Continuing Fox Deaths In Bristol

 Things may have been quiet on this blog but that is for a reason.

We have had even more suddent fox deaths in Bristol with the total since June at over 20. We know that in certain areas foxes have vanished and not been seen for a long period of time. I need to point out that there are a number of false rumours doing the rounds.

Firstly, as the head of Bristol City Council points out; there is no fox control practiced in the City as that would be pointless because you remove a fox then another moves in. The City has the largest urban fox population outside of London. However, their last statement on over 20 deaths under unusual circumstances is that they may all have been hit by cars. The office of Mike Jackson, Chief Executive of Bristol City Council has been kept informed of all incidents via Stewart Law who suggested the car collision theory.

Bristol city Council are not trapping foxes then releasing them outside of the City. That is illogical and would be pointless. Bristol foxes are seen as being iconic.

Neither is Bristol University trapping foxes for some strange reason.

Think about the negative response and publicity if either body were doing that for whatever reason.

My concern is with the sudden collapse and death of foxes that appear to be healthy the previous day. Suspicion comes in when two foxes are found dean next to each other which does not indicate sickness but sudden death or placement after death. In one area of Bristol a healthy fox cub was seen on Thursday and the next morning was found dea and an in situ examination found signs of suspicious death. We are hoping that this fox will undergo post mortem examination though it is an upward struggle to get official post mortems carried out -we do not have funds for private pm.

This morning, Sunday, 22nd August, there was another call out over what was a healthy looking fox that suddenly collapsed and died in a garden. Again, there are suspicious signs and we are holding the body pending a PM approval.

Bristol City Council has been updated since June and it is hoped that they will help in some way so that suspicious as well as road traffic deaths of foxes can be catalogued.  Bristol City Council has raised its environmental and ecological profile in recent years so hopefully it will help as there is no way of telling whether other mammals, birds of prey who feed on dead rats for example, or even domestic pets may succumb to poisons used deliberately or accidentally.

Hopefully the PM Services in Bristol will be willing to continue to carry out post mortem examinations so that we can say definitely whether poison or disease is involved in these cases.

One of the biggest problems faced has been those reporting or not wanting to report a fox found dead under unusual circumstances.  

In some cases people will report the death and circumstances and then go silent and whether this is a "I did my bit and my involvement ends there" attitude I am unsure of but we actually need the exact location to examine the body and see whether it should be bagged for examination or not. "There was a fox dead just up the road from me. BS3." is pointless as we need to find the carcass and BS3 is a big area. 

In other cases we hear of a fox found dead in a neighbour's garden and ask for the details...silence. I am also sure that many dead foxes are not reported which is why Bristol City Council and its Street Team which collects dead animals would be a huge assistance.

The RSPCA were contacted, however, there appears to be no interest.  Avon & Somerset Police were informed of fox poisonings in one of the BS3 incidents and given my details. No check was made to see whether the carcasses were still in the place they were put to take away and no one from A&S Police contacted me and my two messages went unanswered. I was told that the incident was taken as "Intelligence" -basically "Information received and recorded" and that was an end to the matter.

The following map shows the areas involved (where carcasses were reported) and the number dead in each case.  As stated, if I included the cases where the circumstances sounded suspicious but no one was able to check the total number would be over 30 dead foxes under suspicious circumstances since I began recording in June.

This is an ongoing situation

Again, I am not jumping up and down screaming "Susipious deaths -mass fox poisonings!" but I am trying to discover whether a disease or poisons are involved and things develop from there.

The Fox Lovers Library

The GOOD and the Bad -the two types of fox feeder

I think it is time for some feeders to face the truth. Most suppliment feed foxes in the garden and if mange or another injury appears they treat irt and the fox(es) survive.

Those are the Good Feeders.

Inviting foxes into the homwe and wanting to treat it as a pet dog. BAD feeders. Go to a rescue and buy a domestic dog that really needs a new life.

Getting foxes into the house for photo opps on Social mediad is BAD. Fox in the fridge. Fox on the dining table. Fox lying in the washing machine. Fox on the sofa. Fox coaxed into rooms to be filmed taking food. BAD feeders. In a normal society that should be listed as a wildlife crime. Your "Likes" on Social Media is NOT loving foxes. You are abusing them -they are wild canids.

Then we have the one thing that I see over and over again on fox groups. "I have fed the fox(es) for 2 years now I am moving -will they be okay?" or "I feed the fox morning and evening and I am going away for a month -how can I make sure they are fed?"

Get a neighbour to "fox sit" and feed it for you. NO

Leave bags of dried dog kibble outside for them. NO

No longer be able to live your life because you are now commited to them and feeding them. NO.

Firstly, fox(es) start wandering into neighbours homes or hanging around their gardens defecating and urinating and maybe digging up: "nuisance fox". Solution ="Bang" and a pest controller earns a couple grand more.

There is a simple solution. Only feed foxes what foxes eat and keep them wild in the garden where supplimentary feeding sees them through any hard winters or the rearing of cubs. That is it. That is what the Good feeders do.

It is no one elses responsibility than your own what you do. Foxes eat rats, mice, voles, insects like moths and beetles as well as fruit -their natural diet and this time of year they SHOULD be looking lean.

Going away or moving permanently? Feed less and less in advance.

