UK Wildlife Rescues -The Problems

 

I suppose I will need to write this first otherwise the wild accusations will fly. Rescues that help and treat wildlife whether foxes or otherwise are all we have and those that function well do a reasonably good job. The following is based on my communications with wildlife rescues and those running them over the past five years. 

No apologies for making this post long as it all needs to be out in the open and discussed.

We have the people who see or read something and decide "I am going to set up a small wildlife rescue!" And there we have the problem.

There are some small and medium sized rescues that look after and treat hedgehogs. As a protected species and endangered species they need all the help they can get. So long as those dealing with hedgehogs know what they are doing and do seek veterinary advice when needed no problem.

The same applies to pigeon and dove rescues with whom I have had a lot of dealings in the past. In many cases those running the rescues had no idea what they were doing and some were basically using their rescues as cash grabs. I will give an example: I had a pigeon that could not fly and that may have been down to an injury. I tried vets in Bristol and all told me the same thing: "Bring it in and we'll put it to sleep" and that was also the RSPCA reaction. There was a pigeon friendly vet but as a non driver the distance to get to him was a problem. Here is where the pigeon and dove rescues come in.

I contacted those on Face Book and there was one reason after another as to why they could not take the pigeon. In fact the one that was willing to help I was told by two rescues not to deal with as "they are a bigger threat to the birds". Then I found one willing to take the bird and their rescue looked okay if a little cramped. They would arrange for an animal courier to pick the bird up and overnight it would be fed and watered before the journey to the rescue. The cost would be £45 and they would cover that but I told them I would send that amount and some extra the next week.

The rescue involved immediately posted about their valiant efforts to get a pigeon from Bristol to their rescue and the person who had the pigeon was unable to pay for the courier. At that point I was going to say that I would cover that cost as well. Then I found out it was the pigeon I rescued that they were talking about!   Ooh how the rescue followers were annoyed that the rescue was having to pay out (they never said on the page how much) because they were "angels" and "saints". My post explaining that I was going to pay never appeared on the page. By the end of the day the rescue had over £300 in donations to help for this one pigeon. The rescue refused to tell me how the pigeon got on or answer any questions.

Now pigeons with PMV cannot be released back into the pigeon population after they recover as it will spread the virus. Any and every vet will put the bird down and that is it. I have discussed PMV here

https://athomewithwildnature.blogspot.com/2021/12/paramyxovirus-pmv-and-pigeons.html

I have had two such pigeons and -again- a rescuer who was willing to take on the bird as they had other isolated PMV pigeons was "not capable of taking care of the birds. Doesn't understand PMV" so that would mean the vet and put it down. At that point I was contacted by a trainee vet under the very clear understanding that she could help but I must not name her as policy was strictly to put such birds down. Six student vets turned up and checked the pigeon and then it was off to a sanctuary that had isolated PMV recovered pigeons -in Sussex and that was it. 

You see the good and the bad and often not even from sanctuary/rescue owners. The fact that this is still all "by the fly" came recently when a number of injured wood pigeons and pigeons were rescued or left on the ground as "pigeon rescuers" operating from their homes were unable to take the birds on or rescue them. "Leave them where they are" and "Can you get a ladder to put it back in the nest" -30 ft 9m up by the side of a busy road. Not likely.

When it comes to larger animals the problems are bigger especially if you cannot get any rescued animals to a vet for first response care.  There have been rescues in peoples homes/gardens that declined into such a state that they were banned from rescuing legally -one started up again. Conditions in a rescue have to be clean and hygienic and for those who set out with good intentions the stress and financial costs plus handling a number of animals can lead to mental health issues and in one case it led to a mental breakdown.

It is not a Disney film and animals need care -food, water, cages cleaned and and eye kept on their conditions. That adds up to a lot of money -more than some realise and volunteers soon lose interest in mucking out cages and it becomes a burden on just one person. Also there is the problem that when people who donate material (newspapers, sawdust, blankets) and feed stop...you hit a bigger financial problem.

This brings me to wildlife rescues in the UK of which there are only a few small ones and recently a couple have packed up altogether but still care for the animals they have. These people are rarely qualified in any way and while they can take care of a leg or wing injury they hit a block in treatment when it comes to vets and costs. UK Vets have been highlighted as the most expensive in Europe and, yes, I have first hand experience of that. Even a quick check-up on a dog or cat is expensive so treating wildlife such as foxes is hit or miss.

Rescues like to show before and after photos of manged foxes they have treated at their rescues to try to raised funds. In Bristol we have a fox lady, Sarah Mills,  who treats the foxes in the wild very successfully  and with less stress such as being confined to a cage for a long period. Rescues should be pro-active in educating the public so that if a fox is seen with onset mange rather than say "Contact so-and-so for free homeopathic drops" they advise what the fox feeder can buy over the counter -the same with wormer as there seem to be very few foxes without worms and heart worm is a silent killer yet worming should not be a major problem for a feeder.

