The Need For Fox (and Wildlife in general) Rescues

  I wrote this on a couple of wildlife groups pages:

"Really, I should not be surprised but it seems that other than a couple of people taking in grey squirrels and the odd hedgehog rescue there are no real wildlife orientated rescuers in Bristol.

What happened? There used to be people all over the City right up until the late 1990s and now...nothing.

I had hoped there were some about that avoided having to get over stretched rescuers from Secret World involved and the long trip down to Somerset for any animal/bird.

It is a sad thing to have to say that the UK really is not geared up for wildlife rescue but it's even sadder that a City the size of Bristol is totally and utterly unprepared for a sick or injured animal...and we have birds and wildlife on our doorstep north, south, east and west."
and someone responded:

"maybe you need to start one?"

All of that seems far more important now. Secret World had Zoe Webber working as a volunteer trapping and rescuing and Matt Lvy moved down from Scotland to work at the rescue where he was rushed off his feet. Despite what Secret World might say, depending on who answers the phone, it says it cannot cover Bristol and that has been proven over the past few years with only Zoe Webber's efforts keeping a regular presence.

Secret World is in Somerset and it is a long drive to take a sick or injured animal on. Once Secret World withdraws the number of sick and injured animals being "put to sleep" is going to increase. "First response" or "First treatment" vets, if you can find one willing to deal with wildlife, will generally resort to putting a fox or badger to "sleep". It's easier and cheaper and I write this having now had 50 years of experience with vets and wildlife -up until the 1990s most vets (unless a trainee establishment) would tell you (sometimes politely) to "get stuffed" if you said you had found a sick or injured fox or badger. Police officers on country patrols would invariably carry a lead pipe or other implement in the boot of the patrol car to swiftly put any injured badger or fox "out of its misery".

We are supposed to have improved since that time and to an extent we have as the "lead pipe blessing" no longer occurs. Rescues try their best but in the past individuals had to step in. In Bristol there were a few experienced fox watchers who kept an eye on the local foxes and handed out treatments where they could and got the occasionally "thank you bite" -"It's a wild animal and I grabbed it by the scruff of the neck to dose it and it had no idea what I was up to!" The 1994 mange outbreak in Bristol that killed around 94% of the fox population was the last time most of these people tried their hardest and many with no help from vets.

For some reason in the 1990s to mid 2000s people knew me as "that man that deals with sick pigeons". I did, true, but had no idea why until two youngsters arrived at my doorstep on a sunny bank holiday Monday with a squeaker (juvenile pigeon) they had fished out of the Feeder Canal. They cycled to the RSPCA centre only a few hundred yards away where someone told them a great big lie: "We don't deal with pigeons...we can give you the address where to take it though" -my address. I had rescued and kept racing pigeons until the local man, a Mr Truckle, could collect them to send back to the owners. I had also rescued a couple of wood pigeons -one dislocated wing and another had a broken leg. I pointed out to the RSPCA inspectors who called where the long time nests were (in my garden) and that I could look after them until release. All agreed. After a couple days I phoned the RSPCA to see what was happening and was told "It's policy to put to sleep wild birds" -twice I was told that and, yes, I made a serious complaint.

After that I would not trust the RSPCA again and Secret World were not that interested so, I tidied up an old wooden shed that was really only big enough to hold a few tools in but was warm, dry and secure enough to keep a boxed up pigeon with food and water in.

Above: Me in much chunkier days with two of the half dozen pigeons treated and re-released. (c)2022 T. Hooper-Scharf/VWLG

Once I moved home there was no longer a shed so things moved indoors. Having a "dog transport cage" I turned this into a pigeon holding cage.  It is quite large so the pigeon can move about in it and a thick twig can be fixed for roosting.

Initially the pigeons were kept in a quiet corner of the kitchen and at night the cage was covered. I would have preferred a larger cage but when limited by space you have to go with what you have. The pigeons (after the pots and stove are covered) would be allowed out of the cage while cleaning (daily) took place. This allowed me to assess the bird's ability to fly as well as overall condition.  

How strong is a pigeon getting; if you firmly hold the legs between your fingers so that it cannot get away you will find the bird flaps to fly away and if it flaps its wings they are not damaged. It also shows how strong the bird is.

I looked after several PMV infected pigeons. Vets will automatically put these down as they cannot be released or will pass the virus on to others (just search this blog for "PMV"). They do recover but your options are limited. You will either need to look after the bird for life or find a rescue that takes only PMV recovered birds -there were a couple back in the early 2000s. Any today means transporting the bird to them and no courier service that usually transports animals and birds will touch a PMV bird.

