2024 Fox and Badger Road Death Total (Bristol) Plus Treatment Successes

 

The total number of badgers reported dead due to suspected car strike in Bristol during 2024 stands at 68.

The total number of foxes reported dead, injured and died, etc. in the City of Bristol stands at 268.

These were the ones reported and in a number of cases we would not have known about the deaths other than third parties casually mentioning seeing these animals as having been reported dead (which we then had to confirm) or people complaining that they wanted a dead fox moved as they were "filthy" or "a nuisance".

Based on the usual standards for estimating such things we believe that the actual fox death figure stands at over 300.  For the badgers we estimate a true figure would be more like 100. It seems that the public as well as members of local wildlife groups have no interest in badgers, foxes, otters or deer fatalities in and around the City but we ARE very grateful for those who do forward information.  Oddly, pet and vegan group members are the best reportees.

Since the 31st of December we have had one dead fox reported each day with the 5th being the exception.

After five years of constantly reporting/posting on groups in the City and around it we are still not getting through to those members of wildlife groups and other than photo opportunities badgers and foxes appear to be barely of interest or tolerated.

In the past two years Sarah Mills, "The Bristol Fox Lady" has led the way in treating facial and other injuries as well as mange in foxes in situ without the need to trap and confine.  Just how successful this work is can be seen in the fact that well over 500 foxes have been treated and survived and even vets are beginning to be more open to helping out -sadly not all vets as there is still an attitude of "We won't touch wildlife" even when a seriously injured animal needs to be put out of its suffering.  It is nice when you hear vets and others mentioning that they see fewer cases of mange and that is down to Sarah's all weather work.

The success of in situ treatment is a glimmer of hope in an otherwise depressing year of recording constant wildlife death on the roads where speeding still contributes to the death toll.

"Experts" Ignore Historical FACT?

 It is often the case that that dogma is so entrenched on a certain subject, as well as money invested, that no matter what factual evidence you provide you will be ignored or e called a "whacky theorist".

In 1897, a learned gathering comprising naturalists (which usually meant they were also 'sportsmen') as well as the man noted as THE expert on wild cats after 40 years of study,  declared that the true Scottish wild cat had died out during the 1860s.

The declaration was made in a paper widely available at the time and still available online today. Yet, it seems, not one person writing about or said to be studying Scottish wild cats has ever read that paper -or they have and have turned a blind eye (ego and prestige as an "expert" are what draws in the research money or money from books).

H. Mortimer Batten was a naturalist and trapper of animals for Zoological gardens and was as well known in his day as, say, Chris Packham is today.  He set up unique camera traps in the 1920s and 1930s as well as photographed trapped wild cats -this (above)  is one of his photographs of a "genuine" Scottish wild cat which readers will note looks nothing like the "wild tabby" touted as the genuine wild cat today (although are beginning to state that they believe true wild cats are no more).

The wild cat was once spread across England, Wales and Scotland -in England and Wales they survived, despite what you might read on the internet, into the late 19th century. Once 'sportsmen' had wiped the cats from England the title of "The English Tiger" was transferred and changed to "The Highland Tiger".   It is highly likely that someone also used the term "The Welsh Tiger" at some point.

By the 1860s what were left in Scotland were hybrid remnants of the Old wild cat and the Extinct Fox and Wild Cat Museum has a few examples of these in the hope that one day DNA testing can take place. Why do we know that these remnants from the 1830s were not the original wild cat?  Firstly, as noted in 18th century wildlife books and publications, had it not been for feral domestic cats the species would have become extinct hundreds of years ago. The one thing "experts" blame for the decline in wild cats (inter-breeding with feral domestic cats) is what kept the species alive. As with the Grey squirrel being blamed for the decline in red squirrels, the domestic feral was the scapegoat species. The real decline and extinction, as with the original British red squirrels and other animals that were then replaced by European imports, were humans.

The Old British foxes were hunted to extinction, even though it was known this was happening, but to continue the 'fun' of the 'sport' foxes were imported from Europe. The same with some deer species as well as red squirrels. The 'sport' had to continue.

