Foxes and Badgers and Why We Need To Educate People More (especially children)

 

When it comes down to it pretty things such as butterflies and moths, bees and birds win out over our larger mammals -the fox and badger.

When I first started out in 1976  there no real studies going on of foxes. A few naturalists had their regular spots to go badger watching and, of course, there were badger groups but when it came to any exchange of information or cooperation -I was on my own. By the 1990s I found that badgers in Bristol were no longer represented by a group. I wrote (its what we did in the last century) to all the contact addresses and found that even the local police wildlife officer had no details of who to contact.

Well, I ran some checks in the 1990s and had to get on with other work since watching wildlife does not pay. A couple of years ago I got to checking again -no one. I contacted everyone I could think of (there are any number of "wildlife groups" on Face Book and even three "main" FB naturalist groups. Nothing.

In 2021, faced with more reports of badger deaths they soon became a new project; because of Health & Safety and the fear of bovine TB, badgers cannot be picked up and subjected to a post mortem.  However, Zoe Webber and myself have a fantastic pathologist who will carry out PMs -in his garden in the open if  there are suspicious circumstances.

In the meantime I have established a number of long time badger areas in and around Bristol and that does not give us population numbers but it does mean that if a sow is killed by a car during cub season a search can be mounted to find the nearest sett in case. I am also recording badger deaths reported to me.

I was asked twice where the badgers are and on both occasions I responded (politely) that I would give my bank account details before even giving a rough idea where a sett might be.

The same applies when it comes to foxes and cubs. Last year I got five "photographers" who wanted to know where some fox dens were "especially with any cubs" -I told them to go take a walk. I see this on a lot of fox groups each year and the response from members should be "good luck" and that's it.

I never believed it until I found out from personal experience that what others were telling me was true; whether a small local group or a national one -hunt supporters are firmly entrenched and looking for the information they want.

We know cubs are snatched each year and we also know that there are 'sportsmen' out there who like to go and kill foxes and anything else they can and they display the foxes they have killed "at the back of the estate" or in a field -the law apparently is incompetent or blind since a fox can only be killed if it presents a threat to livestock -most of the foxes killed are just out catching rabbits. 

That written it is also surprising that the police do not take any action at the number of badgers "killed on the road" (nod-nod. wink wink) that are sold to taxidermy. In fact, taxidermists really should not be working on badgers due to the health threat but it seems selling a stuffed animal is more important than worrying about catching TB.

We know that there are people snaring in and around towns and cities and we have the PM reports.

When foxes are found dead the immediate scream is "It's been poisoned!!" and the fictional Bristol Fox Poisoner is at it again.  To clarify here is a pie chart showing causes of death so far found 

Note that poison is very low on the list. Of course, we lose a lot of dead foxes for a number of reasons; firstly, people report to the Bristol City Council Street Clean Team who are very efficient and they get to foxes quickly.  The Council (despite its claimed environmental credentials) will not cooperate with us in any way even though the post mortems are official. Initially, up until last July, the Council was promising a lot of assistance until rodenticide was mentioned and since then all emails are blocked -from myself and even Council allotment holders concerned about onsite use of rodenticides.

The other way we lose foxes is that someone will report that they have passed a dead fox on the way to work for four days. After the first day the fox will be too far gone for us to accept and put forward for PM. After 4 days -"maggot surprise".  People also think we are here to act as refuse men -"I have a decomposing fox needs removing" and "The Council say they can't collect the dead fox in my garden until Monday -will you collect it?"  

As we have no freezing facilities when it comes to Friday-Sunday (reports) we just cannot pick up a fox. They need to be kept frozen or cold until the official  lab opens on Monday. During a cold winter it isn't so bad but summer -no.

With social media groups you expect no cooperation as the main interest is "fluffy fox baby" photos and "Likes". It is even difficult to get members to sign online petitions to protect foxes.  Wildlife groups you expect a little more interest from since these are mammals in their city but despite a few people (who we are always grateful to) who pass on reports and so on...nothing. Otters, bats, birds and insects and even flowers all get the attention and at times it almost feels that we are fighting a losing battle but Zoe is dedicated and I am too stupid to quit after 40 years!

Where ever you are, whatever part of the UK -or Eire- look at your local badgers and foxes and learn about them. Officially, they are our largest (cat sized!) carnivores and they need all the help and protection they can get -and people (children especially) need to be educated about them.