Two New Publications

The proof copies of both The Extirpation of Wild Cats and Introduction of New Wild Cats to Britain and The Scientific Need For DNA Testing Of Old Wild Cat and Old Fox Specimens just arrived safely and everything looks fine.  

When it comes to The Scientific Need For DNA Testing Of Old Wild Cat and Old Fox Specimens this is a projects proposal document and not intended for general release although the Extinct Fox and Wild Cat Museum will receive copies for its library.  

As for The Extirpation of Wild Cats and Introduction of New Wild Cats to Britain this is a general release publication. These will be orderable from me in April. The cover price reflects that this comprises the results of 40 years of research.

15 Pages

 A4 (8.27 x 11.69 in / 210 x 297 mm),

Premium Color, 80# White,

£10.00 excl. p&p

What Can Businesses and Companies Do?

 

I keep getting asked that but the problem is that businesses tend not to be interested in wildlife issues or supporting wildlife work. There is no financial reward that they can see and so it's just "ignore it". 

I have seen over and over again businesses calling pest control companies to trap and kill foxes and young cubs. Everything from small businesses to big, international companies. This brings in negative publicity and pretty soon, with fox now being suggested for Red Listing as endangered, that negative publicity is set to increase.  The money a company pays pest controllers (who should not be trapping and killing foxes -and those that do need as much bad publicity as they can be given) can hire Fox-a-Gon https://fox-a-gon.co.uk/ 

"Fox-A-Gon® is a nationwide, humane deterrence service for individuals, companies and organisations who are being troubled by foxes but wish to resolve the problem without harming the culprits. We believe there is not only always an alternative to causing suffering or death but also far more effective, non-lethal methods of deterring them.

Foxes are protected under a series of wildlife protection laws. Poisoning, gassing, asphyxiating, maiming, stabbing, impaling, drowning, clubbing and most forms of snaring are a criminal offence, with anyone carrying out such acts subject to 6 months imprisonment and/or a £5,000 fine per animal.

It is an illegal offence to trap and relocate a fox from its’ territory without a soft release process in place, this takes weeks to months to complete. Foxes, like all wild animals, will not be accepted at a sanctuary if they do not have a need for medication and rehabilitation.

The fox is sometimes referred to as vermin, but it is not, and never has been categorised as such by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).

The majority of complaints involving urban foxes include digging holes in garden lawns and flower beds, fouling in gardens, bringing in rubbish to garden areas, discolouring lawns, biting through garden light cables and irrigation pipes, fouling in school playgrounds and digging holes in sports fields."

I have heard fro0m schools that have foxes in their grounds and Health and Safety has made it clear to them that foxes are no threat to pupils or adults.  Schools that employ pest control or illegally remove foxes and cubs and destroy dens will be reported for committing wildlife crime and, again, as much bad publicity as possible will be given.

As far as businesses go there is the publicity benefit of taking "a positive stance on protecting wildlife and the environment". That is worth a few thousand pounds in good publicity. A policy to call in relocation experts is better from every angle than calling in pest controllers (who say they release trapped foxes but kill them anyway).

Businesses can also get great publicity by supporting wildlife rescuers and charities -rescues and wildlife hospitals. For instance donations can cover everything from the expensive veterinary treatments, equipment as well as wildlife medications such as mange treatments and antibiotics and so much more.

Of course there has to be the inclination with businesses to contribute toward the community and environment in the first place and for there to be that inclination and wish to actually set about building a legacy that gets them noticed is, seemingly, a rare thing amongst businesses.

I am quite willing to be proven wrong.

Foxes and Lungworm

photo (c)2024 respective copyright holder

 "The fox had a bad cough"  -I hear that every -so-often and as a rule it is not always serious;a fox gulped down too much food or something else.  However, if the cough is persistent then it may be time to contact your local wildlife rescue/hospital.

