The Paper written by Darren Naish: Multidisciplinary investigation of a ‘British big cat’: a lynx killed in southern England c. 1903 has numerous errors or the study is flawed and as a paper hold little.
The Introduction is indeed flawed and refers to little science fact but mere heresy evidence written by other people.Where it is written: "In 1980, a live Puma was
captured at Cannich, Inverness-shire; the animal’s scat showed that it had been living wild for an extended period (Shuker 1989)." This statment holds no fact and Shuker is indeed wrong on this issue. The scats in fact were given much debate by the vet at the time, a legend in the vet world and a great zoo inspector, George Rafferty. He said that the puma was indeed feed domestic food stuff and most likely to be of the "whisker" variety! & stomach scans as well as internal examinations also prove this fact. George was the man who dealt with it at the time.
Therefore the conclusion of this paper is flawed:
This introduction is not fact, it is supposition based on the wild fantasies made up by numerous UK big cat crypto groups. This is just a hypothesis, there is far to much ancedotal heresy wishful thinking and though no one is not denying the archaelogical data, the rest is sadly nonsense.... (Many will say that how can I say this about a research paper, well the answer is in the proof of the research. Not all research papers are viable, truthful, credible and correct)
And;
Reading this article it is stated: "The collars will also contain a dose of sedative that can be injected into the animal’s necks should they stray into areas where they may pose a threat to livestock or are at risk from major roads." Given that this wll be breaching the Animal Health & Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 and, that such a means would be seen as acting after the event has taken place. Geo-collars only work through satellites and just like all technologies are prone to failure, especially if such satellites have distruption. The issue was just last week brought to the UK's attention that the Scottish Wildcat is either gone or on the verge of going, so why has SNH and other bodies failed to grasp the situation? As some posters have said: ""Officials at the Cairngorm National Park have also assessed the possibility of reintroducing the animals on its land."
I thought that National Parks belonged to the People of Scotland, not the people who have been entrusted with preserving them"
"
Nuttiness continues unabated I see. There is almost no chance of these animals being able to quietly live without coming into some form of conflict with humans or lifestock. The statement that they live on deer is simply dumb. Yes, a 1000 years ago that was the case, however the fact is that the land is filled with sheep which is going to be a far easier target. The sheep can't escape and they can't run like deer so a wildcat is not going to chase a deer half way across the mountain ranges of Scotland when a furry takeaway is close by. If these animals then start to kill sheep will farmers be allowed to shoot them like dogs who worry their flocks? If that is the case the likelihood of long term survival is going to be pretty slim. "
Personally, The likes of the NFU, Ramblers Association and other bodies will oppose and in the main, the idea may be good on paper but in reality, no chance....
Also. For those who believe and think that the Lynx will help or will re-balance deer populations in Scotland or the UK are very much mistaken. The sheer low percentage of kill ratio and movement of deer as appose to proper deer management (which so far seems to have declined) is seen as not a viable means to control deer within Scotland and the UK as a whole.
Also. CDV: This has been known for some time now, past journals and papers published have aired the matter, where there are humans, dogs will be found and; Canine distemper virus (CDV) is a common pathogen in dogs and is well known in canids, mustelids, procyonids, and viverrids.
If the plan for re-wilding of Lynx into Scotland was to ever take place then such zoonotic measures, bio-countermeasures would have to take place. In Canada they have found CDV and associated Encephalitis within their own Lynx and Bobcat populations:
"Between 1993 and 1999, encephalitis caused by morbillivirus was diagnosed by immunohistochemistry and histology in six lynx (Lynx canadensis) and one bobcat (Lynx rufus) in the eastern Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Five of the six cases in lynx occurred within an 11-mo period in 1996–97. A second bobcat with encephalitis caused by unidentified protozoa and a nematode larva also had immunohistochemical evidence of neurologic infection by morbillivirus. The virus was identified as canine distemper virus (CDV) by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and nucleotide sequencing in four of five animals from which frozen tissue samples were available, and it was isolated in cell culture from one of them. To our knowledge, this is the first report of disease caused by CDV in free-living felids in North America." [CANINE DISTEMPER VIRUS–ASSOCIATED ENCEPHALITIS IN FREE-LIVING LYNX (LYNX CANADENSIS) AND BOBCATS (LYNX RUFUS) OF EASTERN CANADA
Pierre-Yves Daoust1,4, Scott R. McBurney1, Dale L. Godson2, Marco W. G. van de Bildt3 and Albert D. M. E. Osterhaus3]
