Leptospirosis in Seals?

(c)2025 The Marine Mammal Center

 People know -or should do- about leptospirosis in foxes with the likely cause being rats and lack of immunity in some foxes.

So lepto in seals?

According to the California Marine Mammal Centre https://www.marinemammalcenter.org/science-conservation/research-library/leptospirosis

“Every four to five years, The Marine Mammal Center sees a surge in the number of California sea lions that are admitted with symptoms of leptospirosis.

"This bacterial infection affects the  kidneys and can be lethal. If not treated, the bacteria can cause irreversible kidney damage.

“What Is Leptospirosis?

"Leptospirosis is caused by a spiral-shaped bacteria called Leptospira. Veterinarians can usually identify leptospirosis in a patient even before laboratory tests confirm a diagnosis because of the infection's distinctive symptoms in California sea lions, which include drinking water and folding the flippers over the abdomen.

“Marine mammals generally do not need to drink water because they receive all the hydration they need from food sources. But when they are infected with the Leptospira, their kidneys stop functioning properly and cannot filter toxins or regulate hydration.

 "Sea lions diagnosed with leptospirosis are treated with antibiotics, fluids and other supportive care, such as gastroprotectants for stomach and intestinal ulcers. Unfortunately, even with treatment, roughly two-thirds of the animals that strand with acute leptospirosis do not survive."

Leptospirosis in seals is caused by infection with the bacteria Leptospirosis interrogans, which is spread through contact with the urine or other bodily fluids of infected animals, or through contaminated water or soil. The bacteria can also be found in the kidneys of infected animals and are shed in their urine, contaminating the environment. 

Sarrazin and The First Two Foxes Shipped From Canada to France -or Old Western Fox Types?

 This is an update of sorts.  I was asked if I had managed to sort out the Sarrazin fox mystery. Were they Old Western Fox types or were they the first old type of North American fox shipped to Europe? Either way they are significant -historically to France in either case but to those interested in wild canid history -definitely.

I sent email and a letter request to the Natural History Museum Paris outlining everything. I even had two emails translated to French so that there was no doubt about why I was contacting them.

Nothing other than a link to their online catalogue which tells you nothing and it just seemed to be a case of the Museum having no interest in even discussing the taxidermies and their history.

Please do not get me wrong because I have had similar disinterest from German museums. Silence might bv seen as far better than being extremely insulted by some sit-on-his-ass alleged 'expert' at a Swiss museum. A museum in the Netherlands was the only one to cooperate and actually came up with an 1843 taxidermy from England.

Museums tend to be run by younger people who have no interest in history or anything else other than to make their institutions look good and draw in money -items of historical significance to their country.... "meh"

As I always end these posts with a "if anyone in France can actually look into this please get in touch" I'll do that here.

__________________________________________________________________

 Michel Sarrazin (5th September 1659 – 8th September 1734), was an early Canadian surgeon, physician, scientist and naturalist. Born in Nuits-sous-Beaune in the province of Burgundy, he immigrated at age 25 to the colony of New France as a surgeon. He remained in the colony for the rest of his life, returning to France only during two brief periods. While in New France, his medical skills were constantly in demand, and he quickly rose in the ranks, becoming one of the colonial elite.

 

Note that this painting is usually thought to be of Michel Sarrazin, however there is some debate as to whether or not this is true.

Sarrazin was both a seigneur and a member of the Conseil Superieur, and held considerable influence in the colony. He had a great interest in botany, and kept up a frequent correspondence with the Académie Royale des Sciences in France, sending fellow scientists numerous specimens of North American plants, as well as detailed descriptions of dissections of animals.

Sarrazin developed a vast knowledge of both the cultural and natural world of New France, and is credited being one of the first scientists to systematically catalogue ecosystems and samples found in New France, resulting in many important botanical discoveries. 

