Something that needs to be made clear and repeated concerns wildlife funding. Reptiles, amphibians, birds and moths and butterflies -these are seen as the "pretty faces" of wildlife and there is a lot of funding or opportunities to get some type of backing to encourage or conserve them.
There are otter fanatics of course and funding for otter projects can be gotten.However, there is a problem and I have come across this over and over again. Otters, beavers, foxes, wolves, badgers and one or two others are seen as the "Not very pretty faces" of wildlife. If you go onto a UK "rewilding" group the one thing you will find almost immediately is that there seem to be more anti-rewilding people. I have even aske4d several times why these people are on groups talking about things they hate.
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A recent forest company plan to release beaver into its land (in the UK) was met with a comment "Beavers and forest. Whose nut idea was that?" So I politely asked the person if he had a problem with beavers. The torrent of nastiness from around three people was not hidden. "Beavers were wiped out hundreds of years ago because of the problems they caused and the flooding!" That was such a moronic statement that I had to re-read it three times. I then, again politely, explained why beavers had been killed off and how the environment had suffered because of the loss of beavers. More vitriolic comments and I explained that the company involved were not going to turn up at any old spot and dump a beaver family out the back of a van. A quickly deleted comment hoped that "some shooters might deal with the problem".
Just doing some mapping of otters in my own region I came across people discussing electric wiring and "electrical devices" to "deter" otters from their koi ponds. Now if you are going to keep koi carp in a pond in your garden in an area that you know otters are in then you need to think twice. Otters are protected (I know that does not mean much in the UK) so I contacted the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and asked the legal situation regarding harmful electrical devices to "deter" otters. Uninterested response suggesting I needed to contact Natural England. So I did. It took months as one person had "no idea" and promises to forward the enquiry and after those months nothing solid. THESE are the people supposedly dealing with otters and ...well, maybe a cup of tea and biscuits are hard work.
Pine martens -yes, on the come back but still reviled by some and it was awarded protected status in 1988. It is rumoured (no one is going to jump up and down shouting it out) that in some areas if encountered they are killed.
There is talk of re-introducing wolves to the UK. I am against that for a very good reason and that is that shooters are already working out how to get to proposed release sites to get the first wolf. There is similar talk regarding the wild cats being released. In Europe wolves have been allowed back and when it suddenly becomes politically expedient (the money for campaigns and big pockets) the politicians suddenly jump in and shout that culls or "hunting seasons" need to be brought in. More animals die through accidents and bad animal husbandry than through any wolf attack which are very rarer. The returning jackals are also in the gunsights of morons.
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The public need to be educated on all of these animals because centuries of hunt spewed lies have become accepted as fact by some people. Schools need to educate children on wildlife and not just birds and butterflies and there is nothing like a camera set up pointing at a fox den located on school grounds -nature education on the doorstep.
Advocates for wolves, coyotes and jackals as well as other wild animals -the wolverine another much maligned animal- have to try to raise funds to educate and protect the canids they deal with. While the "pretty faces" see donations come in it is true to say that squeezing blood from a stone is easier than getting donations for the "ugly faces".
Wildlife rescues struggle to keep going paying vet bills (in the UK higher than anywhere else in Europe), getting in food for their charges, bedding and much more. These people are the ones helping save wildlife and get no official funding while the official bodies rake in money to kill wildlife -fact.
The work I have carried out on foxes and other canids, wild cats as well as some mustelids since 1976 has all been funded "out of pocket". Yes, it leaves me financially insolvent and with wildlife books not selling those have provided no income. There is no funding to carry out fox research on the level I do or over decades. I have made a lot of discoveries but as universities and colleges have gotten rid of biology departments that used to have field naturalists (it seriously is not "sexy" enough to get large donations). Almost five decades of work and files and it does not mean anything to anyone who might fund because no university is involved and I am not "Dr" or "Prof" just Mr Hooper.
The inroads made to get a true history of wild cats and canids, rescuing and treating and keeping wildlife alive is all done with no official funding but by dedicated people and who else is going to help when a fox with severe mange, a broken leg or facial injury is seen? Orphaned fox or badger cubs? Injured deer or any of the "ugly faces"? No official body jst the volunteers. Day in and day out 365 days of the year on call and ready to go out in some of the worst weather you can get (this is the UK after all).
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So, please; check to see if you have a local wildlife rescue and if they help the Pretty as well as the Ugly wildlife -help. Donate if you can but remember dry and wet cat and dog food, straw, hay, old newspapers -there is a list of things you can donate to help these places out because there is no animal made Elon Musk out there willing to spend the millions needed.
Just check and remember official bodies are not interested and wildlife rescues being closed up makes their lives easier -it makes the anti-wildlife groups happy. You know the types who when someone on a fox groups shows a photo of a local fox with mange and asks for help will comment "Shoot it!" and, yes, I was on that group and I saw that comment.
Everyone has to get involved because too many species are now heading for extinction and
EXTINCTION IS FOREVER
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