Hedgehogs in the UK ARE a Protected Species

 

 To be very clear: hedgehogs are protected in the UK under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (Schedule 6) and the Wild Mammals Protection Act 1996, making it illegal to kill, capture, or cruelly treat them. They are also listed as a species of "principal importance" under the NERC Act 2006, requiring conservation efforts.

Also -you can find this on other web pages of wildlife organisations- hedgehogs are officially classified as "Vulnerable to Extinction" on the Red List for British Mammals (2020), following drastic population declines. Studies indicate they have declined by 30-50% in rural areas and 30% in urban areas since 2000.

Which makes me ask what is going on when the British Hedgehog Preservation Society/Hedgehog Street/People's Trust for Endangered Species stated this in an email to someone who was concerned about hedgehogs on a proposed development site:

I have contacted the organisation involved and suggested they update their data.

 

The Collie-Badger (yes, I am rolling my eyes again)

 It does not help if you are involved in wildlife work or rescue and people try to lead you on wild goose chases. Two people forwarded this to me yesterday evening concerned that it was out in the day and reported as "very agitated". A third person asked whether it was AI as they were far from sure the report was genuine.

Firstly, there are no signs of AI. The scene is lit up by street lights.  

 

I have a large data base of badger photographs and videos (but nowhere near as extensive as the fox archive) and a handy tool to identify images. It took 30 seconds to identify this 'Bristol' image.    

Credit states: ""Badgers are becoming an increasingly common site in Britain's towns and cities, where they both forage and establish their setts. It remains unclear whether badgers actively choose urban areas for their homesteads, or if they fail to move when we build around them. - Credit: Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire & Rutland Badger Group"

That check, confirmed by also using an online image check, saved the person who was going to check from wasting time and fuel and searching around a large area.

I have not included the poster's name in case they really are that daft that they do not know the difference between a collie dog and badger but I suspect a hoax.

In the past I have had calls for "injured fox lying out by the road" which turned out to be a fluffy toy (we know who perpetrated that hoax) and we have even had photos sent of foxes at different locations- more hoaxes using stuffed foxes.

In the time wasted on hoaxes some injured animal could be found and treated or taken to a vet to be put out of pain. The fact that drivers in the City and County drive into foxes, badgers, deer and otters and do not even stop or report what has happened is bad enough but that people in the area think it is funny top waste our time with jokes and hoaxes shows the disregard there is toward wildlife.

It is not a joke.

Comparing Fox Death Totals February 2025 -February 2026

 

By this time in 2025 I had recorded 69 dead foxes on Bristol roads.

I have just recorded the 44th fox death this year.

So fox deaths are falling? No. People are still not bothering to report dead foxes and there were different factors in last6 year's high total.

Last year's fox count included the Blaise Castle dog attack and some illnesses.

This year's seem more car related so it works out more if we get rid of "natural causes". The one thing that is guaranteed is that Friday-Sunday night the kill rate rises. Even in "quiet little roads" with bends and turns that mean the drivers would not be able to stop in time if they saw a dog walker crossing the road.

During daylight on Ashton Drive I have observed not one or two but up to four drivers at a time speed as family groups or couples are crossing the road. No attempt to slow down. At night the sound of speeding cars and screeching brakes are clearly heard (foxes have been killed). The problem is that this road once had speed bumps along its full length but the council removed them and said it would be too expensive to replace them. Long winding track is perfect for speeder 'fun'.

We KNOW the danger points for wildlife on Bristol roads but neither the Labour or the Green party run council could care less.

Last year we had a high number of pregnant vixens killed and when you start having a breeding population wiped out it means fewer foxes and I think that we have hit that point in Bristol. The population is dropping drastically on a national level and the same can be said locally.

Bristol Badger Group DOES Exist -It Just Does Not Pay Badger Trust £50 a year

 

The Badger Trust apparently wants to set up a badger group in Bristol.

My first assumption was that someone had gotten it wrong but then someone else informed me that the Badger Trust was going to set up a Bristol group.

