modern Comprehensive, Southmead) science was my big subject and I was one of two boys (the other lost interest) the science tutor asked to help as he analysed a rather mysterious substance found spotted over teachers cars. After a long investigation (of two weeks) we not only identified the substance but found the culprits: the substance was bee waste and the rural science teacher maintained bee hives. Nice warm car in a sunny spot. So it was not a pupil spraying any substance(s) on cars.
In Germany, along with four others I observed something with black, slightly shiny fur jump up from the edge of the forest into the conifers and listened as it made its way through trees. A primate in 1970s Germany? Oddly, my grandfather noted that he had seen a "sturm geist" (storm ghost/spirit) some time before sat on a tree stump near the same spot and told me that it had jumped up a fair distance into the trees and made off.
I did not challenge his identification although a primate seemed far more likely. Oddly, one of my cousins was violently opposed to our having seen anything but a "Kormoran" (cormorant) which was rather unlikely. He had not been present or seen what we had but red faced he angrily told us that was what we saw. We just said "Okay" and let it go!
Even the night was hot on that stay and in the country that meant midges: miniscule little insects that buzzed by your ear and sounding like a Messerschmidt in full flight! I wanted a little fresh air and the open window beckoned. looked out of the window some 3 feet (90cms) above the ground and heard a noise so naturally assumed it must be a rat of which there were a few around the farm. I looked down and looking up at me was what I could only describe as "a black fox with white face markings".
My camera was on the bedside table so I slowly reached for it but grabbed it as it was about to fall and then -the black fox was gone. The next day I told the family. Big laugh and "Oh Herr Professor was dreaming!" So I turned to other locals including the ranger. I was a big joke after asking around about this animal. I did wonder whether I would have gotten a better reception if I had said I'd seen Bigfoot!
Back home in England I went straight to my books and I found out that I had seen a raccoon dog -the first reported in that part of Germany. Next year, armed with this information I turned to people who had doubted me in the village and the response was "Yes. We know" -apparently someone had checked after I left for home and everyone now knew about the "Marderhund". No apologies for having thought I was dreaming the year before, though!
An escaped primate (or storm spirit!) and a raccoon dog were far from the only things I observed on my stays in Germany and elsewhere. The thing is to always observe and record what you can and always research what you saw because books are far better sources of knowledge than the internet. My German family nick-named me "Herr Professor" because if I was not reading I was constantly observing so I'll take that one!
It is a rather peculiar thing that, because there are no straight forward answers or no one has bothered carrying out research, you will find many wildlife mysteries in literature from the fringes -in this case from a UFO magazine of all things!
Unlike the magazine itself I went straight to the original source not that this helped much but I hope one day to at least have a very educated guess at what Ricochon's "monster" was
This is taken from Strange and Mysterious Beasts
Perhaps one of
the oddest cases I have on file was never fully investigated, that I am aware
of. The July / August, 1970 edition of the Flying Saucer Review (1) carried an
article by Jean-Claude Baillon, Secretary of Cercle d’Information des Phenomenes
Insolites (CIESPI) of
Above: La
Comtesse Dash in later life (c)2025 Hooper Archives
It had been a pitch-black, Moonless night and the caretaker, a M. Meingault, was in his kitchen when he had heard the three mares and two colts in the park galloping about. M. Maingault realized that something was obviously disturbing the horses and so went to check on them: he had only taken a few paces at the top of the chateau steps when the horses bolted past at full speed. Something had definitely scared the horses and, on looking around, M. Meingault saw, near a clump of bushes near the paddock fence, a pair of intensely bright, shining eyes. The caretaker then went back indoors.
M. Meingault decided that he needed to investigate and so armed himself with a gun before going outside and making a very difficult inspection around the chateau in darkness. He then saw the horses bolt through a thicket that they would normally avoid because of the risk of injury and then, for just a “few fleeting moments”, M. Meingault had the impression that “there was a shadow” pursuing the horses. What he did next seems very odd.
M. Meingault fired the gun a few times to see if it might scare of the “attacker” but, on seeing that the horses would not calm down…he went back indoors and to bed!
Above: a
shelter in the
It seems almost unbelievable that a caretaker believing that the horses were being chased by someone / some thing and seeing the glowing eyes, had gone indoors, armed himself. He had then inspected the area around the chateau in the dark, thought he saw something and fired shots at it. On seeing that the horses would not calm down he decided to go to bed. No alarm was raised. Horses were / are valuable animals and could have been injured or killed by something, some animal, but M. Meingault just went to bed.
M. Baillon’s sister confirmed that the horses were still disturbed next morning and that considerable damage had been done to the paddock fence –which was very solid in structure with thick posts and yet, it had been smashed in ten places. M. Baillon, like any good investigator –who should never be “off duty”- pressed M. Meingault to try to remember more. The eyes were about 3 feet (90 ms) above the ground and were like those of a tiger but very bright –as the caretaker had no torch, this was not reflected light. But darkness had prevented the man from seeing anything else. A dog was ruled out, which makes sense since a dog chasing tends to get excited and barks.
Could it have been a large, exotic felid? Say a panther or a puma?
Well, if there is one thing I have learnt over the last forty years it is that a puma will have no problem taking down a colt. If a panther or a puma were attacking the horses they would have signs of such an attack and I am guessing that there were no unusual tracks found.
As for it being someone trying to steal a colt or horse –this seems very unlikely. What type of person can chase and keep up with horses in full bolt?
Then M. Baillon,
quite by chance, came across an article in the local newspaper (2) dealing with
a local legend –“The Monster of the
“In former times
in the countryside of
“Around the year 1830, a gamekeeper of the forest Mouliere had been celebrating joyously and copiously one night with some friends after a particularly successful wolf-hunt.
