Felidae the Felidae, grouped according to the traditional phenotypical classification with the corresponding genotypical lineages indicated. It includes all of the currently living cat species. There is considerable variation in the taxonomy used for the wildcat. It used to be regarded as "Felis silvestris" with distinct subspecies "F. s. silvestris", "F. s. lybica" and "F. s. ornata" in Europe, Africa and Asia respectively. Since 2017, the IUCN Cat Specialist Group recognises "silvestris" and "lybica" as distinct species. The phylogenetic relationships of extant felids are shown in the following cladogram, based on the molecular phylogenetic analysis of Johnson et al. (2006). The
Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals animals in hauling carriages, scientific experiments (including vivisection), and cultural amusements of fox-hunting, bull-baiting and cock-fighting were among some of the matters that were debated by social reformers, clergy, and parliamentarians. At the beginning of the nineteenth century there was an unsuccessful attempt by William Johnstone Pulteney on 18 April 1800 to pass legislation through England's Parliament to ban the practice of bull-baiting. In 1809 Lord Erskine (1750–1823) introduced an anti-cruelty bill which was passed in the House of Lords but was defeated in a vote in the House of Commons. Erskine in his parliamentary speech combined the vocabulary of