The Old wild cats were large and, obviously, striped. They were fierce and could take on and seriously injure or kill someone trying to hunt them. As with hares, otters and foxes there were special hound packs used to flush out and fight and kill (that was the whole point; the hunter had to get the excitement of the fight and kill) wild cats.  However, the wild cats had no problem mauling or killing the hounds used.  For that reason the hounds were given wide leather collars equipped with metal studs to prevent a wild cat "going for the neck" and killing them.  The wild tabby might be fierce in the wild but against a pack of dogs it would stand no chance.

I believe that there is enough anecdotal evidence to make it clear that wild cats from Europe (imported directly to hunt areas or purchased from the burgeoning animal trade markets) were released not just in Scotland during the 19th and 20th centuries but also to Wales and England.  As noted in The Red Paper 2022 volume II "Felids" we have several instances of "wild cats like those from Scotland" being killed in England right up to the 1930s/1940s. We also have the photographic evidence of rare taxidermies of these wild cats showing that some were hybrids and to get hybrids you need at least one genuine wild cat. The case of a wild cat shot in the north of England in the 1930s was also covered in The Red Paper. One was shot in a licensed hunting area by a doctor. The taxidermy long thought lost took years for me to find and its photo is included in the book as well as the fact that a similar cat had been shot previously in the area and that the land owner had turned out at least three pairs of wild cats for the shooting.

We find European wild cat DNA in the current Scottish wild cats because they were imports. In fact, it is possible that the wild cat in Western Europe today is also not the original European wild cat.

I have had the response to the work carried out since 1980 of "don't believe it!"  Has the person read the book or checked any of the very many references quoted (to aid peer review)?  No. And they will not because, as the gentleman in  Switzerland stated "I have been an expert in red foxes for 30 years and I have never heard any of this!" (and, yes, he too was unwilling to read the book).  The same applies with wild cat experts; you can be an expert on red foxes or the current New wild cats but blinding themselves to the existence of previous species is totally unscientific since we are finding species we knew nothing about previously on a regular basis.  It is like calling yourself an expert in reptiles but denying the existence of dinosaurs.

I never believed in stories of the Old fox types until my book and archival studies turned up reference after reference.  Ditto the Old wild cat. To deny previous species existed because you are an expert in the species existing today is neither logical or scientific -it is protecting your own little money maker".

NOTICE: The Fox Forum and British Canid Historical Society

 

 Although I announce such a year or so ago I need to make it absolutely clear that I have no connection with or work with the British Canid Historical Society nor the Fox Forum.  These were supposed to continue the work I started in 1976 but I was quickly blocked from one and the other contained incorrect information that was never corrected -I had no access to any form of control on either.

It is a very sad and complicated story but I wanted to make sure people understood that I was no longer involved.

Rediscovering Fox and Wild Cat History -WHY Are The "Experts" So Afraid?

 

I started my fox/wild canid work back in 1976 and that involved field work, observation in situ as well as a great deal (a lot!) of archival research .  Before the internet going to public libraries was the only way of finding fox related items; thousands of tightly packed and incredible small print columns.  

The main sources for information were books and those mainly pre-1900 since after that period dogma set in  and dogma repeated ad nauseum becomes 'fact'. 

Even back in the 1870s seasoned naturalists who were also, to their eternal damnation, hunters that helped wipe out species, would tour museums and explain why what those museums were displaying were not wild cats but hybrids -particularly the wild tabby. We are talking about people such as John Colquhoun and Frank Buckland who were seen as the most experienced and knowledgeable experts in the field. They had studied, hunted and killed and had wild cats stuffed and mounted and displayed in their collections. As noted in The Red Paper 2022 (Felids) at a meeting of Scottish naturalists in the 1890s a man who had studied wild cats in Scotland for 40 years presented a paper which backed up the declaration that the true Scottish wild cat had become extinct in the 1860s.