There are problems in misinformation from rescues also. I was told by a large fox rescue as well as smaller ones that all I would find in the Bristol Fox Deaths Project would be adenovirus "adenovirus is endemic in UK foxes" I was told. Where had they heard this? Was it in a published veterinary paper? No, they just heard and knew it was endemic.  After almost 60 (it may actually be over 60 -I depend on my colleague Zoe Webber to stop me getting confused!) post mortem examinations we have not found one case of adenovirus and with a claimed second largest urban fox population next to London that seems odd.

This is misinformation and to say that you heard it from someone who was told this is just rumour mongering.  We then come to "The Bristol Fox Poisoner(s)".  In short foxes found dead in Bristol, even close to a road and displaying no twisted limbs or pools of blood were 'victims' of one or more poisoner targeting foxes. It is what led to (after many months, sleepless nights and arguing)  The Bristol Fox Deaths Project. Out of all the foxes submitted only one was a victim of poison and that was secondary poisoning -it probably ate a poisoned rat. We find that most deaths from being hit by a car are internal so the explanation for no external wounds was solved. 

Here is another problem. If a rescue takes in a fox that collapsed, convulses or is in some way ill but seems to recover then relapses the obvious thing to do is get it to a vet. Some only get a quick check up on the fox as tests are expensive. The fox dies. Is it a disease or illness that might spread to other foxes or some injury that caused the problems? The fox is handed over to local authorities to dispose of. No post mortem or tests which under certain circumstances you can have done for free. One such fox after dying I asked the rescuer whether they had a post mortem carried out -"Oh no. I couldn't do that to it. It suffered enough"....I write no more.  Others have told be straight out that they patch up and release and have no interest in post mortems -but they will spread a falsehood about adenovirus being endemic. Figure that one out.

There were a number of rescues in England claiming that vets had  pronounced a fox death was due to poisoning -"possibly car anti-freeze" etc. One rescue I explained my work to and asked about the fox and whether a post mortem was carried out? No response. A phone message -no response. A request to be given the vet  details -no response.  So we have a rescue (adding an appeal to keep their work going) stating that "our (unnamed) vet" had pronounced the fox died of poisoning.  

This is not a one off and when I did get a response from other rescues it was a case of "Our vet should know" but no tests were carried out. Why do I doubt many of the poisoning claims? In Bristol there have been around eight foxes pronounced victims of poisoning by different vets. Not one of the foxes after PM were found to have been poisoned. recently foxes, a badger and local cat were announced to have been victims of poisoning in an area of Bristol. It made the news. What did not make the news was that PMs on the foxes showed they had been killed by cars. Likely so was the badger (Health and Safety will not allow badger PMs) and cat -the roads in the area are not safe. I even explained this to one woman who was shouting about silence on these deaths. I told her the PM findings and...she went on to Face Book groups to state the animals were poisoned and if I recall it was a cover up.

Next we come to the release of rescue foxes.  Here I have faced lies, refusals to answer and some very bad practices. Firstly, one large fox rescue told me that it was "impossible to say" how many foxes it had treated and released the previous year. You have to pay for food, veterinary treatment and much more but you keep no records of any kind? Perhaps there is a need to regulate rescues. I was even given a figure of probably150 foxes having been rescued and treated in one year yet on the rescues Face Book page they stated 300 -discrepancy there; was it 150 or 300 and they were asking for donations to help keep paying for the work. That raised questions.

Other rescues had similar responses but not a single one, large or small, could give even an estimate of the number of foxes they had rescued and released. That is troubling.

Equally troubling was the response to my question about foxes released by rescues. Firstly, I will note that fox releases by rescues is probably the only thing sustaining the fox population in the UK.  I know that Secret World in Somerset microchip foxes they release -I assume that they still do. I believe they are also given preventative meds before release. One o9f the biggest UK fox rescues actually responded to my question about microchipping foxes they released as sounding a bit stupid -"What good would that do?" As for anti-wormer or anti parasite treatments before release only a few did that. Were foxes checked by a vet before release to make sure there was no health issue? No.

With a microchip it is easy to see where a sick or injured or even dead fox came from originally as it might be that the population it came from had a problem. there are other benefits to micro-chipping. One response I got was that microchipping cost money and the fox might be knocked down within a week or so of release. 

We then cam to where rescued and where released. This again is important as it is quite clear that UK foxes no longer have any local or regional types due to foxes being released in safe, no-hunt areas.  If a released fox was suddenly to die and it was found to have a genetic problem causing health issues then a microchip would tell us where it came from and the population there could be checked and, where possible, treated in advance of any problem developing.

No. Allegedly, no records were kept of where sick or injured foxes were rescued. Now if you get a call out surely you keep a record of where the fox was and how you took it to a vet for the once over?  Every rescue was the same and all claimed that they did not keep records on this which is either a lie or incompetence.  

Where are the foxes usually released?  "In safe areas" -in the areas they were rescued from or further afield? "Depends".  

