An Update

 Yes, this is another Bristol focussed post, however, what happens in Bristol is probably happening in towns and cities around the UK and the British Fox Study set up the Fox Deaths Project in the hope that it may educate and inform rescues and others interested in foxes. 

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(c)2023 respective copyright owner

Something that I need to point out that never makes me popular with conspiracy people and some fox groups.

I pushed for the fox post mortems in Bristol as there was a lot of near hysterical internet screaming every time a dead fox was reported. It was always without fail "poisoned" and the language got rude about said poisoner.

There were no "ifs", "buts" or "maybe" -it was a mass fox poisoner and the foxes were being killed as a warning to dox feeders. After all foxes were being dumped on pavements in pairs and on public walls. I always pointed out that it was not poisoning until that was tested for and the response was that these were perfectly healthy foxes with not a mark on them. That meant poisoning.

My two concerns were simple.

1. prove or disprove deliberate (illegal) poisoning of foxes.

2. look for the possibility of disease.

There were tell-tale signs with dead foxes such as the tails being in an odd position -this is because most people will move dead animals by the tail and not carry the body. This was a clue as to what was happening.; people were moving dead foxes (and badgers) out of the roads were a car killed them rather than let them be run over repeatedly. It was nice of them to stop and do this but raised a few scares!

Foxes looking as though they were in perfect condition when they died was a puzzle -as were some of the symptoms described. We found out pretty early on that this was due to the fact that injuries were all internal and were only found during post mortem.

(c) 2023 respective copyright owner

To date we have evidence of only one case of secondary poisoning. Basically, if you find a huge quantity of poison in a fox it is a sign that the poisoning was deliberate. However, tests will show whether poison was ingested over a period of time -a fox eating a poisoned rat then another a few days later until it builds up gradually.

To date that is it. There is no mass fox poisoner or, and I studied this on maps, a group of poisoners. Dead foxes were placed on walls so that the Council street clean team can see them easily when called out.

I am sorry to say that humans and cars are the biggest killer of foxes. But even foxes killed by cars told us a lot -pneumonia amongst foxes is far from rare and there are other underlying health problems. Lung worm for one or even heart worm (the "silent killer") and worms are a big problem with Bristol foxes.

Disease was my main concern and although we have found babesia so far we have had no cases of adenovirus which is, according to some rescues that need to get updated, "rampant in the UK fox population" and we have seen no evidence of that.

The pathologist could have had an easy life and just said "RTA" (road traffic accident) and that was him covered. In fact he is far more thorough than I could have expected and he checks everything he can until he finds answers. I doubt the Project could have found a better man.

Oh, and just to publicly acknowledge that the Project would never have worked had it not been for the work of wildlife rescuer Zoe Webber who drives around to check any dead foxes that might be suitable for study (I don't drive so carting dead foxes in a bag on the bus might not be appreciated by passengers!).

AIV was a concern and all dead foxes have to be swabbed to check for that before PMs. So far it has not developed (fingers crossed) and the stories of farmers throwing AIV infected birds to foxes I can get no source on the record over -just another story made up for the press?

Others are interested in the work but as always -there is no money in wildlife work (unless you are a celebrity) so we do what we can and hopefully what we find out in the end will help rescues, vets interested in wildlife and others to understand a lot about how foxes die, present mystery symptoms before dying and may -I hope- help the foxes themselves.

An added thank you to Sarah Mills for the work she is doing in Bristol with sick and injured foxes.

It all makes a difference.

It's Cub Season and mange Is About....

Now I know that there is a problem with mange and treating it at this time of year and especially if there are cats, hedgehogs, badgers and pregnant vixens

I contacted The Fox Rescuers and asked about the drops that they provide as I know they differ from the National Fox Welfare Society ones and I wanted to double check that what I was told by them years ago still applies.

Here is their response:

"Hiya Terry, no problem Yep you can indeed use the drops in water and it won't harm non-target animals. Just put plenty in or else it'll be too dilute."

This is just an advisory and the ultimate decision on whether to use or not is up to the individual.

Always consider the welfare of the animal

https://www.facebook.com/thefoxrescuers

We Need To Talk About Foxes and Injured Legs

 

(c)2023 Respective copyright owner

If there is one thing I hear all year and every year it is that a fox has been sighted and is limping -not putting much weight on its leg. The leg is usually one of the rear ones although I have observed foxes limping on their front legs.

Unless you see an open wound, mangled leg or blood the best thing you can do is just keep an eye on the fox and usually in just over a week the limp goes although some can get an intermittent limp it usually passes. I had one under observation that would not put too much weight down on its paw and I was thinking it might need treating but as there was no wound and the leg was not swollen I waited. The limp went. Then, one night, a brief territory squabble and the limp was back slightly but over the days went.