That's your choice. Luckily on two occasions I had trainee vets transport the birds  from me to the sanctuary otherwise I would have a couple aging pigeons in my kitchen.

Bristol now has a pigeon rescue but I very much doubt they are going to want PMV birds recovered or not.

Bristol has someone who will rescue sick or injured squirrels -taken to a vet is an automatic death sentence for them.

There are even a couple people who will rescue or look after hedgehogs and even though hogs are now endangered there is no funding for rescuing and looking after them. RSPCA? No. A neighbour once told me that she found four hoglets in the garage and the mother was dead out on the street. She contacted the RSPCA who told her: "Leave them where they are and see if the mum comes back" and she pointed out that the mother was dead. "Put them back then and let nature take its course. If you bring them in we'll put them down as its policy -we don't have the room or staff".  Before anyone queries that I double checked and was told the same thing. I left them in no doubt regarding my thoughts.

Foxes. Fox cub found and unwell: "Put it back where you found it and let nature take its course" one vet told the woman who found it. She went to another vet and the fox was treated there.  "Broken leg -we'll pts"/ "chest infection -we'll pts"/ "Nasty cut to its leg (or head) -we'll pts" and I hear this over and over again. Vets refusing to even give First Vet/emergency treatment to a fox and some that do ask immediately if there is a sanctuary or rescue taking it? Say you have not sorted that out yet -"We'll pts" and I have heard this from people actually in a vet reception who contact me because the vet has refused to see a wild animal or declares if he sees it then it is pts only".

That is going to become more common place. Bristol has a large urban badger population and the second largest urban fox population outside of London. Yet we have no rescue centre and the one that does exist is overflowing and not capable of handling larger wildlife such as foxes or badgers. For going on 30 years I have been telling anyone who will listen or read that Bristol needs a wildlife rescue centre based IN the City.   But we are not in any way unique.

Running wildlife rescues is a full time job  and the public expect you will respond to all their calls and rescue any and all wildlife they report as sick and injured within an hour. If you don't then the criticism and defamation received is soul destroying and you can argue til you are blue in the face that you are overcrowded with rescues and you do not have room, volunteer staff or the finances to take in more -there are rules and regulations. That gets the slap-back of "Well, you should have thought of that before calling yourself a wildlife rescue!"  The physical and mental health toll on those running rescues is massive and some have complete meltdowns which gets the other slap-back of "Well, they obviously weren't capable of running a rescue in the first place!"  Heard it and read it.

In areas where you have rescues check them out and see whether they take on wildlife such as foxes and badgers. If they do then support them.  You go shopping maybe buy a tray of canned dog or cat food or even bag of dry food to donate as that takes some of the spending costs down for them. Old newspapers, old towels and blankets -all donatable. A DIY or timber yard; find out if they have bags of sawdust that you can pick up to donate (timber yards tend to have a lot). Ask the rescue; what do you need donated most.

We need to keep as many of these places going as possible and keep publicising them and never forget to donate.

A rescue needs premises. Ideally, someone with a big piece of spare ground with a large shed or barn offering that up as a starter would be good.  However, that really very (very) rarely happens. Remember cages and treatment areas need to be set up and those need to be cleaned and kept up to a standard. The biggest expenditure is going to be veterinary treatment and meds and looking at the basics is enough to scare anyone off.

We are listed as one of the highest wildlife deprived countries in the world. Animals are killed daily in their hundreds "for fun" as well as by cars. We put out rodenticides t5hat kill not only rodents but foxes,m badgers, hedgehogs and even birds of prey that pick up a "dead meal". How many domestic pets die from rodenticide (secondary) poisoning we do not know accurately but die they do. Encouraging foxes and feral cats does NOT devastate native wildlife (that in itself is an unscientific and moronic statement by certain factions) but they will go for good food sources -rats and mice and there are plenty of them in a City like Bristol.

The Fox Deaths Project run by Zoe Webber and myself is looking at how foxes die within the City and we are learning a lot. On a weekly basis I hear of foxes injured or sickly being pts at vets because there is nowhere to take them or keep and treat long term. We are supposed to be a nation of animal lovers and everyone expects someone else to take care of sick and injured wildlife: but very few people are willing to contribute to the work itself.

Bristol needs a wildlife rescue. Most other parts of the country need wildlife rescues. Tutting away at news reports about how messed up the environment is and how wildlife is dying needlessly does not cut it.  We need the backing and support and not just for a week.

As it is at the moment I can see 2023 turning into a year of more and more dead foxes as well as badgers because we can do nothing.