The problem was that sentimentality about "puss" our beloved pets as well as the popularisation of Scotland thanks to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert meant "everything Scottish" was grabbed at.  The tabby style wild cat you see in museums is a hybrid and nothing like the large cat that was once called "The English Tiger"/"The Highland Tiger" and which was hunted with dogs wearing metal studded or thick leather collars as the wild cat could kill them -and severely injure a human hunter. Museums wanted what the British Museum declared to be THE atypical wild cat. The tabby. Up until 1900 true wild cats were not to be found in museum displays as there was no interest.

As a young naturalist I was fooled into believing the wild tabby was the only wild cat type to have existed in the UK. Decades of research taught me a lesson.

The same applies with foxes. As a young naturalist I knew that "The Little Red Dog"; the Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) was the only fox type to ever exist in the UK. I used to chuckle about the silly stories of extremely large foxes.  All the experts whose books I read ridiculed the idea of a "mountain fox" as none of them had ever seen one so...it did not exist.  All this meant that actually finding book after book, article after article and newspaper reports of Mountain foxes was a slap in the face that woke me up.   

All of the "experts" I had looked up to had not carried out even the most simple research and worse -they were cribbing from one another so that they presented false information as fact. I then managed to find photographs, often very old of wild cats that were not the wild tabby and that led to my discovering illustrations and descriptions of Old fox types -eventually taxidermy proved that those descriptions and illustrations were correct and not exaggerations. What is more there were three types of fox each literally bred for the environment they inhabited. The small Cur fox that lived near human habitation. The Hill or mastiff fox that lived in rough and hilly terrain. Then there was the largest (photo examples in The Red Paper) the Mountain or Greyhound fox -not "reds" and lacking black markings like the red fox has.

It took years to understand the various local names given these foxes and longer before the taxidermies became available. Every reference I found has been included in my work so that it can all be peer reviewed. Even the evidence of a similar fox in Western Europe has been referenced -only one European museum has bothered to cooperate(and find an 1848 British fox in its collection). The, uh, 'expert' of 30 years on red foxes who had the museums collection of taxidermy in a room behind him but refused to even get up and check sums up the situation.

Money and ego.  Publishers have paid authors -"experts"- to write books on foxes and as it was all repeated dogma who gets the biggest red face from embarrassment? The ego is a problem. Yes, they have specialised in red foxes so they know about red foxes. No problem except that they have done no real historical research so the myth of Western Europe, the UK and Ireland having only ever had red foxes is perpetuated and rather than cooperating on the research to present the true history of foxes (or wild cats) the 'experts' hide in their offices unwilling to do anything. That is not how science is supposed to work.

The extinct Hong Kong fox could not be identified by Chinese/Hong Kong museums and it took me years to finally identify the species conclusively (just search blog posts). My colleague, LM, has two foxes that should be of historical importance to French natural history as they may well be the first foxes imported from Canada (and they are NOT red foxes) or they are examples of the extinct Western European fox -we know the name, date and even location of where these ancient foxes were displayed. The Natural History Museum (Paris) had absolutely no interest and even became obstructive in searching their archives.

Scandinavian naturalists doubt that there was an Old type fox in Norway. Yet, we have accounts in newspapers and books of these foxes being imported by hunts to England and descriptions of them -it is possible that, to fulfill hunting binges, the English hunts imported so many of these Norwegian foxes that it led to their extinction there.

All of this fully referenced and details presented and yet some "experts" even refused copies of my book to check it all out.   I had to self publish as despite book company editors praising the manuscripts there was a sudden change in attitude.  UK publishers have a lot of hunt supporters and hunters on their boards.

1976-2024 is a long time researching foxes/wild canids and I have learnt that dogma is always supported.

The Need For Historical Context In DNA testing of Foxes

 

I think that this quote from Science Open is very relevent when it comes to the paper I am about to comment on https://blog.scienceopen.com/2016/05/why-context-is-important-for-research/#:~:text=It%20comes%20from%20the%20Latin,the%20context%20of%20existing%20research.