Do you keep track of the foxes you released in case there are future problems?  Here is where it got complicated and downright being awkward. Rescues generally have people in an area where the foxes are to be released who keep the foxes until they are acclimatised to an area and then let go. They put out supplementary food afterwards in case the foxes are finding it hard to catch food. These people are the ones who would see the foxes after release.

I asked whether I could be put in contact with some of these (strictly confidentially) to see whether they had noticed any problems over the years or how newly released foxes coped? No. "It would be up to them whether they wanted to talk to you about that"  So I asked whether they could let these people know of my interest and who I was? "No. We are far too busy at the moment. You need to ask them"  So I asked for contact details -"We can't give that information out".

You can probably see where this leads. We are talking about rescues who keep no records of where animals were picked up, how they were treated and what for, who hardly ever gave a serious health check to foxes to be released and they were downright unwilling to even cooperate on how many they treated or where they were released.  no records at all? 

I keep getting accused of being "more interested in animal welfare" and from 1977 and on and off until this very year I operated the Exotic Animals Register and worked with UK police forces, farmers groups, wildlife parks and so on and, yes, I checked to make sure that animals reported as being sighted were in good health. Even contacting a zoo or wildlife park )mainly wildlife parks) over a mundane matter and the panic from the other end of the phone line could be heard -"All our animals are fit and healthy and accounted for".  You cannot be involved in any type of wildlife work without keeping an eye on animal welfare and health. My work with the EAR is a public record (I was a member of the Partnership Against Wildlife Crime) and working with UK police forces meant I was regularly checked to make sure I was "clean".  I have run the British Fox Study since 1976 and have written more about wild canids and found out more about their lost history in the UK than anyone else (my colleague LM is getting more knowledgeable by the month). I set up the Wild Cats, Ferals and Hybrid Cats study in 1980 and, again, have written and discovered a great deal on the subject. 

In short it is quite easy to find my public and personal stance on hunting and wildlife preservation in the UK and elsewhere. I am not a Bryan May or Chris Packham but I have spent five decades studying and researching and out of the many hundreds of people I have interviewed not one has ever been named by me and none of my raw data revealed. If you see me as a threat to foxes then  you need to see a psychiatrist. There is no reason to be coy or lie or block information -it is not destined to go online.

We need to maintain a watch on foxes not just to protect them but to make sure we can keep an eye out in case a disease emerges so it can be treated -hence the microchip question but if I am to believe the fox rescues they keep no record of where foxes were rescued, no vet check-ups before release and they cannot give details of what areas foxes were released in. That goes against animal welfare.

Can I just point out that Bristol may be fox friendly but its roads are not and the current death toll for 2023 on Bristol roads is 200 (and those are only the reported ones). DO NOT release foxes into Bristol or its outskirts -they will not live long.

The other major problem is that fox/wildlife rescues do not seem to want to cooperate with each other or exchange information. A rescue that recently closed its doors asked other rescues whether they could take on the animals they had -no. Pure and simple and I have seen this over and over again. You see it involves clashes of personality as well as the fear of losing donations. Mention another rescue and people might send donations there. Add to this the fact that England is not a "nation of animal lovers" -getting members of fox or wildlife groups on Face Book who number in their thousands to sign anti-hunt and anti-snaring petitions online and it is a losing struggle. 

Why? Because the members only want to see fluffy animal photos and give social media likes and not actually help the animals they supposedly love. Rescues have asked fox feeders in an area to help them trap, treat and release foxes with severe mange and...the feeders refuse to cooperate and, yes, I have first hand experience of this. Also, a nation of animal lovers would have done more than sit on their backsides over 250,000 badgers being killed to the point that the population may not survive. Far easier to do nothing.

Again and again I have asked that people look up their local wildlife rescue and donate or help if they can because if they go then the best your sick or injured fox can expect is a lethal injection at the vets. Nothing. Well, complaints that they reported a bird or other animal they thought was injured "an hour ago" and no one from the rescue has turned up  -"they can't care that much about wildlife".

We need rescues that do cooperate and exchange information (even if the opinion of the other rescue owner is that "She's a right cow"). We need rescues that keep accurate records and give out accurate information and  facts.  We need rescues where the animals -foxes or whatever- can be given a thorough check by vets -even if as part of a vet training course. We really need rescues to be open about their facilities (it is not a "security risk" to show your animal holding area).

And above all we need the public to show some support for rescues because without them there will be bigger problems.  Materials such as animal foods, blankets, old newspapers, straw, hay -just check with the rescue involved- and above all financial help. Donations are always needed and whether you are a rescue for pigeons and doves or wildlife in general you have to be open and honest to get that support to continue.  In Bristol we have no wildlife rescue because, despite trying, no one is interested so the nearest rescue is more than 30 miles away.

Wildlife rescue needs funding and it also needs to get more organised or else face , at some point and I can see this happening, face legislation and having to conform to strict official regulations that will send costs sky-rocket.  

That is a discussion and I am quite sure I will be called a few names by rescues who will also no doubt ignore what is written -as will 95% of the public. Wildlife in the UK is really ****