A limping fox is a very common sight.

There is one fox I know of that had a bloodied leg and seemed to have a wound -possibly from a snare (in the City). However, it seemed to be healing up. It was drinking okay and eating well and even wandered off to return to the feeder's garden later. Had that fox been caught by the RSPCA the standard practice is to put it to sleep. Kill it. There is "no space or staff to look after an injured fox". The local rescue would also have put the fox down as standard practice. To me this is totally wrong  as any animal deserves a chance but I do not dictate policy. In the case of the fox missing its foot it is doing well.

There are a number of foxes in the UK with a back leg missing and examining the photos shows quite clearly that the leg was surgically amputated. Would a fox cope with three legs? Yes. I've seen it and if you think about it there are a lot of pet dogs that have lost legs and lead a full life.

Foxes are known as "the cat-like canid" because it is very cat-like in the way it moves and behaves. I have seen foxes sunbathing on terraced house rooves, up in trees (and foxes are well known and documented as sleeping and climbing into trees) and they leap over fences and twice I have heard a loud bang as a fox misjudged a leap and whacked its leg on the fence! A friend was sat in her garden one day when out of the high hedgerow a fox peeked out then went back in.

If the fox is a regular through your garden put out some dry cat food or even wet (canned) dog or cat food so that you can keep a check on it but if a limp its low priority. If you see a mangled  or bloodied leg or appears to be dazed or staggering around then you need to call the nearest wildlife rescue for advice and help.

At times the number of limping fox reports outnumbers the number of mange reports so it is common. Again, a lot of domestic cats get limps because of the same reasons making the fox even more of a cat-like canid!

British Fox Study -Have We Achieved Anything?

 I do sit up at night and start questioning what the Study has done since 1976. So I thought if I put a few notes here it might help me remember!

(c)2023 Matthew Moran. Do you prefer a fox or rats in your garden?

Firstly, when I started in 1976 urban foxes were thought to be a rarity. However, from personal observations I knew this was incorrect. Looking at historical newspaper accounts from the 19th century on it was quite obvious that there were urban foxes in England and Scotland in the 1800s. The dogma is that foxes did not move into urban areas "until about 1934" or "1933" and just how they came up with such an accurate date beats me. Foxes are like cats and move fast and if they don't want to be seen...you are not going to see them. An accidental viewing or glimpse of a fox in a suburb is not how you base such a claim.

One thing that always puzzled me was how cats were constantly blamed for tipping over refuse bins -the old metal dustbins- to get to food in them. When I was told of one "odd" cat with a big bushy tail I did wonder whether most cases were down to foxes rummaging for a free meal?  

But could foxes live in a town or city without people noticing?

Yes.  Again, the newspaper and magazine archives tell a story that many zoologists and others tend to want people to forget. Wolves, jackals and coyotes were released and housed by hunts and many of them escaped the hunts and contemporary accounts even in 'sport' (hunt) books of the time show this. As recounted in The Red Paper 2022 Volume I: Canids there was even a wolf living in the outskirts of London unobserved for quite a while. So a cat-sized canid that is also known as "the cat-like canid" is going to have no problem.

Remember that it was only in the early 21st century that local authorities began providing refuse bins that were meant to keep animals -rats mainly but they certainly chewed their way through a nu8mber in Bristol! Towns and cities had local refuse tips where everything and anything was dumped and that included food stuffs. This attracted rats and rats, after wild rabbits, are a top food source for foxes...and the dumped food was also a free meal. Waste tips near villages, towns and cities were a thing going back to pre-Roman Britain and one of the Old foxes -the Cur Fox- had a symbiotic relationship with humans rather like jackals in their home territories. Again, this was fully researched and the findings, etc. are in the Canids book. 

From research we know that the Cur fox lived near human habitation and that it often got blamed for taking chickens and other birds that were really thefts by human hands. Anecdotal evidence was also found to show that there were fox feeders back in the 19th century and that it was far from out-in-the-open social media thing it is today. 

Another myth bites the dust.  The biggest 'myth' was, according to modern naturalists and zoologists, the claim that there used to be three types of distinctive British fox. The old, now gone, naturalists that I knew all said that there were such foxes and the reason they knew this was because they had extensive libraries full of books and also collected taxidermy or had seen examples. From the late 1960s onward it seems that it was easier to accept dogma and just keep repeating that whereas, before that time, a zoologist or naturalist would have been expected to look into a subject to gain knowledge. We now have copy and paste with no real research carried out and accreditation is given for perpetuating dogma.

(c)2023 Respective copyright owner

So many times I have had "well qualified" university graduates working in ecology or a specific wildlife area challenging the "three fox types" and they have never heard or read of any such thing. Therefore it is all hog-wash. I tend to counter with "Why do you think so many thousands of foxes were imported every year into England?" Most don't believe that but it is one of the easiest things for them, as alleged academics, to look up -they have all of the resources.  However, that means getting books and publications and reading through them. Too much hard work.

