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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jhanlon" data-source="post: 1649500" data-attributes="member: 15773">OK have trawled through it now. I have little to add to the debate regarding exact origins of various suspect species but surprised to see quite a few of the expected controversials not getting much of a mention. So what about Homo sapiens? It might not 'feel right' ticking 'us' but what's to stop us?I'm keen to hear thoughts on red-necked wallaby & soay sheep.John, do you consider the latter to have as strong a case as feral goat or are the populations managed in any way? As for the wallaby I know it doesn't have too strong a case - it seems the 2 previous populations have died out (or have they? There are still occasional reports from the Roaches) but the Loch Lomond ones are still going strong. OK, they've not been here long (thirty-odd yrs possibly?),they live on a tiny island and represent a tiny population but they are capable of dispersal so are not strictly contained and they appear to have survived despite the island being abandoned by people. On the other hand the island does represent an insular environment, with no fresh genes arriving from beyond, and presumably the population is below the minimum viable one for the species. Perhaps inbreeding means the wallabies' days are numbered and that ultimately it can't be considered self-supporting. I must check to see what we really know about that little group's continued survival and population ecology. What it came down to for me though was the lovely wild 'feel' of those wallabies scratching out a living on that wonderful abandoned island, so I agree that there is a level of personal involvement in deciding what you count and what you don't.</blockquote>

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