Sarrazin received some medical training in France before he was appointed as surgeon to the King’s troops in the colony of New France in 1685.[1] This position required him to minister to both soldiers and town inhabitants. He was quickly noticed for his medical skill, and within a year was promoted to Surgeon Major, becoming the first person to hold this position in the colony.

As Surgeon Major, Sarrazin travelled extensively with troops on expeditions to provide them with medical care. When he wasn't with the troops, Sarrazin was kept busy travelling between the Hotels-dieu of Québec and Montreal, essentially treating the "civilian population of the entire colony".

By 1694, however, he decided to return to France to continue his studies in medicine. He was encouraged to return quickly by colonial authorities including Indendant Bochart de Champigny, who recognized the value and necessity of having a skilled doctor in the colony.

Back in France, Sarrazin spent three years studying in both Paris and Reims, where he received his doctorate of medicine. During his time in Paris, he spent time at the Jardin des Plantes, where he met and studied under Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, who introduced him to botany and "stimulated a lifelong interest in collecting and classifying".  Sarrazin would later become a "correspondant" to Tournefort, and their relationship provided Sarrazin with an important link to the Académie Royale des Sciences.

Work with the Académie Royale des Sciences

As a correspondent of the Académie Royale des Sciences, Sarrazin consistently sent samples back to Paris, with no expectation of recognition. New France's uncharted lands proved challenging to botanists, as Sarrazin stated in his correspondence, "I could cross all of Europe more easily, and with less danger, than I could cross 100 leagues in Canada". :   One of Sarrazin's Paris correspondents, Sebastien Vaillant, compiled the documents and specimens sent to New France from Sarrazin into a book published in 1708 titled "Histoires des plantes de Canada". This was the first French botanical text of this nature studying North American flora and fauna.

However, Sarrazin's work remained largely unpublished. His only publication by the Académie Royale des Sciences discussed the syrup extraction process of Canadian maple trees, which can be found in "Observations botaniques." Moreover, Sarrazin printed his observations on the fauna of New France as well, notably describing the beaver, the muskrat, the porcupine, the harbour seal, and the wolverine. Therefore, Sarrazin allowed the people of France to acquire more extensive and diverse knowledge on the flora and fauna of New France.

Sarrazin was also a surgeon, and although he was not permitted to diagnose illnesses or prescribe medication, he was adept at healing fractures, bandaging wounds, draining abscesses and bleeding patients. Sarrazin was the only certified surgeon present during a smallpox epidemic aboard a ship anchored in Québec, the Diligente, and thus was in charge of medical procedure surrounding the ordeal. While there was no treatment for smallpox, Sarrazin was successful in preventing the spread of disease and in alleviating the pain of his patients by administering cold baths for the fever and powder for the sores.

Sarrazin's specimens can now be found in the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, in Paris; including a specimen of Sarracenia purpurea.

Maison Michel-Sarrazin

The Maison Michel-Sarrazin is a private palliative care, non-profit hospital. The House opened its doors in 1985 and since then has treated over 7,000 patients.[7] In 2010, the House celebrated its 25th anniversary.

Le Prix Michel Sarrazin

The Michel Sarrazin Award recognizes the scientific career and outstanding contribution of an experienced Québécois scientist. It is awarded annually to a scientist who, through innovation and productivity, has contributed in vital ways to the advancement of biomedical research.

 Sarrazin was a notable historical personality with many achievements to his name including the first mastectomy in North America (on 29th May, 1700, at the Hotel-Dieu of Québec). Amongst specimens sent back to France, as noted, were New World animals and these included two foxes -the first from the Americas to Europe.

My colleague, LM, has made a number of observations as well as taxidermy finds of historical value from the UK. LM contacted me one day about a name printed on the botton of a taxidermy piece.

Inscription "Sarrazin", "Naturaliste" and "Fontenay-le-Comte" where there was a small private museum at one time owned by  Mathurin Jacques Brisson  30th April 1723 – 23rd June 1806) a noted French zoologist and natural philosopher resided at Fontenay in 1783 so the connection seems solid.