 

To say this is insulting does not cover it since they have been absolutely no help with badger issues in the area since I set up the Bristol Badger Group. All of the local fighting I've had to do to prevent developers and Bristol City Council destroying badger setts/territories I have had to do alone since all the help I got from the Trust was citing what the law says which I bloody well know. All of the hostile kick-back from stopping the developments I have had to take the brunt off. 

Regular visitors will know from past posts what has been going on –I record all issues here on the blog as well as on the Face Book Bristol Foxes and Badgers Group.

If anyone sees mention of them setting aup a Bristol group please correct the record.

 

For the record I just sent this to the trust:

”Hello.

 

“I was informed today that the Badger Trust is intending to set up a badger group in Bristol.

”I have been in communication with the trust a number of times over the years and you should be well aware that when the Avon Badger Group folded in 1993 I set up the Bristol Badger Group. We have been monitoring badger setts, rescuing badgers as well as recording badger deaths in the City and County of Bristol. I have also prevented development on badger sett areas -the Trust was informed on these developments and our work. I also pass on badger death reports I receive to Gloucestershire Badger group as well as the Somerset group.

”I find it rather insulting that the Trust has decided that it is going to set up a group in this area that Bristol Badger Group has covered for 32 years. We have had email exchanges as well as Face Book Messenger and a couple of phone conversations. How can the Trust not be aware of Bristol Badger Group?

”Terry Hooper
Bristol Badger Group (f 1994)"

The Internet Is NOT a Quotable Source

 

Regarding the previous posting about bounties on the Isle of Mull including for foxes and badgers I asked Google AI for information on foxes on Mull:

"There are no foxes on the Isle of Mull, a notable absence among Scottish islands, though they were reportedly hunted to extinction centuries ago, with pine martens filling a similar ecological niche today, often mistaken for foxes due to similar droppings. While you won't find native foxes, Mull boasts abundant wildlife like otters, deer, sea eagles, and various seabirds, making it a prime destination for nature lovers. "

"Centuries ago" so why were there bounties in the 19th century?

According to the Isle of Mull "wildlife on Mull"

"There are no foxes on Ulva and although the Vikings may have seen wolves (naming the island ‘Ullfur’ or ‘Wolf Island’) there have been none around lately."

They do not mention badgers and otters are a rare sight.  So it looks as though those bounties made foxes and badgers extinct on the island [if you read The Red Paper you will find that this may not be quite true].

What does this all prove? NEVER EVER trust an internet search as the AI is far from reliable  on even whether Thursday follows Wednesday and literally picks up bad info from online sources.  It also shows that whoever put the website together for Mull had no knowledge of the wildlife driven to extinction by islanders but then, not good publicity for an island.

Archive research whether newspapers, magazines and journals or books cannot be replace by very poor information on the internet that is copied and pasted  endlessly.

Sweden Stops Wolf Hunting

 

Bounties: Payment to Kill Wildlife

 

 Although hunts play a major part in wildlife extinctions it is very unpopular to correct dogma. As I am not looking for popularity let me correct major dogma. 

"It was the rich and upper classes that hunted and killed for fun and wiped out a lot of wildlife" 

Well, to an extent but along with all the well to do men and women were the normal every day folk who may well have killed for 'fun' but the main intention was to earn "easy money".  In The Red Papers I noted the various bounties paid for killing  foxes, badgers, otters and so on and these were bounties paid out all over the country. In The Scottish Annals of Natural History (1895) Vol 15 page 193:

Yes, everything could be killed including house (pet) cats and before anyone thinks that would be a rarity well 6d back then bought a lot and if you didn't like next door's moggy and you saw it walking about...easy pickings. Game keepers, of course, relished shooting anything but pet cats and pet dogs were included (there is a black joke, albeit factual, that gamekeepers always had great fruit and vegetable crops because of the "fertilizer" -cats and dogs they had shot).

So do not just blame organised and casual hunting for 'fun' but remember everyday ordinary folk killed off wildlife for fun and profit, too (motorists today kill off thousands of foxes, badgers,m otters, cats, dogs, deer and other species without even giving it a second thought so not much changes).