It Looks Like A Fox But...

 

 Please note that I have removed all items identifying the taxidermist. This is because of past experience and knowing that there are some very "odd" people out there. The taxidermist was asked about the mask (a mounted fox head) and only knew that it was one of the much sought after Spicer mounts. There was no information re. date.

The taxidermist had no idea about the mask other than that it was in need of repair. The repair work was based on this being identified as a fox.

Have a look at this photograph of a "fox mask" sent for repair after it was cleaned and colour restored and ears rep-laced (ears are a problem with taxidermies)  

(c)2025 respective copyright owner

Chunky but the right colouring...notice something off? Perhaps a photo of the mask that was submitted will help?   

(c)2025 respective copyright owner

Yes, it looks like a coyote head and this is a Spicer taxidermy so late 1880s/1890s when jackals, coyotes and even wolves were released for hunting in the UK. So without location I asked for an opinion in each case: "Clearly it is a coyote but looks old".

I decided to try something else so I searched online using the  image and it came up as a coyote taxidermy.

I wanted to try AI just to see what it would state. I uploaded the image and:

"The image displays a taxidermy coyote head mount being held by a person in what appears to be a workshop or storage area. The mount is an "as is" item, likely without a base."

Three sets of human eyes knowing what a coyote looks li9ke said "coyote".  An image search identified it as "coyote" and feeding into AI -"coyote".

This may be a coyote.

I have seen several fox masks that have been "repaired" and cleans, re-dyed and so on but have traits that do not look like fox and when I was told ears were replaced for "a better pair" by heart sank.  It is very likely that someone -a good few people- are looking at their 'fox mask' in their study or man shed and have no idea they have the evidence of the hunting of v coyotes and jackals for 'fun' in the UK. Some even have wolf heads that "show how big foxes are" because, quite honestly, they would not know the difference between a jackal, coyote, wolf or a fox.

The evidence is there in documents (books, journals and newspapers) of the time discussing the housing, attempted cross-breeding and releases of bagged jackals and coyotes at public events for a day of 'sport'.

This is just one example that we will never know the story of but I thank the taxidermists for the opportunity to see it "in the raw".

The Red Paper 2022 Volume I: Foxes, Jackals, Wolves, Coyotes and Wild Dogs of the United Kingdom and Ireland

 

361 pp

Paperback

Interior Color & Black and white

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

£25.00

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 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”.