Mathurin Jacques Brisson

On checking the only conclusion that could be drawn was that this was one of the Sarrazin foxes. That made it an important piece in french natural history. The specimen is shown below.

Never before photographed and certainly hidden away from public gaze for a century or more. To say that we were excited to have one more historical taxidermy is an understatement.  A bigger shock came when another purchase was checked and would seem to be for all intents and purposes the second Sarrazin fox.

Again, these finds are solely down to LM and that is where the credit should go. 

What does the French Natural History Museum Paris think of these finds? No idea as they have not bothered to respond to emails on the matter. One would assume that with Sarrazin's name (if they know who he was) and the fact that these were the first two foxes transported from Canada to France that there might be some interest. Addenda. After a year I gave up and you can read about the responses here:

 https://foxwildcatwolverineproject.blogspot.com/2023/06/a-huge-wall-of-dogma-and-non-cooperation.html

How did they get into the UK?  Well, considering conflicts such as the Napoleonic War, World Wars I and II it is possible that they just came into someones possession. However, it is more likely that in financial hard times the foxes and other specimens were sold off and there is still a trade in French fox taxidermy today.

.French establishments may have no interest in the two foxes or their history ('surprise') but LM now has guardianship of them and they are saved for posterity not some "man cave" or "living room bar".

Notes on Sarrazin

 Rousseau, Jacques. "Sarrazin, Michel". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Retrieved Feb 2, 2013.

Young, Kathryn A. (Autumn 1993). "Crown agent-Canadian correspondent: Michel Sarrazin and the Académie Royale des Sciences, 1697–1734". French Historical Studies. 18 (2): 416–433 [423]. doi:10.2307/286874. JSTOR 286874

Tondreau, R. L. (October 1963). "Michel Sarrazin (1659-1734): The Father Of French Canadian Science". Transactions and Studies of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. 31: 124–127. PMID 14072248.

Tésio, Stephanie. "Daily Life: Health and Medicine". Virtual Museum of New France. Retrieved Feb 2, 2013.

"Sarracenia Linnaeus". www.labunix.uqam.ca. Retrieved 27 November 2018.

Vallée, Arthur (1927). Un biologiste canadien: Michel Sarrazin 1659–1735, Sa vie, ses travaux et son temps. Quebec: Proulx.

 "Maison Michel Sarrazin".

    Eccles, W. J. Canada Under Louis XIV 1663–1701. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1964

 Tard, Louis-Martin. Michel Sarrazin: le premier scientific du Canada. Montreal: XYZ, 1996.

 Gauthier, Jean-Richard. Michel Sarrazin : un médecin du roi en Nouvelle-France. Sillery, Quebec: Septentrion, 2007.

 Caron, Wilfred-M. "History of Canadian Surgery: The Early Surgeons of Quebec." Canadian Journal of Surgery. 8. (July 1965): 239–53.

 Parsons, Christopher. "Plants and Peoples: French and Indigenous Botanical Knowledges in Colonial North America, 1600–1760." PhD diss., University of Toronto, 2011.

"Save The (too late) Scottish Wild Cat!"

 

 How can people be so ignorant on the wild cat?  

I am quite used to being ignored and people rejecting the decades of documented research work and it has to be said that people are making money out of promoting an attempt to 'save' a Scottish wild cat that is not.  

Back in 1897 Scottish naturalists and zoologists including a man who had dedicated 40 years to studying wild cats declared that the species had become extinct some time in the 1860s. A period that could well be referred to as the Historical British Extinction Period (HBEP). 

Well known and regarded naturalists/authors who had studied wild cats noted, from the 1870s on, that on visits to museums the specimens listed as "Scottish Wild Cat" were all hybrids lacking the distinctive wild cat diagnostic features.  All of this I covered in detail, and fully referenced, in The Red Paper 2022: Felids and that is profusely illustrated by photographs and illustrations -including photos of taxidermies of the last generation of Old wild cat (kill;ed c 1830s) before the species became extinct. 

