For The Sake Of The Fox -The British Fox Study

I cannot say that I am surprised and nor can I say that I am not disappointed regarding the feedback for the study.

I know people want to protect the fox they watch/feed.  That is only natural since there are still many threats to them in the town and city including snares laid down for them and stealing cubs. However, the secrecy is creating a big problem,

We know foxes are not a danger or threat to humans or pet cats. That is just pro hunt fake story telling to demonize the animal. We know that foxes are being poisoned in some areas –along with cats, hedgehogs and other animals. The secrecy is is allowing this type of thing to go on. If people are not educated about foxes and the dirty tricks being used by fur snarers and hunts then how can they act and help protect them? Someone sees two men hanging around near a neighbours home are more likely to think “possible house breakers” –their knowing a fox goes into that garden just does not fit into their equation because they wouldn’t be there for the fox, right? But if they know of the dangers to a fox a warning about those two men may save a fox.

There are hundreds of people out there around the UK who watch local foxes and some feed them. Most take photographs of them. Those photographs are valuable to a naturalist when looking at foxes in 2021. After months of scouring hundreds of photos from around the UK I have distinguished two prominent types of fox and fox morphology (colouration). Only ten (10) sets of photographs have come from fox watchers the rest I had to scour FB group photos then see which photos were taken where.

In fact, that scouring of photographs has achieved something (excluding the eye strain); it has helped me find what we might have considered at one time very rare fox colourations and some were eye-popping. Some were firsts for me after decades of work.

I started The Fox Study in 1977 and since that time, as with my work running the Exotic Animals Register (EAR), one thing has been paramount and that is the safety of the animal(s) in question. There was a motto: “By no word of mouth or deed to put any animal in danger” –when DEFRA insisted that I needed to turn over my exotics data to continue as part of the Partners Against Wild Life Crimes I refused and in the end they kicked me out. I could have stayed on the list of experts and made some money but not at the risk of exposing animals to DEFRAs “eradication protocol”.

At a time when I really needed money I was offered substantial amounts by two British newspapers who wanted to get maps and locations from what they called “Britain’s Big Cat Detective”. I refused. I knew why they wanted it and that was so they could pay a hunter to go out and “snag” a ‘big cat’. I decided poor was better.

Since 1977 I have never disclosed the name of any reportee wishing to remain anonymous, nor their location. The current look at foxes required this information:

1)      Photographs of the foxes watched/fed

2)      Name of the photographer (confidential but needed to prevent hoax/fraud)

3)      Location non-specific. In other words say, for Bristol the BS number so BS3, BS4 or BS16 etc which gives me a city area but no exact location (that is contained in the last three digits so I NEVER ask for those). In other areas just “London”, “Hove”, “Dartmouth”,”Glasgow” and so on because that gives me a geographic area NOT the exact location.

4)      How long have the foxes visited your garden and (if years) have you noticed any changes in their fur colour such as darkening, spotting or even black fur?

 

That is it. That information allows me to see whether foxes in different parts of the country have varied coat colours, whether they are smaller in one area compared to another. It helps us understand foxes in 2021 and that can ultimately help protect any at risk from hunters.

The Study is private and certainly not funded by any government department (such as DEFRA which hates me) or institution because, honestly, they do not care about foxes and fox studies do not bring in big donations for universities. This is NOT some type of tracking program in case rabies hits the UK. Firstly, it is very unlikely that rabies will hit the UK mainland and, secondly, no one has access to my data most of which is not kept on computer so hacking would be no good.

If you submit information you can either PM me on Face Book or email me at blacktowercg@hotmail.com and that’s it. Unless you have a very unusual or rare colour morph in which case I would like to learn more I do not pester with follow-ups. The four items listed above are all I am interested in.

 There are foxes out there that have survived mange, serious injuries and more but are alive today because people have helped them and given them the chance to survive. Taking part in this study will hopefully do something towards protecting foxes and that is as important as the fight to protect badgers and the endangered hedgehog –both of whom feed alongside or near foxes with little or no conflict.

PLEASE if you can help –do.

 

Thank You