Were Foxes Poisoned?

 

This was posted to The Greenwich Wildlife Network:

Fox Guardians

WARNING to wildlife lovers and pet parents in Broadstairs! There is been a string of fox poisonings in the Stone Bay area (Eastern Esplanade, town centre end). So far 7 (!) cubs and 1 vixen have been found dead in the garden of a fox lover in quick succession.

The cases which constitute a wildlife crime have been reported to the wildlife officer at Kent police.

If one of your fox friends arrives and is struggling to breathe and seems wobbly, get them to a vet as soon as possible. Briar House Vets have been informed about the poisonings and Kent Wildlife Rescue Service could help getting the fox rescued.

If you find a dead fox in your garden, do not handle the body as the police would only consider collecting it for a postmortem if it was not 'contaminated' by being handled. Poisoned foxes often have a frothy discharge caming from their mouth.

I know this is challenging but do take pictures from various angles and call to police quoting crime reference number #09-1286.

Currently this case is "closed" due to lack of evidence but that could change because someone somewhere may know something.

If you know something, be the voice for foxes and speak up. If we don't show compassion, what is it that defines us?!

The vixen in this picture (not included in this post –TH) is a juvenile called Hazel. She is such a sweet little soul that I had the pleasure to look after over the last 2 weeks. She lives just a few gardens away from where the seven fox cubs that were of the same age as her were cruelly poisoned.

At 5 months old, their lives had only just begun. Their lives were not our to take. I and Hazel's guardian Jill are so very worried for her and her family. Be safe little one!

 

I responded:

Hi.

I have run the British Fox Study since 1976 and headed the onmly UK post mortem study of unusual deaths in foxes. The first question I have to ask is whether there has been a post mortem (in suspected poisoning cases you can get free PMs via the Animal Plant Health Agency) to identify poisonings?

The reason I ask is that when we started our work we had foxes that were found dead and unmarked in feeders gardens, foxes seen staggering, coughing and then collapsing. All were suspected poisonings.

As it turns out all were victims of cars -no broken bones found but all injuries were internal. Some were even found to be down to unsuspected illnesses. It can never be put down to poison until a post mortem as that will involve tests etc.

In case anyone is interested in what our study found I will include a link. https://foxandcanids.blogspot.com/.../bristol-foxes-study... I can be PM'd

I should have pointed out  that the discharge/froth from the mouth could also indicate thoracic damage. The only way you can 100% state poison is after testing.

 I also need to point out that Kent Police are talking complete and utter crap if they did say they would only handle a fox that has not been touch. I could use stronger words. Kent as a county is not known for liking foxes and I suspect the police just cannot be bothered because it was a fox.

A post mortem examines the internal organs and test samples are taken to check for poison and to identify what it was –if a crime or suspected crime the police tend to do nothing if my experience over the last few decades proves anything. If it is a rodenticide then it can become an investigation by the Wildlife Incident Investigation Scheme (WIIS). The person recovering the fox, the lab technicians etc all handle the fox and there has NEVER been the line “If touched we can do nothing” –a police Community Service Officer collected two foxes and a cat in a suspected poison case and that was after reportees had moved the animals to keep safe. In that case all turned out to be road casualties.

The knee jerk “It’s poison!” statement once spread, as we found in Bristol, attracts almost hysteria and local journalists love a “juicy story” – “The Bristol Fox Poisoner(s)” was a result of absolutely no evidence but people stating as fact anything they heard. 

At least three vets with different foxes stated “Its poison” –all foxes were found to have internal injuries caused by cars.

182 Dead. Actual Number -Unknown

 

I get used to the comments from morons (I am no longer polite about this) that the more foxes killed on the road the better for gardens, homes and the environment.

I am not joking. I once pointed out to a woman whowrote this that foxes were good for the environment and the best pest controllers for rats and micve that you can have. "I'd sooner have the rats!" was t6he response.

Another person who did everything possible to discourage foxes BECAUSE "I have a garden rat" ignored all the advice and told me "No one asked for your opinion -it's my garden!" About 9 months later she was posting for advice as "my garden is over run with rats".

AQt the moment we have recorded 182 known fox deaths in the City and there is a way of trying to guage from that the actual number that have died -I will upload the document on assessment to files).

Hold on to your seats:

If 182 foxes are counted as road casualties, the true number is likely much higher. Wildlife studies show that reported roadkill usually accounts for only 1/12th to 1/16th of actual casualties. This means the probable actual number of foxes killed is between 2,184\ and 2,912

That is terrifying to even think about with a national fox population that is declining at a steady rate 0thanks to humans. I would like to thyink the number is lower at 300+ which is still far too high but when drivers go speeding during the day and night and kill pets and don't stop or report and even hit people....at night it is free reign!

Snared Fox

Just had to post this out to a local community group:

 Hello.

Can I warn members to be alert if they have pet cats in the area. Bristol Wildlife Rescue were called out to a fox in Rudgeway Road that was victim of a snare. This has now been reported as a wildlife crime to police.