 I found out in the early 1990s that there were credible accounts of these tabby wild cats around England and Wales right up until the early 1940s. My assumption as a still young naturalist was that these were instances of relic populations in wild areas. I was still gullible enough to believe the dogma that started in the early 1900s as author after another (the "experts") quoted the same lines and who was I to argue?   

Then I read an off-the-cuff comment made by a forester. I checked what had been said and that led me to another (very old) source. I queried more experienced naturalists (all now extinct themselves) about what I had found: "Ignore it -it's all tall stories!" and even "Never looked into it because it is patently rubbish!"  

I felt a bit stupid to be honest so decided that I would simply follow the evidence presented in works from the 18th century to the early 1900s. Considering the size of the current claimed Scottish wild cat I had to ask why, when they were hunted by 'sportsmen' with packs of dogs those dogs were fitted with leather collars full of metal studs?   

The "English Tiger" when it became extinct due to hunting and environmental destruction of forests and woods, had its name taken for its northern cousin and so "The Highland Tiger" was the last of the Old wild cats. It should be noted that for many decades those calling themselves "Cryptozoologists" have argued or suggested (strongly) that the size of the cats described, their lack of fear in taking on humans and how they mauled and sometimes killed hunting dogs indicated that this was a now extinct (correct) but unknown cat species or an exotic cat ("perhaps a tiger?") that escaped into the wild. I have found that in one "mystery creature" case after another cited by the fringe that not one of them has carried out real research or even gone to the available original sources (as with "The Great Dog of Ennerdale").   

The fact is that, as naturalists noted back in the 1700s, the wild cat had only continued to exist for "hundreds of years due to interbreeding with feral domestic cats".  In fact, the interbreeding may have begun as far back as at least the Roman occupation of Britain. In Europe with no water boundaries the feral domestics and European wild cats no doubt interbred for hundreds of years -as in the UK only isolated pockets of true wild cats existing until their demise via interbreeding until we have the wild cat of today.

The Old wild cats were large and their yellow coat and stripes gave them their moniker. They were large and humans thinking it would be fun to hunt them soon learnt that, unlike the fox, the cat fought back and not until it could get away but until its enemies whether human or canid retreated (with the cat not letting up).  

We know that foxes (by the thousands each year) were imported from Europe as were deer and squirrel and other animals needed to keep the hunt going.  When you learn how UK wildlife DNA matches European wildlife DNA that is the reason why -researchers doing this work appear to be totally unaware of this period (over 200 years) mass importation of wildlife and as I can attest; if you point this out to them they will completely ignore you (research is money and dogma helps the money go around).  

But this importation explains the current wild tabby.  My theory that the reports continuing up until the 1940s were indications of isolated relic populations became nonsense when I was carrying out historical research into exotic species in the UK. Travelling and private menageries as well as random naturalists had specimens of European wild cats (all fully documented and I have the newspaper archive clippings) and when animals bred "excess stock" was sold off or exchanged for animals the menageries or zoos did not have. It meant that by the 1900s there was, in captivity, a huge population of European wild cats and escapes were far from rare.  

It meant that there were far more European wild cats in the UK than there were the Old British wild cats (due to the latter being extinct).  In later years I found every image I could of taxidermy examples of "wild cats" from around the UK and England in particular and the colours varied and although some wild cat traits were evident the signs of the hybrid were also very clear.  So had relic populations interbred with domestic feral cats until only hybrids were left?  

I do not think so.  

While I was following up on various wild cat reports while compiling The Red Paper there was an account from the North of England of a doctor who had shot a wild cat and had it stuffed and mounted.  The museum it was later given to could not find it but being persistent pays off as following up on one of my leads they found it!  At the time it was described as "typical of the Highland wild cats" but it was not (photo of it in the already mentioned Red Paper) and the story did not end with the doctor who had, at the time of killing the cat had wounded another which ran off and presumably died. So we had a pair based on the description.  