We know -we have the taxidermy- that there were the large Old fox known as the Mountain or Greyhound fox -animals tended to be named after familiar ones such as dog breeds. It was fast and agile -like the greyhound dog- and big. We have (my colleague LM has) an example of an American coyote and placed next to a rather famous greyhound fox she has the coyote is much smaller. By habits and habitats the Mountain/Greyhound fox appears to have filled in the coyote or jackal niche which makes sense as foxes developed in isolation from mainland Europe over the millennia. Americas: Wolf + Coyote + Fox  Europe: Wold + Jackal + Fox and Britain: Wolf + Mountain Fox + Fox

The other two types of fox were the Hill Fox also known as the mastiff fox which was a little shorter than the Greyhound and thickset and muscular. The other was the commonest, hence the name, the Cur fox which lived closer to human habitation.  

(c)2023 respective copyright owner

Many of the old sources show just how bad natural history could be since naturalists were also 'sportsmen' so reported on the wildlife they went on the massacre in droves.  Many 'sportsmen' would not believe there was such a thing as a white fox but our own data base of taxidermy shows the extent of white foxes; many sportsmen mocked those who claimed to have seen these 'myths' until they came across one. Foxes were 'studied' so that they might be better kept in artificial dens and bred for the hunt. The actual life cycle of foxes was not studied long term because ...well, they were there to be killed for fun. 

For this reason there was much screeching and teeth grinding in print from 'experts' ("X"=the Unknown and "spurt" is a drip under pressure) who said there was no such thing as three species of fox just the occasional big fox. It should be noted that this was generally always countered (politely) with the statement that no one was claiming that there were three species just three variations in the British fox. Yes, this is where the dogma started; pompous know-it-alls who might hunt fox where only the Cur was found and as far as they were concerned they were 'experts' on the fox.

DNA work on Old fox specimens may resolve the question and probably show that they were variations of Vulpes vulpes, however, rather like the British wolf -and the Irish wolf for that matter- the Old foxes would be a distinct sub-species  as they were separated from mainland Europe for thousands of years 

The search for any descendants of the Old foxes would be near to impossible since thousands each year were imported from Europe and importation might go back as far as the 16th century. This is not a unique problem to foxes.

Red squirrels were blasted into virtual if not actual extinction by around the 1860s. The response was to import more from Europe to keep the 'sport' going.  Hares were wiped out in many areas thanks to hare coursing and the response was to import new stock in from Europe to continue the 'sport' and in other areas deer were wiped out and, you guessed it, more were imported to keep deer hunting going. All of these extinctions/near extinctions caused by humans took place in the 1860s and -even officially declared by Scottish naturalists in 1897- the Scottish wild cat was another extinction. There is evidence that European wild cats purchased by menageries, zoos and private collectors also made their way into 'sporting territories' -one might ask why 'vermin' (a hunt only term) were released into shooting territories rented out by estate owners? This means that all DNA testing of all these animals proves is that they match European species because they were imported in numbers not that they are the original British species.

(c)2023 British Fox Study

There is much more of course and studying the history of foxes means that you have to study other British wildlife as it is all inter-connected and shows just what humans have done -and still want to do. Farmers are now allowed to kill reintroduced beavers and there is anecdotal evidence that otters may also be on a "kill list" (if unofficially).

The Study even achieved having dead foxes in Bristol that meet a certain criteria subject to post mortem examinations -the only Fox Deaths Project in the UK. This has attracted a certain amount of overseas interest and results will tell us a great deal about how foxes die -even in car strikes we find illnesses and diseases and other things that I never expected and with a fine pathologist involved we hope to discover even more.

Two things begun in 2022 were the Fox Deaths Register and Badger Deaths Register: any fox reported dead whether due to a car or taken as part of our project is registered and we are also keeping an eye on otter deaths . It would be nice to think that, in the case of Bristol, the City Council might be willing to provide road underpasses for wildlife or fencing at danger points.  However, Bristol City Council has flatly refused to take part in or discuss any of these issues.

One other thing achieved, to a certain extent, is to educate people on why they must not coax foxes into their kitchens and homes with food.  Some foxes have already paid with their lives because of human habituation. The same applies to badgers. These are wild animals and not garden pets or something you can video or photograph to get social media likes. Foxes and badgers are at increased risk of snaring (two deaths down to that in the Bristol area in 2022 -which is a danger to pets) or other anti wildlife activities and the offer is still there if anyone wants me to prove this by showing the dead fox and fox cub photos from Bristol.

