This Shows Why I set up the UK Carnivore Advisory

In the space of a week in Bristol we had six fox cub deaths. 

1. On Monday 14th June in BS9 an unmarked and otherwise healthy looking fox cub was found dead, out in the open in the middle of a garden. 

2. On that same day, in neighbouring BS10, another seemingly unmarked fox cub was found dead in front of a front room window.

3. On Thursday 17th June four fox cubs were found dead in BS32 (see map) which is separated from BS9 and BS10 by BS34. 

Although we had to put the four cubs deaths down to "drowning" there was a big question mark over this as some things were not "quite right". No one was willing to take the first two cubs for PM (Post mortem) and the people involved buried the carcasses 3.5 to 4 feet down.

The person who found the four cubs took some very clear photographs of the scene and bodies which is why my suspicions were aroused. The Department for Environment Farming and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) advise any dead animals are reported to local councils who remove carcasses whether domestic or wild) .

The Animal & Plant Health Agency stated that it had centres around England to carry out PMs and eventually the Langford Veterinary School was in contact with the finder and would do a PM but only if he picked up then transported the carcasses across the city to them. 

By Monday afternoon, after the APHA via Langford told me that they were in touch with the finder about collecting the carcasses I received this message from him:

 "The PM told me the following.

We do not have a pick up service for carcase collection.

There is a system running in Bristol with the Veterinary School site at Southwell St to collect pet animals from specified practices in the city.

The technical team associated with the Pathology service at Langford also collect specimens from designated suppliers for teaching – but they do not collect animals for postmortem examination.

They offered to do the PM on Friday or Tuesday if I could get the animals to them. Unfortunately the Council was unable to supply a team to do this as they had other commitments we couldn’t get out of. 

I too wouldn’t like the idea of handling the foxes without adequate training. Seems there may be an issue collecting animals for PM?"

This means that they are using the bodies of pets that have died for "whatever" but have no interest in foxes unless someone can get the carcasses to them if they can be bothered giving the time. 

Let me make something very clear here: any professional dealing with animals and particularly dead ones would -or should- NEVER ask a member of the public to handle carcasses of animals that have died from something not yet determined and then transport them in their car across the county. What if the animals had something that was transmissable to humans or other animals? Professionals would have the clothing etc necessary to safeguard them when handling dead animals.

Three incidents of fox cub deaths in a small geographic area might be "the norm" we just do not know enough about foxes or cubs. But to date those are the only incidents reported to me from Bristol and in such a small geographic area that it ought to raise questions.

It is pointless contacting the RSPCA. A headless fox was found outside someone's house in BS4. The head had been removed with a very clean and clear cut.  The RSPCA conclusion was that another fox had taken the head to feed on the nutrients in the brain and eyes. 

My apologies but that is pure horse shit.  

The person involved in finding the fox pointed out that the cut was very clean but "A fox dunnit".  

Then someone suggested that, perhaps a taxidermist was just casually strolling by and took advantage of the dead fox....a taxidermist does not remove animal heads and leave the body -a stuffed fox can fetch quite a lot of money while a mask (head) a lot less. And this wandering taxidermist left the headless body outside of a house?

Either someone has targetted and killed fox cubs or the cubs died from accidental poisoning from rat poison put out by neighbours. Rat and mouse poison is freely available in shops and should be illegal as it kills hedgehogs, cats and dogs. A PM would have given answers.

It seems that the only reason DEFRA or the APHA will be interested is if poisoning of some kind is suspected. So, unless it is a headless fox left by some taxidermist or a cub/adult clearly killed in an RTA (road traffic accident) if an adult/cub is found with no signs of injury but looks in a good condition let me know the details -please put the carcasse in a black bin liner or box and I will contact the APHA or Wildlife Incident Investigation Scheme and reporting it as "suspicion of poisoning".

Foxes are a vital part of the UKs environmental system and can tell us when problems are emerging. To do nothing when fox cubs suddenly start dying for no clear reason is simply irresponsible but shows why I set up the UK Carnivore Advisory because while it cannot carry out the tests necessary it can record and report on these cases until some -say DEFRA- actually does something positive.