Do I KNOW Everything About Foxes After 50 Years?

 

I was told by several people in the past couple of years that, after 50 years fox work, I must know everything about foxes.

No.

When I started out like many young naturalists I believed that the foxes we saw were the only foxes we ever had in the UK: the Red fox (Vulpes vulpes). Then I heard a couple of veteran country naturalists talk about Hill Foxes. This led to my scouring newspaper archives as well as many old books -books available to any zoologist or naturalist. Those who mocked reports of what I later termed Old British foxes did so having carried out no research but repeating dogma,

We had three types of fox (not different species but types). The Greyhound or Mountain fox was a favourite to hunt and probably became extinct first by the 1860s. If I told you that this fox was taller than a coyote would you believe me? I wouldn't have except a most famous taxidermy of such a fox came into the possession of my colleague, LM, who also happened to have a coyote taxidermy and side-by-side the Mountain Fox is taller.

The Hill fox was probably also known as the Mastiff fox -smaller than the Mountain fox but sturdy in build (hence the name). Living on rugged hills and mountainsides it, too, was wiped out by hunting.

Interestingly, my other colleague Hayley de Ronde discovered that in Wales a particular type of fox was referred to as a "Corgi fox"!

The next fox type was the Common or Cur (old speak for common) and from ancient times it, like the jackal in its territories, had a symbiotic relationship with humans. After all villages dumped waste such as food which attracted rats so foxes could pick up some rats as well as food scraps.

There is anecdotal evidence from old 'sport' books that seem to indicate that there were fox feeders at least in the 1800s (in some cases probably doing so to put up two fingers to their "betters") but the dogma teaches us that foxes only moved into urban areas in the 1930s -a precise date of 1936 is often given. In fact, there are news reports of foxes living in towns and cities across the UK in the 1800s (but we know well before that).

"Some foxes were imported" a note in a book reads. Yes, hunts wiped out the Mountain, Hill and Cur foxes and so lamented their demise -after all it was their fun sport. What did they do? Each year, probably from the late 1600s on, hundreds then up to (officially) 2000 foxes were imported from Europe to "replenish the field" and the age old practice of setting up artificial culverts (dens) continued with foxes protected from game keepers so that they were established and ready for the "chace".

Not only did humans hunt hare and some deer to extinction in certain areas (yes, they imported more of them from Europe, too) as well as the wildcat in England, Scotland and Wales but they gave us a 'gift' that sadly keeps giving -sarcoptic mange. Even a mild case in a hunting territory meant EVERY fox -adult and cub- were killed "in case".

There is a lot more (which is why I wrote a book in 2010 and a new one that covers the history of foxes, wiolves, coyotes and jackals in the UK...yes, well documented and we have the taxidermy to prove this further, wolves, jackals and coyotes were released into the countryside by hunts and mainly because they were seen to have )a) better stamina for a long chase and (b) put up a good fight with the hounds when cornered.

I never expected to see a striped fox yet I have and we have the photos! Also the 'myth' of foxes with ringed tails has been proven to be a fact.

Now I am learning, as is my colleague Zoe Webber, just how foxes are dying. We know many die from car strikes but we have found out much more about fox health than ever expected. Vets always declare "poisoned" or "Car strike" but post mortems have revealed just how wrong that is.

Over the ytears I have thought that I have found out all about foxes. Then they do something else and a new door opens. That gets sorted then another door opens. Once hooked on foxes you cannot get unhooked.

So, I DO NOT know all about foxes -just what they want me to know!