Environmental Damage, Species Going Extinct, Many thousands of Animals Killed on Roads -A Fox on Orkney Is A Major Concern?

 

 Humans are a truly appalling species and responsible for so much accidental and outright intentional death of wildlife.  In the case of islands some bureaucrat sees an island as some type of unspoilt paradise even though humans have messed with the island environments for centuries.

Farmers are concerned about a fox being found -why? The old myth (and it is factually proven to be an anti fox created myth) that foxes will kill and run off with lambs -sheep are introduced livestock and not native animals). 

"A fox" and the fear mongering begins.  We know that foxes exist on islands and have done so for centuries now -some introduced in the 1800s by hunts. This I detailed in The Red Paper 1: Canids.

An island and yet a fox is still killed by a car! 

Rats and other rodents are prey for foxes and it is about time that this attitude of "We don't want it here -kill it!" was stopped.  6000 stoats killed. You do not get that many stoats unless there are ample prey animals and if stoats were not taking care of, say rodents, how would the rodents be dealt with -poisons again?

It is rather odd that a fox found in Shetland some years ago was said to have gotten there  by either sneaking into a vehicle and crossing by ferry to the island or...being naively set free there.  That means any others can be classed as an invasive species and humans can have fun and kill them.

We are wiping out foxes in the UK and wiping out badgers not to mention many other species and no one cares. The UK really does need to be shown on maps in a blood red colour because it has joined the United States and Australia as nations where wildlife is treated as  something that can be killed as a scapegoat (for human created problems) or just for the fun of it by psychopaths or by others for gain.

Humans are a detestable species.

Fox appearance in Orkney sparks concern

https://www.birdguides.com/news/fox-appearance-in-orkney-sparks-concern/?fbclid=IwY2xjawFlaH1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHYFpAWOFBiwh2m2gkxkOdZ6VJYkUWK6URFBhU8CGTryckYCQTugZEBcN_A_aem_oEAESEC9U0mH7JVG1x6-Og

A dead Red Fox has been found in Orkney, which has no known fox population, sparking concern for the archipelago's native wildlife.

The body of the young female fox was discovered near the Balfour Hospital in Kirkwall on Tuesday 9 September. Staff members at the hospital spotted the animal, which was later taken away by Orkney Islands Council and a post mortem examination was carried out at a local vet practice.

The council confirmed the matter had been reported to the police.

Red Fox is not native to Orkney and the appearance of one in Kirkwall has sparked concern for the islands' willdife (Clive Daelman).

 

Non-native foxes

Foxes have not existed in Orkney since the late Iron Age, with the only exception believed to be a failed attempt to introduce them in the 1930s.

A dead fox was found on the island in 2007, generating concern from farmers and environmentalists at the time. It was thought to have been brought over from the mainland.

Balfour Hay, one of the vets who carried out the post-mortem on the animal at Northvet veterinary surgery, said: "Based on the kind of injuries that we did see inside the body, we're fairly certain that it would have died from a road traffic accident or some other form of trauma.

"However, there was evidence on the post mortem that several of the fractures, particularly to the bones in its legs, certainly happened after it died. We don't know what would have caused those.

"There's already a bit of speculation that this animal may have been brought up from south. If that was the case, we just want to emphasise the potential risks to animal and public health from bringing animals up from outside of Orkney."

In recent years, The Orkney Native Wildlife Project has spent millions of pounds on its efforts to eradicate introduced Stoats. In only five years, the project has removed more than 6,000 of the mustelids from the archipelago.

Things Will Be A Little Quiet Here...

 Having to compile 80+ fox post mortem reports into on be big report so things will be quiet for a while.

Plagiarism? ALWAYS Quote Your Sources

 Something I need to point out. If I post a news item or data on research then I always quote the source.  This is important as since the advent of the internet so much of my own work has been cut/copied and pasted to other sites and no credit given.   

Having written that I should point out that I had a great deal of data, original research and material stolen (call it what it is) by academics. Complain?  Yes...the university or college will always side with their colleague and the line is always "We operate with the highest professional and academic standards" but "to rip off and cover our asses" is always left out. 

 It is very important that anyone who uses material from another source credits that source for the work they have done.  Writing my books would have been far easier if I did not provide complete references sources.  It would be bad since then you would have only my word as opposed to statements and papers by past researchers who knew their subject.

Be honest. One day karma could sneak up and bite your....bottom

Jackals, Wolves, Coyotes and Foxes and the Violet Gland

 Despite their size difference there are many traits that foxes, wolves, coyotes and Jackals have and one is a scent gland in the tail. The Violet gland.

showing location of the Violet gland on the coyote tail -same position as on foxes, wolves and jackals 

Violet Gland on a wolf

On the fox. These glands show up more clearly in infra red night time photos

The violet gland is also known as the supracaudal gland. It is found on the upper surface of the tail but the gland is less developed in jackals than in other canids, such as foxes and wolves.  The gland produces a mixture of volatile terpenes that are similar to those produced by violets, which is how it got its name. The chemicals produced by the gland are released in much greater quantities than in flowers, and the resulting smell can be unpleasant. 