Again, what applies to Bristol applies to every other town and city in the UK.  Finding that a lot of people agree with the guidelines of "keep wildlife wild" is good. However, the fact that these people are not vocal in encouraging a change in attitudes is disappointing. I have no doubt people are still coaxing in wildlife but it is seen as far less responsible now -and that message will be continued. Interestingly, in some countries it is illegal to feed wildlife -and the UK has millions of wild rabbits, rats and mice -all part of a fox menu.

(c)2023 respective copyright owner

Food is a problem. Bashing away at feeders politely never worked as well as it ought to so constantly pushing the message that foxes do not need feeding 2-3 times a day (buy a bloody pet!) and their requirements are minimal seems to get through to many responsible feeders and the good feeders are the ones who also help treat mange vin local foxes or foxes with minor injuries where there is no wildlife rescue centre and certainly no interest from vets (where vets DO help thank you). 

The annual finding of many chicken eggs in plant pots and under shrubs continues as does the finding of rotted chicken -all excess buried by foxes and if that excess is not used but left to rot then that fox does not need to be given more. Huge trays of chips, sausages, baked beans and even fried bread are no joke. This should NOT be fed to foxes and I have heard the excuse "they were hungry and were having to chase and kill rats for food!" Yes -because that is what foxes eat and if they put down the number of rats then rodenticides (and danger to pets, foxes, badgers, hedgehogs and other wildlife) are not needed and it is a safer environment. That said there are people feeding the "garden mice" and "garden rats" so I just shrug and move on.

The messages are getting through but it is something we cannot stop doing just as we cannot stop trying to get more protection for wildlife with up to 70,000 foxes and equal number of badgers dying yearly on our roads. Various deer species, otters and other species join that list and all we can do is record where we can. People drive too fast, hit animals then drive on without checking -again, in some countries that is illegal.  We need to educate (where possible) the adult population as well as children -some taught that badgers are filthy animals with diseases when even the 'great sportsmen' of the 19th century described badgers as being cleanly and even utilised that characteristic.

(c)2023 respective copyright owner

I seriously doubt things will change in my life time while building on green fields and countryside as well as destruction (supposedly illegal) of badger setts as well as fox dens during cub season continue. We all need to recognise that WE have to demand that the elected (or want to be elected) councillors and Members of Parliament disclose their environmental and wildlife conservation credentials as well as stance on hunting. Promises on these subjects need to be in a written contract and when promises or changes need to be made...then is the time for protest.

It is not the government of the days country. It is everyone's and if we want to see children grow up in a country with wildlife it has to be fought for and protected.

Do you prefer to see, and for your children/grand children to see live foxes or stuffed ones?

No Wild Cats In England For...500 years???

Stupidity, it seems, is infectious -as is spreading totally inaccurate information.  Wildcats to be released in England for first time in 500 years...makes no sense.

500 years???

Hunters wiped out the true Old wild cats by 1860 (officially declared in 1897) though hybrids survived in Scotland, Wales and England into the 1930s.

What they call wild cats today in Scotland are absolutely nothing like the true British wild cat -they are introduced European wild cats which is why their DNA matches.

Also, there has been a fairly well known unofficial reintroduction of pairs of wild cats (European) around England since the 1990s..

This article is badly researched.

If you are going to introduce a new species -an introduced species- then fair enough but it means having to stop killing every other species introduced to the UK -picking and choosing does not work. I would love to see, even if introduced, wild cats roaming freely in good numbers. But here is the thing: those that exist now are protected but they are still shot, snared and poisoned as "I thought it was a hybrid" -get out of gaol card.

In England I can see that the pairs released will soon start dropping in numbers. The night shooters with their telescopic sights love shooting most things and a large cat is as good as (and the same size as) a fox. There is a lot of "animals to order" going on with taxidermists wanting a badger, a fox or whatever and they get what they pay for. We KNOW that is going on.

I can see a lot of, uh, 'road kill' wild cats turning up on taxidermy groups.

Just how are they going to protect the released animals when badgers and other protected species are killed on a weekly basis? You cannot.

It's a nice idea but (I hope not) doomed to failure in the long term especially when areas have bird shoots and fox hunts.

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11761279/Dozens-wildcats-set-released-English-countryside-time-500-years.html

Dozens of wildcats are set to be released into the English countryside for the first time in 500 years

• Between 40 and 60 of the wildcats will be set free in Devon and Cornwall
• Wildcats were almost hunted to extinction in parts of Britain in the 16th century

As a part of a new pioneering conservation project, dozens of European wildcats are to be released into rural parts of Cornwall and Devon.

Between 40 and 60 of the wildcats, which can grow up to twice the size of the conventional domesticated cat, will be set free for the first time in over two centuries to prey on vermin and rabbits.

