Are Fox and Badger Breeding Seasons Changing -Or Is More Going On?

 One thing I have always done over the last 40+years, whether with long time native species or even new introduced species, is look at how they impact on the environment as well as environmental changes that might effect species.

A January badger cub (c)2023 respective copyright holder

The number of deer of varying species, not to mention wild rabbits, rats and mice are well into their millions. The finding of deer and larger mammal carcasses tells us a lot about what killed or scavenged from them. Our climate has gotten warmer and in the past we had fairly well defined seasons. When I was a youngster in the 1960s we had calendar dates that marked Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter and "March winds and April showers" were what we expected. I do know that while sat in a classroom c 1966  it was sunny outside until it clouded over and it began to snow -in May!

We had hot summers and very could winters and as my gran used to say "We complain when its too hot and then moan when it's too cold!" For animals those old seasons marked coming out of hibernation and then eating, finding a mate and breeding or awaiting the birth of cubs so eating whatever was available. Summer months were raising the young and then as Autumn hit the struggle to eat and put on weight for winter began. During winter food could be in short supply.

A January fox cub (c)2023 respective copyright holder

Our weather in the UK is now less than predictable (watch a weather forecast) and our seasons a mix-up.  The need for animals to breed to a schedule of sorts and based on food availability was a problem but no more.

Humans have totally 😡 up the environment and everything from flora to fauna are feeling and seeing the results. Even in a short, sharp cold spell there are still food sources.

So the environmental situation has created changes in wildlife behaviour. But the food factor has also changed. We know that there seem to have been "fox feeders" as far back as the 19th century in the countryside and anecdotal evidence suggests even around town and city suburbs. We know people did give scraps to deer and other wildlife and that probably even included the badger.  Vulpicide was just accepted as was Melecide but not every person was antagonistic toward wildlife.

In the 1970s there were people who put out odd scraps of food for hedgehogs (another animal once killed on sight) or a stray cat and found a fox calling by or even a badger. These early feeders provided a year round food source for animals that might struggle during winter. The same people attempted to offer wildlife "first aid" for mange as well as other injuries. Most of those old fox watchers are gone now but come the internet and and social media groups a whole new wave of behaviour affected wildlife.

Social Media "Likes" for photographs or video clips of "my furry fox babies" increased the amount of feeding. "A" got lots of praise for feeding a fox so "B" wanted some of that and the so did "C" and on and on. The complete crap being fed to foxes was unbelievable: fried bacon and chips, doughnuts, cold pizza and much more. Some, sensibly, fed raw chicken legs or wings -this is NOT a common food they get in the wild so we'll scotch that rumour here and now. However, it is better than pork cops and anything pork should NOT be given to a fox. Luckily some people have understood that a fox could do with a little help once or twice a week but others still feed foxes morning, afternoon and evening -and this behaviour is passed on to cubs. One of the saddest sights to see is a group of foxes or just one fox that calls at a property regularly every day for its food. They are WILD canids not garden pets. But as a result we see overweight foxes with people screeching that slim, lithe looking foxes "must be starving -feed it!"

Overfed and with the right environmental conditions as well as territory that is safe, foxes have no need to be concerned about the normal breeding season. Humans are not just habituating foxes and badgers but altering their natural instincts to hunt for the food that they need. Foxes will take care of a rat or mouse problem and there is no need for poisons that kill other domestic and wild animals (especially since rats are becoming immune to the various rodenticides).

We have seen, quite recently, a fox cub rescued in London but successfully taken back by its mother and yet there should not be any fox cubs around in January. This is not the first as I know of a few -I probably don't know about a lot of others- out of season fox cubs. As for badgers I know of a couple of rescues of cubs that meant they were born in October. 

Is this all caused man-made changes to the environment and feeders? The so called "set seasons" for breeding may be wrong since those were all based on fox hunting calendars -when foxes were allowed to breed and raise their young in safety until "cubbing season" when the slaughter began and then great pride was taken in how many "brace" (breeding pairs" were killed and even pregnant vixens were victims of the hounds (in one case because a hunter got angry because fellow riders would not believe that a running vixen was pregnant).

Hunts had the typical mentality  (that still persists today) that "man is in control" so they set up artificial dens for foxes to live in, decided when they were going to kill cubs and breeding pairs (no problem -the shortage of foxes "during season" (I wonder why?)  was easily rectified by buying in more. Another thing was that even just one fox showing signs of mange (brought to the UK by hunt imports) meant that "every fox in the territory was put to death even cubs" because they did not want mange messing up a fox population there to be hunted. This began in the (at least) 16th century so what we may have seen as normal fox breeding seasons could in fact be breeding seasons artificially created by a population under stress.

We know that little about foxes -a lot about how to artificially house, feed and breed them for hunting but most zoologists have no idea that our three types of native Old fox were hunted to extinction by around 1830s with some hybrids continuing after that for a period. 

It is possible that in the past foxes and badgers bred when food and the environmental resources were good but that human interference messed that all up. One thing that it does mean for us now is that badger and fox casualties need to be checked to make sure it is not a  lactating sow or vixen as orphaned cubs may be nearby. Breeding seasons could now be reverting to what they used to be in the wild and one (badger or fox) cub might be an oddity in January. Two in different parts of the country... a coincidence? Three or four different locations nationally is not a coincidence and we need to take note whether a rescuer or fox/badger watcher.