In The United Kingdom Foxes Are Being Poisoned In Cities -And NO ONE Cares

 On the 18th June, 2021 I posted this:

"As an update on my post regarding fox cub deaths...

I have now been informed of two fox cubs found dead in Bristol gardens on Monday 14th June.

That one was in BS9 and the other in neighbouring BS10 raises a few concerns as does the fact that there were no visible injuries. To put it into perspective BS9 and BS10 probably has a fair sized fox population and we know cub mortality can be high so two deaths out of dozens of cubs is not significant unless more are reported.

The Health and Safety Executive can collect bodies and have them examined for cause of death. The possibilities are disease or a virus which vets would need to be alerted to. The others include pollutants or pesticides or even poisons. Once a cause of death can be determined action, if necessary, can be taken.

So, please, if you find a dead cub photograph it as you found it in situ. Take a photo of the head/face and full body shot then please bag the body and then get in touch with me so that I can report it to the HSE to collect.

If the cause of death is a disease or virus then being alerted to this quickly could save other foxes.

Thank You"

This may have been wishful thinking. At the end of the same week I was informed of four fox cub carcasses in another area and the circumstances were very suspicious. The person who found the carcasses and myself conatacted Bristol University Post Mortem service (part of DEFRAs Animal & Plant Healthy Agency national scheme) and through them the Langford Veterinary School. Langford was willing "on this occasion" to carry out a post mortem but basically only to get the carcasses for other uses. However, they would only carry out the PMs but only if the finder delivered the carcasses to them.

This goes totally against all advice that is normally given to members of the public to never handle dead animals -with no way of knowing how they died there is always a health and safety issue. Professionals or trained people only should handle carcasses. In this case the finder was expected to transport four carcasses across the city in their vehicle but in this case they had no transport. The result was that Langford and the APHA -both having no vehicles at their disposal- would not do the PMs.

In the first two cases the people who found the foxes buried them at a sufficient depth in the garden. In the case of the four cubs they were picked up by Bristol City Councils Street Clean Team for disposal.

It is a fact that for two weeks straight I have attempted to find an agency that will look into these suspicious cases and yesterday I received more reports. Two cubs and an adult for poisoned (let's say) suspiciously on Bristol City Councils Alderman Moore allotments in Ashton, Bristol. As an aside to that I am told of supected fox poisonings on other City council allotments -this I have now reported to Bristol City Councils executive office and the Ashton poisonings have been reported to Avon and Somerset Police as a wildlife crime.

DEFRA and its associates seem only interested in livestock or possible disease outbreaks. Absolutely no one seems to have any interest in the suspicious deaths of foxes (and a blind eye is turned to badger deaths -and badgers are a supposedly protected species).

That in three of these cases fox wachers/feeders were involved raises the suspicion that these were deliberate acts to warn them against continuing. I am in contact with a woman in London who had some very unique looking foxes visit (very unique) and yet three generations have ended up dying from being poisoned by "person(s) unknown". I am aware of other cases around England and as far as I can discover I appear to be the only person attempting to get some serious response to these incidents.

With badgers we know that a lot of dead ones are offered up at online taxidermy groups. On a Face Book taxidermy group one person offering a badger carcass was asked by myself (no one else asked questions) where the badger was found. "Road kill" I was told. "I pass 4-6 each week on the same little stretch of road" Apparently, he took a photograph of himself with the badger on the roadside 'proving' there was nothing suspicious -killed by a car. However, this was sending up so many red flags that I could not leave it at that; 4-6 badgers killed every week suggests something else was going on. I asked for the location of the stretch of road so that I might alert the UK Badger Watch as it was obvious there was something wrong that they needed to look at. I was blocked from the group.

A member later told me that I was kicked off for asking too many questions and th taxidermy practitioners needed their specimens.

The United Kingdom is far removed from the countryside loving nation of animal lovers. Officials turn a blind eye or do not want to confront wildlife crimes or illegal hunts that still go on and the recent spate of fox/cub deaths that are suspicious shows this. Just let it carry on "they're just foxes" is the same as saying "We know where the badger baiting is going on but we really don't want to deal with that".

As far as I am concerned when I hear of suspicious fox or cub deaths then I will be reporting them as wildlife crimes and if they are on Bristol allotments I shall be naming those allotments and the local authority responsible for maintaining them. The UK National Carnivore Advisory was set up to educate on species here but it seems to have become more of a place to register the deliberate killing of foxes.

And if you are a fox watcher or feeder and you know of fox deaths that are suspicious and keep quiet then you are as guilty as the potential poisoner.

In case you ask the cost of having a post mortem carried out on a fox (excluding transport costs) is around £199-250 which is well beyond an unfunded project.