Wildcats were previously hunted to extinction in most parts of Britain in the 16th century for their thick dense fur as well as the threat they posed to rabbits.

Today, they are the United Kingdom's rarest native mammal with just 200 living in remote areas of northern Scotland.

Conservationists hope that their reintroduction into the English countryside will result in them playing an important ecological role in the countryside, according to the Devon Wildlife Trust.

Conservationist and 'rewilder' Derek Gow has five mating pairs of cats on his farm in Lifton, Devon, which were given to him to breed by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland.

He has run a successful captive breeding programme over the last few years and now is now working with the Devon Wildlife Trust to release dozens of cats into the wild.

The cats, which eat small mammals such as mice and rabbits will live in secret, rural locations on Devon and Cornwall to begin with.

According to experts, the wildcats will pose no threat to humans or domestic pets as they will inhabit dense woodland and will take flight at the sight of a person.

Mr Gow, 57, said: 'If we have the ability to save a nearly extinct species which once populated all of Britian until we hunted them to the brink why would we not reintroduce them?

Conservationist and 'rewilder' Derek Gow is working with the Devon Wildlife Trust to release the cats into the wild

'Along with beavers and pine martins they will play a key role in restoring our landscape to its natural state.

'This is just one small step in the right direction, returning wildcats to our forests will help rejuvenate them.'

He said that all animals have an essential effect on their ecosystems, and provided a 'check on rampant mice and rabbits' whose populations have grown to uncontrollable numbers. 

He added: 'As a species we have culled wild animals to death and now is the time for us to start reversing that trend.'

The Devon Wildlife Trust has recently received funding from the Devon Environment Foundation to thoroughly research the best way to reintroduce these wildcats into the county.

European wildcats look very similar to the average tabby cat, however, they are larger and bulkier than their domestic counterparts. They have longer legs, broader heads, pointier ears and distinctive tails with three to five black rings around them before a black tip.

 he wildcat is closely related to but not the ancestor of the domestic cat.

Peter Burgess, director of nature recovery at DWT, said: 'They naturally stay far away from human habitation and it will be a miracle if people even find evidence that they have been around, never mind come across them.

'Ideally we will be selecting coastal scrubland and dense forests as places where they can be released.

'With any luck they will slowly begin building up their population and repopulate the county and eventually the country.'

He added: 'We are confident that people will get behind the project and support saving a species which is nearly extinct.'

The US, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland and Norway Are Out To Kill Off MORE Wolves. It HAS To Stop!

 

The US, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland and Norway have declared a war against wolves. They are keystone species and if removed will lead to the collapse of whole ecosystems. Please stand up for wolves. 

#standwithwolves
#wildandfree
#StopKillingWolves
#bankillingwolves

We drive them to the point of extinction then 'save' them. Then we start killing them all off again so a few well off psychopaths can have fun. WHY is it not a good idea to reintroduce wolves to any country? 

HUMANS

EXTINCTION IS FOREVER

The Red Paper 2022 Volume II: Felids

 

226 pp

Paperback

Interior Color and Black and white

Dimensions  A4 (8.27 x 11.69 in / 210 x 297 mm)

https://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/the-red-paper-2022-volume-2-felids/paperback/product-n48529.html?

£25.00

In 1896 Scottish naturalists and zoologists declared that the true Scottish wild cat had become extinct by the 1860s. What we see today is nothing more than a wild tabby cat. In this work the true history and destruction of wild cats from England, Wales (where hybrids clung on into the 1940s) and Scotland is explored and after decades of research the true look of the wild cat is revealed. The "English Tiger" and "Highland Tiger" truly lived up to that name.

Dogma is finally thrown out.

There is also a look at the "New Native Cats" ranging from Asian Golden Cats, Lynx, Puma and others and the evidence leading to their being so designated. No silly press or media stories just solid facts backed up by evidence. The author acted as an exotic species wildlife consultant to UK police forces from 1977-2015 as well as cooperated with university projects on the subject.

Island cats as well as feral cats their lifestyles and problems mare also covered .

Fully referenced and including maps, illustrations and very rare photographs -some never before seen in print- make this a book for amateur naturalists and zoologists.

The Red Paper 2022 Volume I -Canids

361 pp

Paperback

Interior Color & Black and white

Dimensions A4 (8.27 x 11.69 in / 210 x 297 mm

£25.00

https://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/the-red-paper-2022-volume-1-canids/paperback/product-r97ywj.html?

