Whether otters, foxes, badgers, pine martens or birds of prey be aware: killing them and dumping them by the side of the road is an old farmers trick.
The Fox Death study found two fox snaring cases -both found by the roadside.
People seeing dead wildlife by the road assume all are road kill so why ask questions?
You SHOULD ask questions.
I posted This Is What The UK Thinks of Wildlife and guess what? Even more evidence. Natural England seem to sign off on animal death warrants (oops. "Cull licences") like people throw confetti at a wedding. Are they being paid for these licences? Does anyone at NE even check personally on a situation before issuing a licence to kill wildlife -and this is far more common than people know- ? Oh, the old "Health and public safety" excuse -the club spokesman uses the phrase a lot along with the crocodile tears and "we never wanted to do this"fakery.
Name the "pest controller"/company who carried out the killings.
Every night hundreds of men and women (including off duty police officers ("blue insurance") go out 'sport' shooting -foxes, deer, birds in fact anything "legal" or illegal for kicks. HOW can polirticians say we have the greatest gun control when morons rush out to shoot and kill every day? And Natural England mentions declining species numbers (well, they try to avoid it unless it serves a purpose) and "environmental causes" but totally ignore the, uh, 'sportsmen' -the same type of people who wiped out so many UK species in the 19th cemtury -all through 'sport'.
Many thouysands of birds are killed by local authorities each year on, uh "health and safety" grounds. 300,000 badgers were killed (Wales wants to go for a cull next) based on fake science and health and safety issues.
The UK is simply anti wildlife and takes any opportunity (even without cars) to kill it -shooting, snaring, poisoning it goes on and on and everyone puts on the fake smiling face and "We LOVE Wildlife" badgeswhile hiding their blood stained hands behind their backs.
https://uk.yahoo.com/news/tennis-club-secretly-asked-marksman-212527298.html
The
Members of one of
They are "furious" after the management at
Residents reported hearing a volley of gunshots shortly after sunrise and later learned that eight birds had been killed, including goslings, according to The Times.
The club, set on the exclusive St George's Hill estate, has long been associated with famous residents including John Lennon, Jenson Button and Sue Barker.
Members pay an annual fee of £2,664 on top of a £2,000 joining charge. In return, they have access to 34 courts, including grass, clay and indoor surfaces, as well as a swimming pool and clubhouse.
The club was also where Emma Raducanu won the UK Pro Series and the UK Pro Classic in 2020, a year before her US Open triumph.
It has previously embraced the
The year before, it posted a photograph of two adults and two goslings walking across a tennis court in wet weather, captioned: "Canadian geese family enjoyed the courts today."
An adult and gosling who were spared the cull on July 16 were allegedly "found in a distressed state the same day wandering the local area", according to a social media post.
It said: "The tennis club claim they were pests and murdered them by the club's lake, which they used as their home, much to the delight of the young and old club members. Such barbaric action in a situation where local wildlife organisations would have taken them in."
Members claimed the birds were part of the "beauty" of the club and that they were not consulted about the cull.
"The members have always liked the geese," one long-standing member said. "It is sometimes a bit annoying because they amble on to the courts and leave their poo.
"But that does not mean they had to be shot. It's a private estate and the residents are concerned about a firearm being brought in without any warning."
Another player added: "The club management ordered this because they felt the birds were making the courts messy. There was no consultation with the members. The club is in a beautiful setting and the birds were part of that."
One member claimed they were initially told the birds had been relocated, only to find out later that they had been shot.
"The
"First we were told they had been rehomed and then that they had 'flown off'. The members and local residents are furious."
The shooting, which started at 5.25am, was carried out by a marksman operating under a Natural England licence permitting the culling of certain bird species to protect public health and safety.
Surrey Police said they were informed about the shooting at 5.18am by a pest controller.
Miles Hill, the club's chief executive, said: "We fully understand that some members and estate residents have been upset by what occurred.
"This was not a decision the club wished to take, nor one that was taken lightly. It followed many months of attempting to manage a growing resident population of
"The decision was taken primarily on the grounds of public health and public safety.
"Despite extensive daily cleaning by multiple members of our grounds team, we were increasingly unable to keep pace with the volume of faeces being produced."
Mr Hill said it was important for the cull to remain secret so the operation could be carried out safely.
"The decision reflected a genuine desire to avoid causing unnecessary concern, distress or alarm over what was a lawful operational matter undertaken in the interests of public health and safety," he added.
He said the club had "reflected carefully" on the incident and was developing a wildlife management plan under which lethal control would remain a measure of "absolute last resort".
"The recent arrival of further
"Where members made inquiries to me about the absence of the geese, I responded directly, openly and honestly, explaining the reasons for the decision and the background that led to it."
Canada Geese were introduced to
They are now well established in the
My correction TWO foxes. A badger was shot and killed. Police can ignore the rest (likely will do) but the badger is a wildlife crime. We'll see...
Someone shot and killed a deer, fox, badger and some rabbits then threw them over a gate in Hambrook. They were caught on CCTV and police involved. I have been asked to be kept informed but wildlife crime seems to be treated as a waste of time. Every night men and women go out to shoot and kill for 'fun' and their FB groups call them "sportsmen/women".
