More On The Great Scarcity of 1923

 

It appears that things are becoming a little clearer on this subject. The Reader should note that posts are basically ongoing research and as more information is found then things get updated.

During the 1994/1995 mange outbreak -termed by many as an "epidemic"- the City of Bristol is thought to have lost all but 6% of its urban foxes despite the work of a few old time foxers to treat when they could.

Today we have fox feeders and rescue centres that make a difference when mange appears but it can still be devastating for foxes spotted too late with the onset of organ failure. It is not a nice thing to observe, especially in very young cubs.

It was noted in many of the books by the 'sportsmen' of the Golden Age of Huntng (19th century) and later writers that until huge numbers of foxes were imported into England from Europe mange or "the scab" was unknown in British foxes. Interesting to note how so many of these writers pitied the foxes affected considering why they were maintaining them.

It is something quite common in most fields but fox hunters are especially good at turning the blind eye when it comes to blame. During times when foxes were so scarce the black market in foxes did a good trade (while publicly frowned down upon by the "customer"). These "fox baggers" or dealers who transported captured foxes around the country were blamed for mange due to the poor condition the foxes were transported in with "scant regard for hygene". The importers of foxes were also blamed for keeping their stock in less than hygenic conditions before transporting them around England.

We know that there were outbreaks that killed many foxes during the mid to late 1800s. According to The Book of the Fox by Richard Clapham (1936, p. 105): "About fifteen years ago (1921) mange broke out amongst the Grampian foxes. Previously it was unknown". Foxes had been transported into Scotland to "replenish stock" as they called it.

In 1952, in his book The Way of the Fox, Douglas St. Leger-Gordon noted that there had been an abscence of many over the past few years but no one could understand why.

Dismissing the known rabies outbreak as a cause for fox decline we need to look at two things for the possible answer to The Great Scarcity of 1923.

The first is the mange outbreak and with foxes travelling around normally and still being transported it is possible that the 1921 outbreak hit not just Scotland but other areas -transporting foxes never stopped. Mange, as noted, can be devastating but then we have the human element.

MFH (Masters of Fox Hounds) had only one interest and that was to maintain and hunt foxes. The MFHs were buying in the foxes and some "to save pennies" even sent staff to Europe to trap foxes though I understand this was not effective. The hunts wanted the foxes so they had to buy from importers and dealers but had they not provided the custom there would have been no supply and demand chain. Therefore, the MFHs were technically responsible.

One has to assume that their blood-lust made them blind to what they knew to be a fact. The Old type British foxes were known to be dying out by the early 1800s -it is a fact chronicled in articles and books from the early 19th century onward. The various writers noted "our old type foxes may very soon be no more" and by the early 1900s it seemed accepted as a fact that the Old types were gone.

Normally, if you know that something bad is happening and there are decades of warnings, say, oh -that the old type of foxes are dying out, you do something about it. You stop killing them and let numbers build up but not with MFHs. Even though "it may be the last one" the hunt continued and once the Old fox was gone there came the articles and books about how sad it was. At no point did anyone write "If only we had preserved it"-that is not something that you would hear from a sporting chap. Gone? "Import more!" or even bring in jackals and coyotes to replace them.

If numbers had dropped due to a mange outbreak then fox numbers would be low but that did not stop the hunt. Cubbing continued -killing young foxes so that when it was "the season" the numbers were low or if any could be found at all and the "perhaps we should not kill the very young foxes?" question was not even raised. You then also had braces (breeding pairs) of foxes hunted down and killed by the hunt. Cut open, obviously pregnant vixens, were found to be carrying "a full litter" of 5-7 cubs.

Normally, the thought that killing a pregnant vixen might rob one of future sport -the vixen and the cubs that survive- never did. Killing the cubs to "bloody the hounds" and make a jolly morning out of it -again killing foxes young before they "knew the country" for sport. Breeding pairs -cutting off the supply of new foxes to hunt.

If you combine the mange outbreak along with the hunting and cubbing that continued on at the time then the "stock of foxes" would be very low indeed -disease and hunting were killing too many. By 1923 a great deal of the fox population was gone and therefore foxes were scarce.

If the foxes were scarce by 1923, as previously noted, then the alleged explosion in the fox population due to World War 1 is not factual. Apparently, without local hunts, foxes were shot, snared, poisoned and taken care of by locals and that included any cubs that were future (their made up term) "vermin".

The origins of The Great Scarcity of 1923 probably began prior to 1914 when fox numbers were not that great and between 1914-1918 foxes were still being killed off. Come the end of the war then the hunts returned and disease hit so the fox population dropped drastically as it had always been difficult to maintain a steady population since the 19th century.

Humans and disease in combination very probably created the Great Scarcity. I am open to other opinions.