Things got more complicated. Another person who had a licence to use the same "Shooting country" (land owned by someone who sold licences and get the area fully stocked for 'fun' shooters) had reported that the doctor's cat looked like the two he had shot some time before -after shooting the cats he simply threw them onto a tree branch and carried on having his 'fun' -it really was just about killing something.  However, two similar cats had been shot just over the boundary of the area also. 

What was going on?  Looking around archives I found the answer; the land owner had released the wild cats into the shooting country to be  'game' for the shooters who held licences. If you had nothing to shoot in your land you obviously could not sell licences.  The rarity of such cats (like every other species wiped out by hunting) did not matter. What mattered was to go out and shoot and kill something for 'fun' (then as today a psychological bloodlust)  The landowner in question, as far as I can ascertain since the only cats we know of definitely are the ones reported killed, released at least three pairs of wild cats.  

It seems that, as with releasing foxes into hunting territories as well as red squirrels(for shooting)  those within hunting circles ("the sport") were also releasing wild cats. When you look at where the various hybrid wild cats were killed you find they were on parts of many old estates  and hunting territories and from that it can be surmised that there was a glut of wild cats at one point -sold by closing down travelling or static menageries or private collections.  

Hunting wild cats was still popular in Scotland in the late 19th century and it explains why the hybrid tabby is now seen as the 'true' wild cat.  Looking at historical photographs and illustrations (in the  book) you see how there were so many 'true wild cats' and no one noticed because the zoologists from 1900 on simply spouted dogma and did no real research -museums said "this taxidermy is of a true wild cat" so they went with that. Dogma continued equals more books and research grants.

Zoologists and naturalists have continually tripped over the elephant in the room and not even looked to see what it was they tripped over.

Every thing required is openly accessible and after more than 40 years I have presented the evidence as well as every possible reference source.  But the experts do not want to slip out of the comfortable chair and so we will have more and more generations taught dogma rather than the actual lesson they need to learn from; human destruction of the environment and continued hunting devastated British wildlife and no matter how often you claim to be trying to "save" the Scottish wild cat you cannot. 

It became extinct over 165 years ago.


See also

https://foxwildcatwolverineproject.blogspot.com/2024/04/it-is-wild-cat-but-is-not-can-i-make.html

226 pp

Paperback

Interior Color and Black and white

Dimensions  A4 (8.27 x 11.69 in / 210 x 297 mm)

https://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/the-red-paper-2022-volume-2-felids/paperback/product-n48529.html?

£25.00

In 1896 Scottish naturalists and zoologists declared that the true Scottish wild cat had become extinct by the 1860s. What we see today is nothing more than a wild tabby cat. In this work the true history and destruction of wild cats from England, Wales (where hybrids clung on into the 1940s) and Scotland is explored and after decades of research the true look of the wild cat is revealed. The "English Tiger" and "Highland Tiger" truly lived up to that name.

Dogma is finally thrown out.

There is also a look at the "New Native Cats" ranging from Asian Golden Cats, Lynx, Puma and others and the evidence leading to their being so designated.

No silly press or media stories just solid facts backed up by evidence.

The author acted as an exotic species wildlife consultant to UK police forces from 1977-2015 as well as cooperated with university projects on the subject.

Island cats as well as feral cats their lifestyles and problems mare also covered .

Fully referenced and including maps, illustrations and very rare photographs -some never before seen in print- make this a book for amateur naturalists and zoologists.

A Quick Summary, or is it a moan?