The violet gland is used for scent marking and intra-species signaling. Olfactory cues from the violet gland, along with other glands, play an important role in social interactions between canids. 

If you have foxes  moving through your garden or that pass through your area then you will be familiar with their smell which sometimes seems to annoy, irritate or interest domestic dogs!

Bristol Fox Deaths Project -some notes

 

 Currently we have over 70 completed post mortem reports on foxes which also include early facial injury cases. We have submitted 14 suspected leptospirosis foxes this year and once those PM are done we will have had 80 foxes submitted.  

My hope is that, for statistical analysis we will go as far as 100 foxes which will allow us to look at the highest, non-vehicle related, cause of death in foxes in and around the City and County of Bristol. This should then reflect what the national situation is expected to be and I would hope that rescues and vets will be more willing to submit weak, shutting down, jaundiced foxes for PM Examination locally.  The big issue is always the costs of tests since they are rather expensive and yet essential.

TEM (Techniques in Electron Microscopy) and PCR/ RT-PCR (molecular diagnostics now common in animal research).  It needs to be remember that all foxes submitted are tested for AIV (Avian Influenza Virus) before they can even undergo post mortem examination.

With a top pathologist working on the PM examinations we are discovering a great deal and other researchers are already benefitting.  What we find now will, hopefully, form a data base for any future research projects carried out.  The data will be available initially in an end of project report -the intention is to make our findings available -the work of Bristol Universities for fox study is apparently not available as a request to view the research findings was rejected.

Foxes and their health and place in the environment have long been ignored -as with other maligned wild canids- and it is hoped that we can change that not just with the Fox Deaths Project but also other work carried out including in situ treatment of injured and sick foxes.

Is The Fox A Good Environmental Indicator?

I was asked why it was important to find out about fox health as well as what is killing them -other than cars and 'fun' shooters.  The answer is simple; foxes, like wolves, coyotes and jackals are what can be termed "Environmental health indicators". It can be simplified with "Prey and Predator".

In area where there are large numbers of deer woodland and local vegetation suffer as numbers grow and the her only moves on after local food sources decline. In the next area they move to a similar situation arises while the previous area may take decades to recover.  Where wolves have been introduced not only do the weak and sick deer numbers drop but deer herds tend to not remain static, They keep moving to avoid the predators and vegetation can continue to grow.

Plants and wild flowers as well as fruit growing attracts insects of all types as well as reptiles and smaller mammals.  These in turn are food sources for omnivores and carnivores -like foxes wolves and coyotes have been observed/filmed eating fruit when it is plentiful. In other words the eco system is well balanced with plenty of vegetation, insects, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and birds.

If the main prey animal of a carnivore dies out or are dying from disease then the carnivore also suffers. In the 1950s we say foxes starving in the SE of England as the rabbit population was devastated by human released myxomatosis.  Other species have suffered similarly when their main prey item is dying off.

A good, clean ecosystem means that species will breed and the chances of a good number of young surviving is better.  Some species regulate breeding so that in poor years when food sources are poor there will be no young. In good years there are young as no obstacles in feeding them.   For country foxes that means that as long as there are plenty of rabbits they will do well and fewer rabbits means less crop damage. Farmers pay out a lot of money for people to kill both foxes (which do not do the harm as pro hunt propaganda would have you believe) when the fox is the best and most efficient pest control you can get for free.  One farmer noted that a fox had been on his farm for years and never caused a problem and it had made his farm virtually rat free.

The Town Fox has its main source of food in rats and mice. One gentleman at a public building knows that the resident fox catches and kills rats as each week he adds up the number of rat tails (the only part of a rat foxes do not eat) and over a weekend he counted 16.  Others -including farmers- note the number of rat tails they find and that is a good indicator that the fox does good work.  A fox is far better for the environment than poisons that can kill cats, badgers, hedgehogs as well as birds of various types.

Plenty of badgers indicate a good environment although their number is reaching a critical point.  Town badgers do well, apart from roads and cars, and so that is a good indicator of the environment.

Of course, the fox often has an unwanted companion in the magpie.  This relationship is even depicted in medieval art. A fox may leave behind scraps or may be harassed enough that its kill can be stolen -something like this was filmed in London in 2024 where a fox was hunting and killed a rat while magpies hopped back and forth.

Every predator has a bird that will scavenge from it.

Therefore, when foxes die something is wrong.  Sadly there is nothing that can be done about cars and roads but when a previously healthy fox collapses and dies  or is found dead in a garden questions need to be asked. A fox can look outwardly very healthy and yet be found to have internal injuries that led to its death after being hit by a car. People automatically start calling it a "fox poisoner" at work. A fox hit by a car can move on until the internal damage takes its toll.  Until there is a post mortem examination we are often left with a question mark over a fox death.