Good Feeders help keep foxes healthy and shy of humans which is THE best way we can help them survive.

Bad feeders are just keeping pest controllers in business by raking in thousands. You are helping kill foxes.

Not the truth you want to hear but it is fact and I've studied foxes since 1976 and right now we have so many feeders that we could be achieving a great deal in protecting foxes. Instead Bad Feeders sit back and do not even sign petitions aimed at helping foxes.

Use your brains. Keep foxes alive.

UK Wolverine Appeal -Historical Data and Modern Sightings

 

We can push the history of the wolverine (Gulo gulo) in the UK as far back as the 1700s but hopefully some historian interested in animal imports has some older references?

Also trying to update the UK wolverine sightings data base so if you have ssen one or have any information please get in touch.

Thank You

blacktowercg@hotmail.com

Littlehampton Academy Kills Vixen and THREE Cubs...because they are foxes.

https://www.worthingherald.co.uk/news/people/littlehampton-school-defends-decision-to-shoot-foxes-in-playing-field-3343418?fbclid=IwAR1IGiJA3luf-ZjlOdw601iyCa8IQJyQdDEJXrTK0S3D5hTsODI73iDB0Rg

AS crimes against wildlife continue to rise in the UK this is how one academy teaches children to disrespect wildlife and kill it.  I am no longer being polite

Email to M P Morgan Principle at Littlehampton Academy.

Mr Thomas.

I am contacting you regarding the rather disgusting decision taken to shoot a vixen and three cubs.

I began the British Fox Study in 1976, I was a UK Police Forces exotic animals advisor from 1977 onward and I have contributed to various technical papers on wildlife.

When I heard of your plans I had assumed that you would actually make a sensible decision since the killing of foxes only means that others will move in. That is a fact of nature and I note that you are attempting to become a "Forest Academy" -by killing natural British mammals? Are you even slightly aware of the dangers and risks a fox faces on a daily basis to even live to the average age of five years?

That it bears cubs, feeds them and raises them where it feels safe to then be slaughtered ...you dislike them. Were you present at their killing? Did you inspect the bodies? Or did you leave that to someone else? I assume that the new foxes that move in will also be killed?

Never once have I taken advantage of "noted naturalist", however, in this case I shall make it very clear to everyone and anyone just why your academy is unfit to be a "Forest Academy".

"Reprehensible", "heinous" -I can think of plenty of polite words to use but the truth of the matter is that the actions of your academy were downright disgusting and that is how you see fit to act after complaints about the plans from parents? This is how you teach the future generation to act towards any animal or thing it finds "a bit messy"? Kill it.

Your academy and the position it has taken on this matter are deserving of much stronger words.

T. Hooper-Scharf

The Fox Study

UK National Carnivore Advisory

Please pass along the email because if as many people as possible inundate the man and the academy NOW then it may insure that any future foxes are not killed office@tla.woodard.co.uk

An Alert and a Request

 

Here is a little alert for Bristol fox folk particularly BS 9 and BS10.

I was contacted by someone who works at a wildlife rescue about incidents she is looking into. In each case the fox in question -7 so far over two years that we know of- has severed facial wounds and one had to be put down as there was also a nasty maggot infection. I will not, obviously, be posting the photographs.

I have chatted with two other people now associated with the Fox Study and they seem to agree that there are two possibilities:

The fox was involved in a territorial or other fight with another fox. Facial wounds are what I expect to see in canid fights and though fox fights tend to be brief flurries resulting in one running off there is enough evidence that the fights can lead to bits of ear missing or some facial scarring.

Fox diggers. A fox will retreat into its den with face facing toward den entrance to defend itself and this could result in facial injuries from a spade followed up by bites from a terrier.

As far as we know no cats have gone missing in the neighbourhood -a possible sign that the cats or foxes are used in dog baiting. The areas in question I know and Southmead is not set up in a way that people would not be noticed ifthey caused a noise by trying to dig out a fox with a dog.

The concern was that this might be some form of new bacteria infection though studying thephotos (which is far from pleasant) does not show signs of this.

Seven foxes involved in territorial fights over two years is probably low. The thing we have no data base because no one was interested in this type of thing. I have begun gathering information on fox deaths, especially suspicious ones and injuries in the hope that we might learn something.

That someone else in Bristol has now become involved into looking at fox deaths or injuries is a good sign.

The big problem is getting fox feeders -and fox feeders are the ones reported these incidents (but not to me)- I have contacted re. comments about fox injuries and deaths have flatly refused to respond.

If you are in Bristol or elsewhere and are aware of any foxes with facial injuries or foxes found dead that are not road kill PLEASE get in touch with me or if you can spread the word. The more we learn the more we can try to help foxes or be on the look out for problems.

I have to say that I am VERY disappointed that rescues mentioned in news items overthese incidents will talk to the press/media but will not cooperate in cataloguing any of these incidents.

Fox Info Alert

 Has anyone heard or seen foxes with large facial injuries?

Not sure whether it is from infected fight scars but there have been seven cases of rotting facial tissue and bone exposed. Don't worry I am NOT showing photos?

The cases are across two years in a local area and involve seven (7) foxes.

If anyone has contacts with rescues and can pass the query along I would appreciate it.

THANKS