"Context can defined as: “The circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement, or idea, and in terms of which it can be fully understood.” Simple follow on questions might be then, what is the context of a research article? How do we define that context? How do we build on that to do science more efficiently? The whole point for the existence of research articles is that they can be understood by as broad an audience as possible so that their re-use is maximised.

"There are many things that impinge upon the context of research. Paywalls, secretive and exclusive peer review, lack of discovery, lack of inter-operability, lack of accessibility. The list is practically endless, and a general by-product of a failure for traditional scholarly publishing models to embrace a Web-based era."

The paper I am going to look at, or, rather comment on is

Population genetic structure of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) in the UK

• Original Paper
• Open access
• Published: 19 December 2014

• pages 9–19, (2015)

Quoting from the abstract:

"The red fox (Vulpes vulpes) is common and widely distributed within the UK. It is a carrier or potential carrier of numerous zoonotic diseases. Despite this, there are no published reports on the population genetics of foxes in Britain. 

"In this study, we aim to provide an insight into recent historical movement of foxes within Britain, as well as a current assessment of the genetic diversity and gene flow within British populations. We used 14 microsatellite markers to analyse 501 red fox samples originating from England, southern Scotland and northern France. High genetic diversity was evident within the sample set as a whole and limited population genetic structure was present in British samples analysed. 

"Notably, STRUCTURE analysis found support of four population clusters, one of which grouped two southern England sampling areas with the nearby French samples from Calais, indicating recent (post-formation of the Channel) mixing of British and French populations.

 "This may coincide with reports of large-scale translocations of foxes into Britain during the nineteenth century for sport hunting. Other STRUCTURE populations may be related to geographic features or to cultural practices such as fox hunting. In addition, the two British urban populations analysed showed some degree of differentiation from their local rural counterparts."

This 2014 paper originated from people employed by DEFRA (Department for Environment Farming and Rural Affairs).  There is a note at one point of some people considering foxes to be "pests" which felt so out of place and left me wondering what the report's intention was.  A rather neutral and less biased way of putting it would have been: "Foxes are not and have never been officially classed as vermin in the UK". Simple fact and leave peoples' personal opinions to themselves.

Why do I mention context regarding this?  Because interesting DNA showing cross-breeding but there is no real context to explain the results. I know these people were doing DNA work (always welcome on wildlife) and what they knew of Vulpes vulpes appears to be very -VERY- basic and likely from online sources.

"indicating recent (post-formation of the Channel) mixing of British and French populations" is interesting but how? Why? How long after the formation of the Channel? Here is a basic answer.

As wolves, lynx, bears and other large mammals were still being hunted but heading to the precipice of extinction there was not enough to kill for 'sport'. Otters, beavers -literally anything on the land, rivers and in the air were hunted and killed. But there was no chase or final fight that 'sportsmen and women' so enjoyed. The fox was not a wolf but it was a wild dog so it could provide a chase as well as the 'fun' of a final fight back or being ripped to pieces. And so the fox was it.

There was a shortage of foxes in many parts of England by the late 16th century (see The Red Paper 2022 vol. 1) and we know that animals were being imported at that time and it seems very likely that fox importation began around this period. Up until that time there had been three variations of Old fox in the UK; variations created by the differing habitats they lived in. 

The Cur or Common fox was small and lived near human settlements where there was an almost symbiotic relationship (as there is today with the Red fox).

The Hill or Mastiff fox. Large and heavily built and living on the hills and mountain slopes.

The Mountain or Greyhound fox. These were the foxes that the 'sportsmen' craved to chase. We have taxidermy Mountain foxes from the early 19th century and they are indeed large. A taxidermy coyotes placed next the what was described as a "perfect example" of a Mountain fox is dwarfed.

These Old foxes all had one distinction and that was the lack of the black ears, socks and muzzle markings. Grey and white are known and there are examples in taxidermy. However, the main colour was overall brown.  We have all of the archival evidence of the past as well as physical taxidermy so there is no doubt that they existed and there is strong anecdotal evidence that Western Europe had its Old type fox which would have been a relative from before the Channel was created 10,000 years or so ago.