When it comes to foxes that look healthy but are struggling or seen to deteriorate fast there has to be  an investigation. It is never poisoning until a post mortem and testing is carried out. To date we have had only one secondary poisoning cases where a fox ate a poisoned rat. Babesia, verminous pneumonia (lung worm) and other causes have been found but when, as recently, we have fox cubs collapse and start shutting down and are jaundiced then we have to be concerned.

Concerned because, as I discovered by talking to rescues, "this happens every years" and some vets state canine hepatitis is to blame -having not carried out any tests- or "adenovirus which is rampant in UK foxes".  After all of the foxes examined to date there has not been one single case of adenovirus so it is far from "running rampant". All of the symptoms described from previous years as well as 2024 match what we have seen and found to be leptospirosis. If this is happening every year then it explains, in part, why fox numbers are dropping so low.

Our question is: can we do anything about it?  Vaccinating every fox we can find is expensive an no government would fund a massive trap, vaccinate and release programme. This appears to be an environmental situation and the death of so many cubs is yelling this at us.

The question then becomes what if anything we can do about the environmental problem.  We may have goner too far and ignored problems for far to long to be able to do anything. Even if, as the British Trust for Ornithology suggested after its mammal survey, the fox is Red Listed as a protected species (meaning nothing in the UK) what can we do?

Poisons, cars and environmental damage are already taking their toll which, with the badger heading toward the precipice and foxes declining in numbers it is very likely that both will either become extinct in the countryside and just about hang on in towns and cities where developers are always out to grab scenic green sites to build on and destroy more wildlife habitat.

Looking at what is happening to foxes is therefore very important.  The question is whether people will learn from what we find and take action?

An explanation of leptospirosis can be found here along with the fact that  the fox is not the problem here

https://foxwildcatwolverineproject.blogspot.com/2024/08/leptospirosis-why-is-it-killing-so-many.html

Two captive-bred wildcats die after their release

 Firstly to correct the glaring error. In 1897 Scottish naturalists including one who had spent 45 years studying the species, declared that true Scottish wild cats had died out c 1860s like a number of other species due to hunting.  We have the taxidermy of some of the last wild cats although even these were likely hybridised.  

What is being released are wild tabbies. These are bred from imported European wild cats which themselves are likely hybridised and not related to true British wild cats.  Even if you were able to stop game keepers and land owners killing wild cats (the law is so feeble that irt cannot) there are the 'fun shooters' who do want to have a wild cat they have killed in their photo album.   

The other big threat that never existed to wild cats in the UK until the 1920s is the motor vehicle. Roads criss-cross every part of the UK and cut through woodland and forestry and very few drivers give a damn about any animal on "their" road.

That one had starved shows that it was not ready or suitable for release.  Introducing and NOT re-introducing (you cannot "re-introduce" a foreign species as a species that ceased to exist in the mid 19th century) wild cats is doomed to failure because of the human factor -whether 'fun', 'vermin control' or car.  Those scheduled for the Somerset Levels where night time shooting is nightly are also doomed.

From the 1980s-late 1990s European wild cats were being released in pairs across England in an unauthorised project.  We have no idea how many survived although I occasionally hear of them.

Once a species is extinct it should be used to teach a lesson. We only have foxes, certain deer and other wildlife because hunting killed off native species and imported more from Europe to continue the 'sport'.   This basically well known historical fact is what academics ignore deliberately (for funding reasons) or are ignorant of as they have never carried out any type of historical research and so when they find European DNA in a species they publish data which is incorrect or shall we say false.

Extinction is forever as we are about to see with a number of UK species including badgers and foxes.

Two Scottish wildcats raised in captivity before being released into the Cairngorms National Park have died.

Saving Wildcats project said one of the females, called Midge, was knocked down on a road.

It said the second, named Oats, died of starvation four weeks after her release.

The cats could be tracked by their GPS radio collars and were found by park rangers.

Saving Wildcats, whose partners include Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS), NatureScot and the park authority, said Oats was in an area unlikely to have enough prey for her to feed on.

Supplementary food had been left in the area where she had been released, but she had not returned there.

Almost 30 wildcats have been released in the Cairngorms since last year as part of an effort to prevent the animals from vanishing from Scotland.

In the wild the species is extinct or on the brink of extinction, according to research.

Saving Wildcats said this year's release had been challenging due to bad summer weather.

But it said Midge's stomach was found to be full of voles and mice, suggesting she had been doing well before she was killed.

The project's Dr Helen Senn said life in the wild for animals was "incredibly challenging".

She said: "Immediately after release they are particularly vulnerable as they learn to adapt to their new life in the wild, to locate themselves in their environment, to learn about threats, and to become efficient hunters.

"Nobody is more saddened by the loss of these animals than the people working with them, because a lot of care is put into providing each released animal with the best chance possible."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwy571ppg9no#:~:text=Almost%2030%20wildcats%20have%20been,of%20extinction%2C%20according%20to%20research.