 

I have previously posted about the stealing of my original research by others (interestingly I am blocked from all their media now so I cannot contact them over this any more -I am alerted to more of my work being used by this person.

https://foxwildcatwolverineproject.blogspot.com/2025/07/stealing-original-research.html

I have pointed out how the UK, in general is anti-wildlife

https://foxwildcatwolverineproject.blogspot.com/2025/06/the-uk-is-simply-anti-wildlife-and-truth.html

Having reached over 270 (known) dead foxes so far in Bristol and 73 (known) badger deaths the Bristol Green Party run  City Council has now refused to even look at the issue as it pushes on with developing or trying to develop on Green Spaces in the City. The Green Party UK has decided that it has no interest in wildlife or conservation and their cop out is to pass it all back to Bristol. The Green Party UK is NOT wildlife or environment friendly.

https://foxwildcatwolverineproject.blogspot.com/2025/08/the-failure-of-green-party-labour-20.html

The greatest problem has been that after 6 years of my life given to the Bristol Fox Deaths post mortems study I cannot publish the full report. Not only did the pathologist involved (on receipt of the final editing report) immediately attack me via email and make allegations that were provably false but he went to shut down my unconnected publishing business which I established in 2009. I just managed to save it by providing a lot of documentary evidence showing the false accusations but then the pathologist consulted a barrister to see "how much more I can do" -an open threat along with more false allegations.

The fact that the University of Bristol Posy Mortem Services, Langley Veterinary College, Natural England and the Animal Plan t Health Advisory for which this person worked refused flatly to even respond to my official complaint about his behaviour means that they fully endorse his actions which a solicitor informs me would clearly fall under cyber bullying as well as defamation laws.

WHY was it necessary to shut down a report -the first of its kind in the UK- that was intended to help wildlife vets as well as wildlife rescues?  It makes no sense but, officially, the report is suppressed.

https://foxwildcatwolverineproject.blogspot.com/2025/03/the-bristol-fox-deaths-report-and-why.html

I mention this since, apparently, my name is still being maligned in private and at least at one event. Apparently my publishing business is still periodically checked by certain persons with a view of taking action.

Two possible animal deaths that might be disease related I reported but was told that (paraphrasing) "We don't care. We are accepting nothing from you".

I have been a field naturalist and wildlife archivist/researcher for coming up to 50 years but all of that experience and knowledge is slapped down for various quite insulting reasons. I do wonder at times whether I might have achieved more in Europe?

No, It Is NOT "ALL Leptospirosis!"

 

Oh I wish I could just talk to wildlife rescues and vets and explain things to them but none seem to want to communicate (and I know why).  

More and more of these people since I posted the fox deaths results are seeing jaundice or another symptom and citing "leptospirosis" without carrying out any post mortem or testing and unless you do that you cannot say for sure. I am reminded of the vet who stated categorically that the fox presented "has lepto -you can smell it on its breath!" Post mortem and testing and...no leptospirosis.  

Jaundice in foxes can have a number of causes  -as we found and as I reported. To take jaundice and say "lepto" is rather like the six recorded vets (I think it was actually more than six) who outright stated "This fox has been poisoned. It has all the tell-tale signs" which then whipped up scare stories and claims of a "Bristol Fox Poisoner" but post mortems revealed deaths due to being hit by cars.   

Leptospirosis is found in UK foxes but whether it is a regional thing is hard to say. Personally, I think it is a national problem since foxes are excellent rodent controllers and rats carry lepto -a senior vet with years of experience when told that the large number of foxes died due to lepto responded "lepto -as in rats?" yep.

Environmental issues that may be adding to the problem need to be studied but no one in the UK is going to invest money or time on looking into that "it's rats and foxes -who cares?!" It also need to be looked at from the perspective of young foxes and how quickly they build up an immunity to lepto or babesia -an immunity carried by most foxes. So why are so many not immune?  Again, foxes are dying out and we have already lost an estimated 65-70% so why bother?  

The UK, as I have stated many times, is not interested in long term study or conservation of species and one government after another has done its utmost to make wildlife decline its goal.  No wildlife then no obstacle to developing countryside and green spaces. Labour is doing its best to see to that.  