“At about midnight, following upon this agreeable and ‘well irrigated’ evening session, the gamekeeper was returning in a gay mood to his home in the forest. The sky was sprinkled with stars and the cold was particularly sharp on that February night.
“Ricochon (for such was the name of our hero) had his loaded gun on his shoulder and as he strode along he was keeping an eye open for any noxious creature that might come within range of him. His temporary state of euphoria had not caused him to lose his inborn hunter’s sense.
“When he had reached a point not far from his little house in the forest, he suddenly heard a rushing sound of wings that seemed like the passage of a flight of bats. ‘Ha! Ha!’ quoth he to himself: ‘Its la chasse-galerie!’
“Emboldened by the good wine ingested in more than substantial quantity, he told himself that ‘Lucifer’s deer’ would make a good target and one that he would, when all was said and done, be happy to be able to contemplate at close quarters.
“Suddenly a dense black cloud blotted out the starlight and at the same moment a strange and deafening noise was heard. He raised his gun to his shoulder and fired at the dark mass. A fearful piercing cry rang out, and a shapeless and inert mass fell at his feet. Terrified, Ricochon dashed off home, slammed the door and shot the heavy bolt behind him.
“Never in his life had he known such fear. Completely sobered up by now, he had no illusions about the situation in which he found himself: he had just shot one of the Devil’s own creatures, and revenge would be terrible…Alone in the forest, without help, how could he escape from the danger? ‘Ah, mon dieu’, said he, ‘if I come through this night alright, I’ll go into town straight away tomorrow to get some holy water, a crucifix, and some statues of the Holy Virgin and of good Saint Radegonde…’
“The formulation of this firm intention restored some of his courage. He said some prayers, though still trembling at the least sound and expecting to see that Horrible monster, the Devil, appear before him.
“And thus, in anguish of soul, he awaited the dawn, not daring to venture forth before it, and hoping that when the moment arrived he would in fact be unable to find the creature he had shot.
“But when he had gone but a few steps from his house a shudder ran through him. For he now beheld the object of his terror, lying in a pool of blood.
“Recovering his composure finally, he told himself that the creature was after all well and truly dead. All the same he approached it gingerly and apprehensively, trembling in every limb. For surely indeed this must be the Beast of the Apocalypse!
“and now what was he to do with the Monster? It was indeed a big problem. Should he just bury it and tell nobody? But then, what a pity! His exploit deserved to be told…
“After musing at length upon the problem, he harnessed his horse to his biggest cart and tried to lift his unusual ’game’, to get it on the cart. The operation was a difficult one, but finally, with a little help from his imagination, he rigged up a sort of winch and completed the task.
“Then, this
arduous job completed, he covered the carcass with straw and set out for
“At first, the horse’s legs trembled so much that it could scarcely move, but after a few good strokes of the whip it began to gallop at full pelt as if trying to flee from some danger behind it
“At long last, Ricochon reached his goal, the police station. The Prefect de Police viewed the Monster, and forbade the gamekeeper to say a word about it to anybody. In a moment of half-confidence the gamekeeper subsequently declared however to someone that ‘his beast’ had a horrible human head, surmounted by enormous horns”.
Considering that “at certain times of the year” La chasse-galerie could be seen above the clouds it seems what is being described are periodic meteor showers. Remember that “rocks falling from the skies” was still a new idea. We should not look at this as being anything more “other worldly”.
When we come to the beast we are left puzzled. The “horrible human head” with horns may have been a later addition. We know that it made “a strange and deafening noise” but this is all we really know about it other than that it was big. A healthy gamekeeper should have had no trouble throwing a dead bird onto a cart but what type of bird we do not know –if it was a bird. We know that a dark mass blotted out the stars and Ricochon shot it, however, was this something flying or something leaping from a tree?
The largest living
bird, the Eurasian black vulture (Aegypius
monachus) can reach a maximum length of 3.9 inches (1.2 m) with a wingspan
of 10 feet (3 m) and weighing in at 31 lbs (14 kg). The Western limits of its range are thought
to be
Was this a mammal
–a quadruped – that the gamekeeper shot? Reading the account, it seems that the
horse may not have found the load it was meant to tow too heavy but, possibly,
terrifying. Was it perhaps a
predator? Horses do react to living or
dead predators they come across. Would a
big bird scare it? Once whipped, the
horse towed cart, Ricochon and the “Monster” at full pelt to
It is interesting
that the “Monster” obviously never was kept secret since there was a saying in
At this period, and a long time before, the French were know for their scientific curiosity and cataloguing so what did the Prefect de Police do with the Monster? Presumably his superiors would send someone to look at the creature and that person would more likely be a naturalist or biologist. In that case, as is still the case today (though cameras have become tool), a sketch or drawing would have been made and that might –might- be the only way of finding out what was shot.
A local museum archives?
In a local library or,
perhaps, even the
If anyone in
(1) Eerie Night At The Chateau des Martins, Baillon,
Jean-Claude, Flying Saucer
Review, Vol. 16, no. 4, July / August, 1970, pp. 24-26
(2) Centre-Presse 22nd August, 1969
(3) Memoires
Des Autres Par La Comtesse Dash -Souvenirs Anecdotiques sur Le
Premier Empire Et Les Cent Jours, Saint-Mars, Gabrielle Anne Cisterne de
Courtiras, Vicomtesse de, A La Librairie Illustree (Paris), 1896: pp. 267-271
http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/mysterious-strange-beasts/paperback/product-23771024.html
Below cover for smaller format version
This book covers a number of French mystery beasts including The Beast of Gevaudan which has been called the most "extensive examination of the incidents in English or French" (24pp in total.
As I have noted before there is only one full time fox researcher (50 years) and only one body (The British Fox (and Wild Canids) Study ...
