The other problem is that feeding foxes (and badgers) is now a big trendy thing. I have discussed this elsewhere and on this blog and every time I am told how anti-fox I am. We will come back to this further on but for now I want to discuss a possible cause for the number of cases of leptospirosis and other diseases killing foxes.
In the UK we get either too dry or too wet weather and we are still destroying or attempting to build on green areas that are wildlife havens for wildlife. Although we are supposed to be better at recycling we still get fast food dumped around pavements and even outside the junk food purveyors own buildings. There is one such place on Winterstoke Road in Bristol that day and evening if you walk near it there are cartons and other litter including dumped food. During the day the gulls are there to clear up some of the mess that the management of the place feels has nothing to do with them; "We only sell it" I was told. At night the rats have a feast.
Obviously rats get food daily they can breed more (the number of electric traps around that
particular area shows the problem.
We now even idiots that have "garden rats" (until there are too many).People post their photos and videos of "Ratty" popping out from under the shed to get spilt bird food and in some cases food put out for it. I warned one person that the "cute rat" is likely not just one and in a few months there will be a lot. Supported by the usual social media clowns supporting her and her efforts to "help wildlife" I was told that it was none of my business and to stop being anti-wildlife. Later in the year was the post "Can anyone advise on non-lethal ways to get rid of rats -they are everywhere. I chuckled.
Despite what people say cats these days are lazy and not that willing to tackle rats. I have watched a cat follow a juvenile rat and just watch as it disappeared under the fence. The semi feral cat that covers these gardens soon started cutting down on the number of mice and rats -it was how she survived before I found her in the garden and fed her properly.
You don't have shop cats anymore and no one has a "Mouser" or "Ratter" now. Every shop used to have one and you'll find some feral cats in builders yards but domestic cats are far from the ravagers of wildlife. Sarah Mills the Bristol Fox Lady, counted one vixen in 20 minutes bringing back 3 rats for her young. There were probably more killed that day and while country foxes may have rabbit at the top of their diet list the urban fox has rat. This is not even a dent in the population.
Rats have even better food resources and with the weather we get these days that now makes breeding even better. I have been trying to find out the name of the town in Germany which, back in the 1980s, laced bait with a chemical to prevent rat pregnancy and it started working and rats dying through being run over, killed by birds of prey, etc. saw the population drop. If I remember rightly the scheme stopped because of pressure from pest control businesses. It would take a while to see numbers drop if such a scheme were put in place but it would stop secondary poisoning; which will only get worse when the next generation of "effective rodenticides" are introduced. It's very complex but cutting the rat population without poisons and actually fining people who feed rats as garden pets would mean cats that do take rats, foxes, etc can keep the number under control. Local authorities for their building could dispense with poisons all together; sonic devices can cover a wide area and although I was sceptical at first after 5 years of trying them and hearing back from others who have also tried them the devices work quickly and are safe around pets but drives rats and mice away -fast.
Some essential oils are also excellent rat deterrents (peppermint oil will also drive off ants -and, yes, I have tried this two years running and it works). Inexpensive scent devices pushing out the right smell will not only drive off mice but in larger building it will help freshen up corridors. The days of poisons should be ending when many more inexpensive deterrents and that will save the lives of so many wild animals and birds that kill and eat rodents.
Rats would be a source for lepto as well as the worms that foxes are getting over burdened with. Ticks not much we can do about especially when there are groups throwing out tick awareness because the grass MUST be allowed to grow high until after may for all the insects -never mention ticks to them as even suggesting overgrown vegetation makes you a "Grass Nazi" and I am not even joking.
Some foxes have babesia in them with no effect on them so you then have to ask is it the "garden pet" feeding affecting them? Less lean and more bulky foxes with an immune system not functioning correctly any more? I have seen people post photos of a perfectly healthy fox and the comments that follow such as: "It looks starving -FEED IT!!" and "Oh my god the poor animal is skin and bone!" and there are usually the "You have to feed it" followed by a list of what the person must go out and buy. When "social media stars" put out huge piles of mixed food each night with financial donations from followers then you know things have gone too far.
There is certainly nothing in the old books about foxes that mention fox ailments and mange (introduced by the hunts importing foxes) and nothing in the published work of the old Bristol Uni fox study; no mentions of seizures or jaundice so it seems to be a modern thing.
Feeders are the only new thing -in the past it might have been one or two widely spread and the odd scraps but now with social media its almost everyone and foxes even start queuing up on time each day for food.
It could well be environmental changes and the spread of something like leptospirosis added to the lessened effectiveness of the fox immune system to having become over fed garden pets -the deficiencies passing from one generation to the other until now.
As I write this I am told yet another cub having seizures, nasal discharge and jaundice has been admitted to a Bristol vet. That will also be submitted for post mortem examination.
Basically humans have it all up deliberately and through 'kindness'. We need to have a complete overhaul of rodent control and above educate people on feeding wildlife.