Wildlife rescues and vets are obstinate in that they do not want to give figures for how many foxes they euthanise each year and for what causes (although some rescues will point fingers at others that mention doing so). I have found that in reports where there appears to be lepto or some other disease involved that wildlife vets respond to suggestions that PMs and testing are carried with "I'm the vet and I'll do that when I feel it necessary" while rescues either will not respond or simply state "we don't do post mortems" or even "We wouldn't want to put it through a post mortem". Really? It is dead and what you find out might help others. Wildlife vets and wildlife rescues are part of the problem and after more than ten (10) years of trying I have not found one that is cooperative.  

Similarly the vastly out-of-date attitude amongst vets and rescues that a fox with a facial injury cannot live so is euthanised whereas we have mounting evidence that treated in situ they do survive and thrive -as found with coyotes in the United States.  Equally out of date is "Leg injury requires euthanasia as "the fox cannot live in the wild".  

There are three legged foxes around the UK and in the US that have continued top thrive and live their lives. "a front leg means there is no chance it can survive" -again, outdated. We even have on this very blog a post about foxes with three legs in the wild and one with a front leg missing who had bred successfully.

https://foxwildcatwolverineproject.blogspot.com/2024/08/fox-leg-amputation-reason-to-kill.html

I hate saying it but it is fact: this is all dogma. A vixen who had a badly broken leg that was healing was reported to a rescue and the people reporting this were told that if it was caught it would be put down. Five other people claimed to have had the same response so when I tried reporting a fox with a limp as "a member of the public" I got the same response. So I said "But what if it's just a pulled muscle or sprain?" and was told "It's standing procedure; leg injury means it has to be put down".

Leg and facial injuries do NOT mean a fox needs killing. And jaundice does not mean a fox has lepto -it needs a post mortem and tests to be carried out.  We seem to make headway in field work and studies but then find everything going in an out-of-date circle of dogma.

And can I just add here a big THANK YOU to those vets who do help out and go beyond what they are required to do in helping sick and injured foxes in and around Bristol. Those are a credit to their profession.

Photographic Evidence of Old Fox and Wild Cat Types

  It is always nice when you discover old books that back up your own research findings. My colleague, LM, recently found two sources noting the continued existence of wild cats in Wales and England after supposed extinction as well as noting the decline in fox numbers. One is Forrest, H.E. Catalogue of Peplow Hall Museum [formerly the Lord Hill collection at Hawkstone]. Shrewsbury 1907. Acks. Shropshire Archive.

The second source is The Fauna of Shropshire by (again) H. Edward Forrest, 1899. There are notes on continued wild cat existence and even more interesting are two photo plates showing and Old fox type and cubs as well as an Old wild cat with kittens.

(c)2025 British Wild Cats and Feral Study

These are old photographs but clearly show that these are not the current "wild tabby" being pushed as 'genuine' Scottish wild cats.  Even these, however, are likely to be hybridised as by the 1840s the genuine full blooded wild cat (if one had existed for hundreds of years -see The Red Paper 2022 Felids for details)was gone although some were still encountered that were quite large.

(c)2025 British Fox and Wild canid Study

Again, old photo but easily noticed is the absence of the "tear stain" muzzle marking and also lack of black which indicated new, imported foxes.  There is also something quite distinctive about the faces of the Old foxes that make them stand out.

Slowly but surely we have gathered taxidermy examples as well as photographic evidence of Old British foxes and Wild cats and those continuing the pushing of dogma through ignorance or for financial reasons can keep stamping their feet and name calling as much as they want.  Dogma is dogma which =lies.

Maybe some day a lab will volunteer to carry out DNA testing.

Stealing original Research

 As a response to people who pointed this out to me.

A great deal of the historical information, quotes from archives, images etc that are being used on The Fox Forum are MY research. Often not accurately quoted.

Let it be a lesson in who to trust in your research work.