With the number of suspected fox deaths from poisoning mounting in Bristol (potentially 13 deaths reported to me) since June and getting the official run around I have just sent this to the so called Wildlife Incident Investigation Scheme office which I should point out is part of Natural England -known for its negative fox stance.
Hello.
To be honest I am bloody disgusted with WIIS. Last Friday we had a fresh poisoning case and as I asked the finder to contact you and explaining the situation you responded at 15:04 hrs:
"My work day has finished, but my direct line does have an answerphone facility. Caroline can leave me a message (or email me her details if she prefers) and I will contact her on Monday morning."
Well that's nice. We'll leave the potential evidence out in the 27-29 degrees heat over the weekend and see if we can be bothered on Monday shall we? I am working on this each and every day and often late into the evening. This makes the tenth suspicious death of foxes in Bristol since June and all left in prominent view. This morning I was informed that a few days ago more foxes were found in the Montpelier area of Bristol in prominent positions so everyone could see them and locals have no doubt they were poisoned.
No one expects much from Police Wildlife crimes Officers who simply write a note (and leave the carcasses) and can then say it is "intelligence". Intelligence meaning a note somewhere that no work had to be carried out with.
These poisonings are an environmental issue and potentially a threat to badgers (a supposedly protected species) as well as hedgehogs (a species of concern) not to mention domestic pets. This is not just Bristol but Kent, London, Birmingham and elsewhere. Potentially, with the new report, 12-13 suspicious cases indicating poisoning in one city does not raise concerns? It raises concerns with me. Suppose we are not talking poisonings in Bristol -no post mortems because that was too much trouble- but a new virus. The foxes concerned all appeared healthy one day -dead the next. Poisonings or new virus: both should be of great concern.
In future I shall make absolutely certain that the maximum amount of publicity can be gotten out of these incidents and the ineffectuality of DEFRA, APHA and WIIS are highlighted. After two solid months of being run around I've decided politeness is getting nowhere.
Might I suggest WIIS adds a note to its site "Absolutely no interest in dead foxes"?
Terry Hooper-Scharf
Fox Study (1976)
UK National Carnivore Advisory
Here is the WIIS (Natural England) response. All far too little and too late as they know since I told them the carcass was reported for collection. Natural England are really not fox friendly anyway:
Dear Mr Hooper,
I take your concerns seriously and I am very sorry that my response was not satisfactory.
Mrs Rigg emailed me on Sunday 18th July 2021 with a substantial amount of detail and I have now been able to contact her to complete the rest of the incident report form over the telephone. I have also included the details you had supplied on the 08th of July 2021 regarding the multiple fox deaths across Bristol. I will also add the additional information about the Montpelier cases that were reported to you today. I am in the process of logging the case on our database, which means I will be able to forward the details onto my colleague for review in the next 10 mins. I will ask them to keep both you and Mrs Rigg updated on the outcome.
Please contact the WIIS hotline on 0800 321600 as soon as you are advised of any incidents where wildlife, beneficial invertebrates and companion animals are injured or killed by professional pesticide use.
Kind Regards
Emma Bonsall
Pronouns: (she, her, hers)
Wildlife Adviser
Natural England Wildlife Licensing Service
Then came the final response on the matter:
Dear Mrs Rigg
Cc Mr Terry Hooper
Many thanks for reporting this matter to the WIIS scheme.
In summary, there was a ill fox found at a location just north of the Alderman Moores Allotments on the 15/07/21. A dead fox was then found at this location on Saturday 17/07/21, and this is likely to have been the same fox as seen two days earlier. You noted that a dead rat had been seen near this spot and that a live rat had been seen during the day (rat activity during the day is often a sign of exposure to anticoagulant poisons).
It has also been mentioned that a number of dead foxes have also been recently found on some allotment land and you believed that this also the Alderman Moores Allotments.
From this information I suspect that the source of any poison may have been these allotments. Investigations into the suspected poisoning of wildlife fall into the remit of 2 organisations – Natural England (on behalf of the HSE) and local councils. Who has the responsibility to investigate depends on the most likely site where the poisons are being used.
In this case of this fox, investigating incidents relating to allotments fall into the remit of the council. I have therefore been in touch with Bristol City Council to make them aware of this incident and have asked them to investigate. Hopefully they will be able to visit the site and collect the body for post mortem.
May I thank you for reporting this incident to us. Although we have not been able to investigate this particular incident on this occasion, it does provide us with very useful background evidence. Please do report further incidents to the WIIS scheme (0800 321600).
Yours
Ed Blane
my response:
Thank you for your response.
I made Bristol City Council aware of the situation in these cases when they were reported to me. I know that the allotment involved has a no poisons policy and that it is involved in rewilding and the tenants there are shocked by the deaths. I do not believe that anyone at the allotment was involved and this was made clear to Bristol City Council after my investigation.
Bristol has rats. A lot of them and they are seen in gardens and by streams regularly during daylight. The dead rat could have been killed by the fox before dying and dropped then kicked off of the path by someone walking by. That does happen. Seeing a rat out in day time is not a sign of anti-coagulant poisoning (I have noted rats out during sunny weather in the past and the only thing that killed them were the foxes and some semi feral cats).
A post mortem would have been nice to ascertain the cause of death 100%.
Regards
Terry Hooper-Scharf
Fox Study
UK National Carnivore Advisory
Of course that got a response and goes against everything Bristol City Council pest control says and advises. However, it is another "get out of gaol" card.
Dear Terry
The issues in Bristol, and many other places, is resistance to poisons among rats. Rats still eat the poison, but don’t die. The poison is stored in the body until something comes along and eats it. For rats to be successfully controlled the resistance status of the local population needs to be tested. It appears from the data that in Bristol this is not being done.
This, combined with the change in the regulations some years ago allowing the external use of more toxic poisons, may well be responsible for a significant increase in levels of poison exposure in foxes, buzzards and red kites.
Yours
Ed
The problem here is that the lady who found the foxes made it very clear that the live and dead rats were seen in 2020. As with other facts the WIIS chose to muddle up details to close the case.
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