Snares will catch hedgehogs, pet cats and other animals(including birds). If anyone has information regarding snaring in the area please contact the police."

Details:

Tuesday 30 06 2026 Rudgeway Park, Rudgeway, Bristol BS35 3RU

Male 4.6kgs   Elderly   Damage originally caught in snare.  Ruptured Lung diaphragm and liver  Slowly bleeding internally and black dark blood visible from back end

Pts at Vets4pets who are reporting this as a wildlife crime.

I do not see wildlife as a hobby

 

Here is the thing: I do not see wildlife as a hobby.

From picking up worms and beetles in the back garden of Sevier Street to wandering around the countryside/forests in Germany and back to the UK I have never had a day when I am not observing or checking things.

So please never ever call it a hobby to my face or I might bite.

I am known outside the UK on wild canids and felids. I have my name on technical papers presented to conferences. Why am I not more widely known (ignoring the fact I hate publicity)?

I chose foxes, jackals, coyotes and wolves as well as badgers and wild cats (I don't think it was ever a choice). Had I gone for otters, beaver or some other popular animal I'd probably be better known and have some funding!

de Leyen and the Wolf....What Was Going on?

  The Observer  

Investigation

Sunday 14 June 2026 https://observer.co.uk/news/international/article/ursula-von-der-leyen-wolf-kill-story-german-cull

In September 2022, in Lower Saxony, north-west Germany, a grey wolf attacked and killed Dolly, Ursula von der Leyen’s 30-year-old – and apparently favourite – pony. The president of the European Commission (EC) is a passionate equestrian. Her children had learned to ride on Dolly and, despite the pony’s advanced age, she was kept as a treasured pet.

Thousands of farmers across Europe lose livestock to wolves each year, but this time the dead animal’s owner was a high-profile politician who had it in her power to shape the wolf’s future. “The concentration of wolf packs in some European regions has become a real danger for livestock and potentially also for humans,” said von der Leyen in 2023. In the same year, the EC carried out an “in-depth analysis” into the wolf, publishing a report that ultimately led to the animal’s protected status in Europe being downgraded last summer.

A chain of events that began in a field in Lower Saxony culminated in decisions that have made the wolf more vulnerable than it has been for half a century. Yet now, after extensive research into the circumstances surrounding Dolly’s death, it seems as though the story surrounding the demise of Ursula von der Leyen’s pony may just be too good to be true.

Dolly was last seen alive at 10pm on the evening before the attack, about 100 metres from the von der Leyen family home in the hamlet of Beinhorn on the outskirts of Hanover. At 7am on 1 September, the pony’s body was found in her paddock by Heiko, von der Leyen’s husband. Another pony remained in the field unharmed. The subsequent investigation, carried out that day by the chamber of agriculture and a veterinarian, took DNA swabs and documented the carcass. The report found “external subcutaneous puncture-type wounds at the throat, abdomen and hind leg”.

By that evening, it was being reported that Dolly had been killed by a wolf. “The whole family is horribly distressed by the news,” von der Leyen told the German tabloid Bild in an article that ran with the subheading: “The big bad wolf doesn’t just exist in fairytales!” By 3 September, Dolly’s death at the hands of a wolf was news as far away as Pakistan.

That same day, a spokesperson for the Lower Saxony environment ministry said the bite pattern strongly suggested a wolf attack. Yet it would not be until three months later that the DNA analysis was matched to a wolf, specifically one known as GW950m, the adult male of a local pack.

After Dolly’s death, Politico reported EU diplomats in Brussels describing von der Leyen’s fixation on the wolf issue as “pushy” and “bizarre”. In 2022, a European Council decision had found that “based on current data, lowering the protection status of all wolf populations is not justified from a scientific and conservation point of view”, yet the EC now commissioned a Brussels-based consultancy to carry out an analysis on the wolf’s status in Europe.

Despite not being peer-reviewed, or recommending the wolf’s downgrading, the report formed the basis for proposing its downlisting under the Bern convention and the EU habitats directive. More than 400 scientists signed a letter condemning the move, while the Large Carnivore Initiative for Europe, a conservation group, called it “premature and faulty”. But by the summer of 2025 the changes had been enacted, and with them began a whole new chapter in Europe’s relationship with the wolf.

The wolf is undergoing a remarkable resurgence across Europe. Centuries of persecution pushed the species close to extinction in much of the continent, but since the 1960s its numbers have increased by 1,800%. Today there are more than 21,500 in Europe, classifying them as a species of least concern. Their change in fortune, along with those of the bear and the lynx, has been in large part thanks to policies enacted and enforced by the EU – the Bern convention and the habitats directive – that have allowed joined-up conservation measures to be pursued across the continent.

The first resident wolf pack in Germany was documented in Saxony in 2000, and by 2024 there were more than 200 packs across the country. But this conservation success has not been welcomed by many farming communities, already struggling with everything from climate change to inflation, and now being asked to welcome back large carnivores.