Fox Research -"Get Funding"?

 I was asked why I do not apply for funding for the fox work. As someone pointed out "You've been doing this long enough to prove you are a real researcher" to which I can only respond by pointing out that no one gives funding for fox study.

The paperwork for The Red Paper is in a Lever Arch file that is quite literally held together by some tether straps or else the contents would explode everywhere 😄😄

The current research file (image below) is crammed with 365 pages of research notes -historical and modern data (update: work is now (November) spilling into a second Lever Arch File)

The Red Paper was able to give us a look at the natural history of foxes for the first time and it also showed the evidence for wolves, jackals and coyotes being in the UK from at least the 19th century on though the current research has exploded beyond what I expected.

Foxes from British fur farming, the huige number of foxes imported from Europe as well as the breeding of foxes for hunting has led down so many different avenues and produced so much written evidence as well as physical evidence  that has drawn on the experience and knowledge of experts from outside the UK that it may take a year to attempt to put it into a publishable form.

365 pages is a meagre page count since it does not include the almost two hundred books from the 18th-19th and 20th century that I have gathered on USB storage (because (1) I do not have the money to buy the books and (2) I have no more room for books!) which adds to my already existing physical library.   

Looking at it from another angle; it was the British Fox Study that fought to get fox post mortems carried out and through that discovered jaundice the origin of which has not yet been discovered though experts in and outside ofthe UK are consulting on this. 

The work has become very intense with my working on it and contacting other people as well as advising on foxes from 11:00 to (often) 0230/0400 hrs every day. Unfortunately, The Red Paper which was intended to be sold to have more money put into research just never sold to any degree and the cost involved soaked up any possible profit.

Therefore, the work is slow and it will take time becauseeveryday life gets in the way. Funding would be nice but I just cannot see it happening.

You can however contribute via the British Canid Historical Society website:

https://britishcanids.co.uk/research/

Thank You