 When the Doggerland bridge flooded the British Isles became separated from

Continental Europe and its wildlife developed uniquely. The British Isles, for the purpose of this work includes Ireland, and isolated the wolves on both became what would be island species not affected by the usual island dwarfism. These wolves, after millennia. Became “unwanted” and forests and woodland was burnt down or cut down for the specific purpose of lupicide; the killing of every and any wolf –and there was a bounty for “a job well done”. At the same time there also developed three unique island species of Old fox from the coyote-like Mountain or Greyhound fox, the slightly smaller but robustly built Mastiff or Bulldog fox and the smaller Common or Cur fox –the latter like today’s red foxes had a symbiotic relationship with humans. These canids were mainly ignored until it was decided that they could provide fur and meat and those things earn money. From that point onward, especially after all other game had been killed off, the fox faced what writers over the centuries referred to as vulpicide –extermination through bounties paid, trapping or hunting and despite all the hunters noting that the Old foxes were nearing extinction they continued to hunt until by the late 1880s the Old were gone and replaced by the New –foxes imported by the thousands every year for the ‘sport’ of fox hunting and this importation also led the the UK seeing the appearance of mange (unknown before the importations). The travelling British sportsmen went coyote, wolf and jackal hunting and on returning to England wanted to bring a taste of this to “the good old country”. Wolves, jackals and coyotes were set up in hunting territories from where they could learn the lay of the land and provide good sport later. Some hunts even attempted to cross-breed foxes, jackals and Coyotes. Then there were the legendary –almost mythical– “beasts”; the black beast of Edale, the killer canids of Cavan and the “girt dog” of Ennerdale. In more recent times raccoon dogs and arctic foxes have appeared in the UK; some released for ‘sport’ while others are exotic escapees long since established in the countryside. If you thought you knew what fox hunting was about prepare to be woken up by a sharp slap to the face and the reality that, by admissions of hunts themselves, this was all about fun and sport and nothing to do with “pest control”.

I Am NOT Anti-Social I Just Will Not Take Money To See An Animal Killed

 

(c)2023 respective copyright owner

There is a problem that keeps cropping up over the years. Whether the exotic animals work or specialised British canid and mustelid work. Many years back the Daily Express offered me £10,000 for a copy of my map showing the location of British large cats such as puma and lynx. At the time I had a paired of holed boots and one tatty pair of trousers to my name so £10K sounded good. I said no. Someone for the Sun newspaper hearing this upped the offer to £15,000 and, yes, I rejected it.  I already knew through a second party that the newspapers had a couple of "hunters" ready to send out to try to "prove" (kill) that there were puma and lynx in the UK.

I would sooner be going out in the rain in a pair of socks than take money.

I posted this to one of my Face Book groups today and in a way it explains my attitude and why I would sooner be poor.

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Just to make something very clear so if anyone you know has tried to join this group and complained they were turned down.

This is NOT a public "fluffy animals" and social media Likes page. This page is about foxes and badgers and mainly in and around Bristol.

If someone asks to join and their main profile has no "About" information, no posts, no videos and maybe an image of an animal then those are markers FB warned are signs of a scammer or hacker. Worse still many fox groups on FB let people join with these profiles and if they respond to a question it's "I like foxes".

Wildlife groups are full of pro hunt people who lurk around until they decide to spread a foxes are a menace stories. Most will just watch for information on where fox dens and badger setts are located.

In 1977 I decided that "Neither by word nor deed any animal to harm" was a good motto.

If you are on this group it is because I checked your profiles.

I still always advise never to mention a location where you know there are badger setts and fox dens. If I want to find out whether they are located (badger setts mainly as foxes will move cubs around) I will message privately and ask.

Yearly there are requests from alleged photographers or film students asking where they can find and film badgers or foxes and my advice has always been that it is up to the individual but I simply say "No. Go look for yourself". I have just had two blank profiles from persons claiming to be "totally fascinated by urban foxes particularly in Bristol" but offering no one to back up their university credentials.

Also, why Bristol when London is said to have the largest urban fox population and there are smaller towns and cities with urban foxes that are easier to film in? These people might be genuine but they get no cooperation from me. By the way, with most university projects a person such as a professor or doctor overseeing the work is given and no one has so far furnished this info so...suspect.

Yes, I may seem a tad "intense" at times but that's how I write and I get to the point quickly and am not here to make friends (or make money) but here to educate and learn more about our larger mammals.

Also; those rumours that I bite people are untrue and that has not happened since 1989.

That was a joke...sort of (it was a dog I bit)

Were The British Wolves A Distinct Sub-Species and Thoughts On Why wolves Will Never Be Reintroduced

Note that any use of the term "British Isles" is for geographic recognition. As wolves, like foxes, were present in Ireland before modern political divides it cannot constantly be referred to "Eire and Northern Ireland" and, after all, animals knew of no geographic boundaries. The canid (and felid) work has involved looking at populations not just on mainland Britain (England, Wales and Scotland) and Ireland (Eire/N. Ireland) but on islands (Guernsey, Jersey, etc) so this is all encompassed under the geographic term British Isles.