"This may coincide with reports of large-scale translocations of foxes into Britain during the nineteenth century for sport hunting" It is not in any way coincidental. By the 1860s red squirrels, various deer and other mammals were being imported after they became locally extinct or dropped in such numbers that there was a threat of loss of 'sport'. The 1860s are noted as a period in which many extinctions took place in the UK and Ireland faced similar with some Mountain foxes being sent as gifts to Irish hunts before the true Mountain fox died out. At one point (known records) up to 2000 plus foxes were imported per year to places such as Leadenhall Market.  Some hunts employed its own fox catchers to travel over to France to trap and bring back foxes.

Also, occasionally a master of the hunt would send a friend at another hunt foxes of various origins. This continued up until the 1930s.

Therefore, DNA similarities between British and French foxes is expected -I sent DEFRA much material back in 2009 so what they did with it I have no idea.

Since the late 1970s when wildlife rescues began to set up and then more into the 1980s and ever since rescued foxes and cubs are looked after until dispersal season at which point they are released into more fox friendly areas so a fox from Kent might end up in somewhere like Gloucestershire.  So, yes, inter-breeding would take place as foxes pair up.

With context the DNA results make sense.  Laboratory work always needs archival research.

Dayglo Gums Are NOT a Good Sign

 update: we have been asked to  submit this fox for PM due to the severe colouration of the gums.

______________________________________________________________________________

Although the Bristol fox necropsies (post mortems) have ended it does not mean that we are no longer interested in what is killing foxes.  

Today, Sarah Mills responded to a phone call about a fox collapsed on a street, "peddling" its legs and barking. The fox was collected and taken to a nearby vet practice where it was euthanised -there was absolutely nothing that could be done for it other than to relieve suffering. It is a sad decision to do this and it is never made lightly.

One examination of the fox while she took photographs for the record, Sarah found that the fox was extremely jaundiced -she had noticed this while collecting it but it is not possible to fully examine a live animal when the priority is to relieve suffering.

When I first saw the above photograph of the fox's gums I had to enlarge. Out of the foxes we have submitted with jaundice I believe that these are the yellowest gums -almost dayglo.

The jaundice was clearly visible on the ears.

Again, possibly the yellowest eyes so far seen. 

If you work for a rescue or wildlife centre and you find any foxes looking like this then do not just bury it or put it in a bag for disposal. Please look for the nearest Animal Plant Health Agency post mortem centre to you and ask to submit it. The post mortems are free if poisons or disease is suspected. With the current work going on the APHA and Wildlife Network for Disease Surveillance would be very interested in similar cases.

To keep telling people that this is all canine hepatitis is beyond silly. Our necropsies have not revealed one case of ICH and not a single case of the b"rampant in UK foxes" adenovirus. Claims like that are not backed up by facts as the Bristol project has shown.

We need to keep an open mind, not give out conclusions before even basic testing is carried out and above all else take fox health seriously as foxes are a key species in the environment and what happens to them is advanced warning to us about things going wrong.

You can check for APHA PM centres here http://apha.defra.gov.uk/postcode/pme.asp

Why Are People Terrified of Truth But Embrace Dogma? (I include Publishers)

 

 "I would not buy a copy of your book without reading what is in it and knowing what the conclusions are!" 

That was the response on one wildlife group when I referred to findings in The Red Paper 2022 Canids - I wasn't even trying to sell the book but responding to someone who asked why I had stated that the red foxes we see today are not the original British (England, Scotland, Wales and island of Ireland) foxes of which there were three variations.

Firstly, if you go to the effort of pulling together what is now 48 years of research on foxes and present that work with every source and reference then back in the old days when we read books there would have been interest. Being asked to give all of the main points and conclusions is not something anyone does since it then makes buying the book in question pointless. There are so many modern examples from the 1980s on of quotes and facts from old sources that are neither accurate quotes nor 'facts' because copy and pasting from other inaccurate sources is standard now. 

