Terry Hooper-Scharf

 

Naturalist and author set up the Fox Study in 1976 which later became The British Fox Study which still continues work on current foxes as well as long British fox types.  The Fox Deaths Project is focussed on the City and county of Bristol and has been yielding unexpected information on disease, etc.  Hair gathering from foxes around the UK is taking place to hopefully submit for a DNA analysis project.

In 2010 the work on foxes, jackals, wolves and coyotes in the UK led to the publication of The Red Paper: Canids.

Specialising in canids and felids, Terry has looked at existing, threatened or extant species particularly from Japan and Hong Kong and the work has been incorporated into The British Fox Study.  He is also credited as observing the first raccoon dog in Lippe in the 1970s.

In 2021 the British Canid Historical Society was set up to look at various aspects of foxes.

From 1977 until (officially) 2016 Terry was an exotic species consultant specialising in felids and advising UK police forces via the exotic Animals Register (EAR). During this time he contributed to various technical papers and helped University of Wales Swansea and its Exotic Cat Group which presented findings to the Eastern Cougar Foundation Conference on the evidence regarding large ‘exotic’ cats in the UK.

 

Papers and Books

1. A Method For Grading Sightings Of Non-Native Cats: Application to South and West Wales, UK: Professor Alayne Street-Perrott, Alaric B. Smith Exotic Cat Group University of Wales Swansea and Terry Hooper-Scharf Exotic Animals Register.

Proceedings of the 2^nd Eastern Cougar Conference, Morgantown, West Virginia, 2004  

2. Exotic Cats In Britain: An Historical Perspective, Professor Alayne Street-Perrott, Alaric B. Smith Exotic Cat Group University of Wales Swansea and Terry Hooper-Scharf Exotic Animals Register, Proceedings of the 2^nd Eastern Cougar Conference, Morgantown, West Virginia, 2004  

3. (Contributor) Survey effort and Sighting Probabilities for Non-Native Cats in Carmarthenshire, Professor Alayne Street-Perrott, Alaric B. Smith Exotic Cat Group University of Wales Swansea, Swansea Geographer 2004  vol. 39

4. The Biography of Perceived Encounters with Pumas and Other Exotic Cats in South and West Wales, UK; Alayne Street-Perrott, Alaric B. Smith Exotic Cat Group University of Wales Swansea and Terry Hooper-Scharf Exotic Animals Register. 2004

5. Felids: Wildcats, Ferals and Hybrids, Terry Hooper-Scharf. Vale Wildlife Group, 2000

6. UK National Wolverine Population and Evidence, Terry Hooper-Scharf, Vale Wildlife Group, November 2000

7. The Red Paper: Foxes, Fox-Domestic Dog, Hybrids, Arctic Foxes, Wolves, Jackals and Coyotes: An Extensive Study of Vulpes vulpes in the United Kingdom and Releases/Escapes of Non-Native Canids; Terry Hooper-Scharf.  Black Tower Books, 2011

8. The “Girt Dog” of Ennerdale: Hyena, Thylacine or Escaped Exotic Cat: A Naturalist’s Assessment of the Evidence. Terry Hooper-Scharf. Black Tower Books, 2018

Various other unlisted papers and articles 2000-2021

Terry also applied his knowledge of the natural world to look at subjects ranging from gorillas and other primates as well as 18^th -19^th centuries mysterious predators in France, the UK and Ireland.

The Red Paper: Canids (2010)

Some Things Strange & Sinister (2011)

Some More Things Strange & Sinister  (2012)

Pursuing The Strange & Weird –A Naturalist’s Viewpoint (2014)

Strange & Mysterious Beasts  (2018)

In 2021 Terry set up the UK National Carnivore Advisory to look at all aspects of UK carnivores both large and small.