In this post I will be addressing certain questions and putting forward certain theories  and I hope that at some point we can encourage labs to help out with DNA with "free time" testing. The same applies to Old Fox types and Old wild cats.

Apologies for a "Typical Hooper ramble"

(c)023 Respective copyright owner

Wolves in Britain -Scotland, Wales and England- were isolated as a species from Europe following the last ice age and the rising waters that led to Doggerland becoming the North sea and English Channel. We know wolves here did not suffer from island dwarfism and have been tentatively identified as being of arctic wolf type.

For over 10,000 years they developed and were likely a distinctive, obviously now extinct, sub-species.

An Irish fox and wolf depicted in 'Topographia Hiberniae' by Giraldus Cambrenisis, circa late 12th century

Ireland became separated from mainland Britain and there is, again, plenty of contemporaneous accounts of the wolves being large and it was for this reason that the Irish bred the wolfhound to hunt and take down wolves. These hounds were so good at their work and became famous that a high price was paid for them by people in Britain.

Because Ireland was separated from Britain, which was separated from Continental Europe it is very likely that Irish wolves were also a developed sub species.

There are certain things that need to be referenced and these are dealt with in more detail in The Red Paper 2022 Vol. I: Canids and, yes, that involves foxes.We know that in Europe and Asia there were wolves, jackals and foxes so large, medium and small canids. In the Americas there are wolves, coyotes and foxes -again; large, medium and small canids. We saw very similar in the British Isles; wolves, greyhound foxes and foxes. That sounds odd until you realise that the Greyhound/Mountain fox was around the size of a coyote and some, based on taxidermy evidence, bigger.  The Greyhound/Mountain fox filled in the niche that the coyote filled in the Americas and the jackal in Europe and Asia. There were Old type foxes in Europe but that is for other researchers to look into.

Why is this relevant? Simply because Ireland seems to have had the same situation with wolves, Mountain foxes and regular foxes. In fact the wolves were wiped out in mainland Britain and just like there so the same took place in Ireland and the mountain foxes on both islands were the next target for hunting and when Irish hunts killed off so many of the larger fox their pals in England sent them gift Mountain foxes for hunts. The wolf and the fox all have an interlocking history which, I suppose is not too surprising, they also share with badgers.

As far as I am aware, and I have checked with many museums, there is only one complete British wolf skeleton in existence. I am currently tracking down a possible Irish taxidermy and I believe some bones are still in a collection in Ireland.

Can DNA be used to tell us more? Well, hopefully and it would be nice to see such work carried out. That said, money for this type of work does not exist and all we could hope for is that some DNA lab offers free time testing. I am not a DNA expert but whether sub-species can be determined using this with relic bones I am not sure although it has been used to identify sub-species still living -Evaluating the Taxonomic Status of the Mexican Gray Wolf and the Red Wolf; National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Division on Earth and Life Studies; Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources; Board on Life Sciences; Committee on Assessing the Taxonomic Status of the Red Wolf and the Mexican Gray Wolf. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2019 Mar 28.

This is why we really need DNA experts. If wolves in Britain were sub-species of arctic wolves (Canis lupus arctos) as suggested by past scholars then those in England, Scotland and Wales would be one sub-species while those in Ireland another. The money has never been there to finance such work in the past or present and it is why it is important to once and for all get a true picture of these large canids. 

Will the wolf ever be officially reintroduced to the UK and Eire?  

Arctic wolf (c) 2023 respective copyright owner

No.

 That is the straight forward and simple answer. It may seem jokey but people are still holding up the example of one bad apple in the wolf pack and what he did to a little girl's granny in a wooden hut.  And, of course, there was the devastation caused by one wolf to the Three Pigs Ltd Construction company. These are stories we all grew up with and we were also told "That's what wolves do -they attack and kill".  An example; look at how foxes are portrayed; as wolf-sized cat killers and baby attackers -down mainly to the yearly popping up of pro hunt people on Face Book groups who have all seen cats killed by a fox (and one who had it all recorded on CCTV but two foxes tearing her cat to pieces...as she watched from the window) spreading the stories and hunts faking  "biggest fox ever" photos. One woman showed me a photo of her cat and sat next to it and eating from a food bowl was "a type of cat I've never seen before -do you know the type?"  I told her: "It's a fox" and she was rather confused "It's smaller than my cat!" and she thought foxes were German Shepherd sized.

There are 'sportsmen' who go out in full cammo gear with expensive high power rifles with infra red scopes every night with the intention of hiding away to be able to shoot a cat sized animal and they posed like big game hunters.  These people will even shoot clearly identified (wearing a collar) escaped pet foxes and joke about it and, if they used scopes for the throat shot they SAW the collar. They also shoot pet cats.  These are the people who do not read books and still ask whether there are any locations they can find and shoot Mountain foxes and even looked at getting Mountain fox DNA so they could bring them back...to shoot. These people exist in mainland Britain and Ireland and there has been online discussions about how they could get past any reintroduction monitoring to "bag a wolf" if reintroduced.