An example is the Wild Dog of Ennerdale or "Girt Dog of Ennerdale" which people (dubious fantasy promoters and grifters) are still saying might have been an early exotic escapee -a thylacine or tiger or even unknown British cat of some type. They all quote the original source of the account but what is reported shows that, even if they have a copy, they have never read it. There is a whole chapter on British wild dogs in my book which no one else has ever presented because it would mean weeks and months of endless archival research.

It took years for me to identify which type of fox had existed on Hong Kong before hunting made it extinct; something naturalists and museums there had been unable to do.

Every single source found in my research is in the book. Peer review is not possible unless someone checks every source and is aware of the three old variants. Zoological and natural history papers of the time are quoted as are people who were the top naturalists and specialists of their day.

All of this information I need to present in a casual post to someone who probably had no interest in reading anyway.

Secondly, how do you explain photographs? When I first started out I was young and believed every bit of dogma pushed my way by older naturalists.  The Mountain fox was the equivalent of the beluga whale sized trout that the weekend fisherman had slip away from him. Tall tales and that was it as no naturalist had ever seen a mountain fox.  Well, officially, the type had become extinct in the 1860s so only naturalists from the time had seen and written about them.

I found an illustration of a Mountain fox in a book from the 1800s. I chuckled as I knew how bad such artistic renditions could be -and we would never know what the fox actually really looked like. A few years ago we learnt that the fox in question was up for auction and the photographs showed that the artist had been amazingly accurate!  And then the Extinct Fox and Wild cat Museum got the actual taxidermy (which took me days to recover from the shock of).  How large was the Mountain fox?  An adult coyote taxidermy was propped up next to it and the fox made it look dwarfish. The photographs tell the story better than a few words.

How do you explain that it took a lot of time to understand the names used for these Old foxes? Greyhound fox, mountain fox, Mastiff fox, Hill fox or even Cur fox?  It took a lot of studying and work so that we now know what each type looked like and there is taxidermy to prove it (rare but if we do not have the actual specimen we have the photographs).

It is now believed that Western Europe also had an Old fox type with the red fox migrating from the east following human migrations.

Explain all of that in a quick post.

The problem is dogma. By the 1900s the Old foxes and wild cats were gone so what ever was about was "it". Teacher tells student Old foxes are a myth and red foxes are native. Student becomes teacher and passes along that information and so it goes ad infinitum. And book publishers have a vested interest in keeping that dogma going. Authors who are raised on red foxes write books and articles on the subject and earn money and publishers are not going to admit they got it all messed up. "The red fox in medieval Britain" is nonsense since they were not imported into the UK to replace rapidly becoming extinct foxes until the  late 16th or 17th centuries.

All of this can be applied to wild cats. The 1860s was a time when hunting made species endangered or extinct. Deer, red squirrels and many others were imported from Europe to keep 'sport' alive.  Why does UK species DNA match EU species DNA?  Because that is where they were brought over from.  The native Old foxes and Old wild cats became extinct -Scottish naturalists recorded that Scottish wild cats had become extinct around that time at a meeting in 1897.

Yes, we do have specimens of what would have been some of the last of the  Old type wild cats.

Publishers would not touch my books through fear possibly (you can work out why yourselves).  Noted publications in the UK will not even review the books -again, work it out for yourselves.  The late David Bellamy called the original (2010) Red Paper "explosive". I think that the most tel;ling comment came from a naturalist who told me that my books were "heretical"!

I have spent a few hundred pounds sending copies to various experts and bodies and the response?  Nothing. They will not even discuss the books.  One gentleman in a Swiss museum that I contacted re. Old types in Europe declared himself an expert on red foxes for 30 years and that the museum collection of fox taxidermy was in the room behind him but that he had no intention of going and looking at them over a wild theory. He refused a copy of the book.

We cannot simply sweep the true history of wildlife out the door because we need to present a truthful picture of what once existed but was wiped out through human activity.  We need to learn the lessons rather than dodge and lie; it seems when it comes to humans making species extinct in other parts of the world it is important but what was done in the UK....keep it locked away.

Peer review by -?