Cats, sheep -boring night anything is a fair target. There is no reason why anyone in the UK should have a fire arm other for in enclosed shooting ranges for 'sport'
I have given up on the UK as the people in it seem set to want to kill anything wild.
Quite seriously the UK attitude seems to be "It takes a terrible lot of time and effort so let's be as slow as we can". Is it any wonder wildlife crimne goes undetected in the UK?
To perform post-mortem investigation it is crucial that an animal is kept under cool temperatures, but not frozen.
Although the animal is wrapped in two layers of plastic and thus the outside in principle should be clean, it is not advisable to put an animal in the same refrigerator as food.
Animals have insulating fur or feathers, which means that the organs inside do not cool down quickly and the decomposition process (autolysis)** starts quickly.
Please do not pick up a dead animal with bare hands, but use disposable gloves or a plastic bag.
Is it freezing?
Then put the animal wrapped in newspaper in an unheated shed so that the temperature is less than 4 °C, but not freezing.
Is it between 0 and 4 °C outside?
Then the cadaver can be kept outside as long as they are put in the shade.
Is it warmer than 4 °C outside?
Then the animal must be kept as cool as possible (but not in the freezer).
Cool the animal thoroughly with cold water before double* wrapping them. If an animal is placed in a plastic bag still warm, it can start to swelter and will not cool down quickly enough.
Double wrap* the animal and place them as cool as possible, but not in the freezer. A cellar or floor in the shed often feels cold, but is usually too warm.
A number of options for keeping the double-wrapped animal cool until they can be picked up are:
Roll a newspaper around the wrapped animal and place them together with one or more cooling elements in a box with several newspapers (wads). Clean the cooling elements thoroughly before reusing them.
Place the packed animal in a refrigerator where no food is stored.
Place the packed animal in a bucket/tray/wheelbarrow with cold water with ice cubes or cooling elements. Make sure it is in the shade. If the weather is warm, it is advisable to replace the elements or add new ice cubes every few hours. Before transporting, put a dry plastic bag around it and attach the animal’s details to the dry bag. Clean the cooling elements thoroughly before reusing them.
* Double wrapping:
Double wrapping (in two plastic bags, with the outer plastic bag remaining ‘clean’) is important to prevent contamination of the environment during cooling and transport.
Attach the animal’s details (animal species, your name and place of residence) to the (outer) plastic bag. It is best to attach a printed copy of the completed form.
You can read how to pack the carcass in the manual for packing a carcass or watch the video on double packaging small carcasses.
**Autolysis
The internal decomposition process begins shortly after an animal has died. Depending on the size of the animal, its insulating fur and/or layer of fat and the circumstances (lying in the sun, and/or at warm temperatures) the organs can be unsuitable for proper post-mortem investigation within a few hours. An animal can still look perfect on the outside, while the organs are already largely decayed.
If you ever take a sick fox into a vet and it dies then let us know, If the vet says "It's been poiisoned" then tell them it is a possible wildlife crime and as its poison the fox needs to be submitted to the Wildlife Crimes Investigation Unit or, in Bristol, contact Bristol Uni Post Mortem Services and ask to submit the fox for post mortem examination (PME).
Anything to do with the late Mike Collins and his work while running the Avon Badger Group seem lost. Avon Wildlife Trust just don't respond and BRERC claims all the data was returned to a group that ceased before 1994 and either a dead man or...or they are lying?
I did a recent post on the Fox Project Bristol and my blog about reported so KNOWN fox deaths and what the actual total might be.
https://terryhoopernaturalist.blogspot.com/2026/07/182-reported-dead-foxes-total-is-higher.html
That was scary enough but then I wondered whether statistics could guestimate the actual number of dead badgers in the City and County of Bristol (yes, for those who did not know Bristol is not just a City). So far we have had 73 reported death so ....
The actual number of badgers killed is likely much higher than 73 . Experts estimate that up to (50,000\) badgers die on UK roads yearly. Studies show that for every dead badger seen and reported 2-3 others often die nearby or off-road from their injuries. Therefore, 73 observed deaths could mean 146 to 219 actually died.
First off it used to be 100,000 then 60,000now 50,000 is the estimate. I do not believe that after the cull took 300,000 badgers that 50,000 are currently dying. The population is so low and even though no longer present in certain areas (due to the cull) that 50,000 each year would mean we have 2-3 years before badgers are extinct.
I have asked Highways England and they do not record what dead animals their teams remove from roads. A simple email reading "Orpington 23 06 2026 badger" (or "fox" could be sent. How long does that take? But local highway authorities such as Bristol City (Green) Council's Street Clean Team will not even cooperate: they just pick up and send for incineration.
That said, sadly, a total of 146+/- would not surprise me. And remember this is just road deaths not death by rodenticide, snaring or illegal killing by local badger men and badger baiting (yes, that still goes on).
Rather like foxes and the fast decreasing UK population I think it time English badgers were moved onto the Red List as a species facing extinction.
Whether otters, foxes, badgers, pine martens or birds of prey be aware: killing them and dumping them by the side of the road is an old fa...