Look at the protected species currently in the UK and some reintroduced that are killed for 'fun'. Badgers are protected and yet they are "killed to order" for taxidermists or simply 'fun'. There is a good reason why the locations of fox dens, badger setts as well as beaver and otter homes are kept secret.

Coyotes were living in Epping Forest up until the 1940s after being introduced there in the 19th century. The same for wolves and jackals. People were shocked to suddenly find them living in or around villages and one wolf even survived in a suburb in the 1800s. No people killed but rat and mouse populations went down and, sadly, the odd cat went missing the "big bad wolf" was the story the papers ran with.

Look at so called "rewilding groups" and the conversations on them. Rewilding Scotland should really be called "Let;s Not even Think About Rewilding" and someone mentions wolves or lynx being reintroduced and the whole paranoid, ill-educated tripe is literally poured from a cement mixer in response. We know from evidence and records that lynx may have survived into the late Middle Ages and there are even some who believe they survived much later.  We know that lynx have been living wild and breeding in the UK and there has been no major ecological or wildlife damage. We have millions of deer from many species as well as millions of rabbits and, yes, the odd sheep may be taken but wildlife 'experts' do not look at that evidence as they have been  brainwashed by dogma -"It's all silly fringe stuff"and so on.

We have those who just have a psychopathic need to kill anything and if they can get to be "the guy who shot that wolf" they will go for it. You cannot really keep the location of a small wolf pack quiet. They howl to communicate and declare it's their territory. Even on protected estates how are you going to watch wolves 24/7 and act before anyone shoots one?  In the 1990s a farmer shot a ring tailed lemur (a pet that had escaped) because "It looked odd" and while there are sensible full time shepherds who know about the losses a flock should expect there are the "Throw 'em in the field and look in once a week" farmers who will shoot anything as a 'threat' or call someone else in to do the dirty work.

There are so many negatives that it makes no sense to reintroduce wolves. First big argument: hunts killed off foxes, wolves, deer, hares, squirrels, wild cats and many more species by the 1860s. The response was to "reintroduce" more to hunt and kill -it's why certain UK mammal species have DNA matches with European ones -because they were imported from Europe. The Scottish wild cat of today is a feral tabby and even those believing it is a genuine and protected species will tell you that they are shot ("I thought it was a hybrid" -which wildlife 'experts' are happy to see killed to keep the species pure) so you bring European wild cats and release them in Scotland they are not Scottish wild cats they are European wild cats and the UK government legislation on introduced "invasive species" (even if they do good) is "Kill them". 

Here we are saying (and we have really 😣 up other countries by introducing non native species so saying "You cannot kill the ones we legally introduced even if they are non native but kill everything else"  and then we have the UK Government "get out of everything" clause of "It can be killed humanely if it is a threat to livestock". Farmers can now kill introduced beavers. There is a question about killing otters. Where is the fox (recognised through research as well as by the so called great hunters of the 19th century and before) proven to not predate sheep a threat to livestock in urban areas where there is no livestock?

An introduced wolf pack to pretend we are trying to re-establish the balance that we destroyed in the first place is pointless. They are not British wolves. Extinction is forever. 

Second point: where? Wolves need a good territory with mixed habitat such as forests, hills and mountains as well as good water supply and enough natural prey for them to stay alive. I can think of areas and as noted rabbits and deer  are counted in the millions and, of course, the wolves would need to be away from farms and livestock to prevent any "human conflict".  You would require a huge range and the range would need to be monitored and even wolf proof fencing put up. The logistics are ...almost unthinkable. Even if a landowner says wolves can be released in his/her area how long would that permission last if a sheep or horse were killed during a rough winter?

I would love to see wolves back in the UK but with country hikers and dog walkers seemingly unable to understand how to behave amongst cow herds and sheep flocks and dogs running off chasing deer and rabbits and not returning to their owners' commands how long before one runs at a wolf in mating season or chases at a wolf not realising others are nearby?  Then there will come the calls to "control" or "manage numbers" or as we call it "Kill the wolves".

People who get free lunches and good pay to pontificate on these things will carry on and on and they will meet the anti-wolf factions and argument and counter argument -it's all just one big waste of time. Unless you have an area that can be fenced off and protected wolves are only going to meet one fate if reintroduced to the UK or Ireland -a bullet.

We have to learn our lesson and understand that humans killed off so many species in the UK then replaced them to kill again and we lost the Old native species. Let's try to educate and protect and conserve what we have because even now protected species from mammals to birds are being killed off.

Remember: Extinction is forever