It can be something that appears on a lot of the fox post mortem reports I get; verminous pneumonia. Lungworm infection, also known as verminous bronchitis or verminous pneumonia, is an inflammatory disease of the lower respiratory tract caused by a variety of nematodes. Coughing and dyspnea (a shortness of breath) are the most common clinical signs, which can be exacerbated by concomitant (accompanying)  bacterial or viral infections.

The map below shows how widespread lungworm is

Lungworm: The number of confirmed cases by region (Image: Bayer)

The Blue Cross has a good information page on lungworm:

https://www.bluecross.org.uk/advice/dog/health-and-injuries/lungworm-advice-for-dog-owners

What is lungworm?

Lungworm is caused by a parasitic worm that can travel around your dog's body through their blood vessels and affect the heart, lungs and other parts of the body.

Symptoms of lungworm in dogs

Diagnosing lungworm can be difficult because symptoms vary, but they can include:

• coughing
• breathing problems
• not wanting to exercise
• loss of appetite
• vomiting or diarrhoea
• weight loss
• if a dog gets a minor injury, like a small cut, it might bleed for longer

Speak to your vet straight away if you think your dog might have lungworm.

How do dogs catch lungworm?

Dogs get lungworm by eating larvae found in infected snails, slugs or frogs. They can also accidentally eat infected slugs if they are on a toy or their fur.

The lungworm larvae then grow inside the dog and adult lungworms move through their body to live in their heart and blood vessels. In severe cases, this can cause heart problems, breathing problems and pneumonia. 

In mild cases, infection can remain unnoticed by owners. After about 28 days the worms start to produce their own larvae which can lead to serious problems. 

It can cause haemorrhages in the lungs, liver, intestine, eyes and spinal cord, but also pretty much anywhere in the body. If left untreated, it can be fatal in severe cases. The good news is that lungworm is usually treatable.

Dogs cannot pass the disease directly from dog to dog but they will pass the larvae in their faeces. This then infects more slugs and snails who are eaten by more dogs, so the disease can spread quickly.

Preventing lungworm in dogs

Talk to your vet about regular lungworm treatment and prevention, particularly if you travel with your dog around southern England or South Wales as cases are higher in these areas.

Regular anti-parasite treatment

There are currently many worming treatments available through a prescription from your vet. These often cover lungworm, so if your pet is at risk your vet can advise you which product will suit them and how often should be used.

Other preventative measures:

• Make sure your dog does not eat slugs, snails or frogs.
• Change the water in any outdoor water bowls regularly.
• If you spot slugs and snails in your garden or local parks then be extra vigilant when out with your dog and always consult your vet as soon as possible if your dog becomes unwell.

Testing for lungworm

Your vet will ask you about any symptoms your dog might have and may do a blood test. They can also examine a sample of a dog’s faeces (poo) under the microscope to help diagnose lungworm, although this is not 100 per cent reliable as there are not always lungworms present in every sample. 

In more severe cases, an X-ray will also show changes or abnormalities in their lungs.

Treatment for lungworm

Most dogs will recover from lungworm if caught and treated early. The type of medication given will depend on how severe the condition is. However, a small number of dogs may have lung scarring afterwards. 

If left untreated, lungworm can do more harm causing inflammation and, in severe cases, internal bleeding and organ failure. This might mean your dog needs more treatment, so prevention is always better than cure. Sadly, in some cases, it can be fatal.

Can humans get lungworm?

No, lungworm is not known to infect humans. 

There are, however, other types of worms – roundworms, tapeworms, hookworms and whipworms – which can be transmitted from pets to humans, so it's crucial that regular worming takes place at least four times a year. Some tapeworms can also be passed on through infected fleas, but this can be prevented with regular flea treatment. 

Through the efforts of fox-watchers, feeders and the Bristol Fox Lady mange in the City of Bristol is being successfully treated when the suffering fox is reported and , again, I would always suggest a non-homeopathic treatment is used that guarantees success straight away.

 As foxes are now becoming endangered and their numbers decreasing I would take the opposing view to "Let nature take its course".  Ethically it is a quandary but there are many cases where government agencies and animal welfare groups are treating species for diseases and viruses that are affecting them. I think the fox deserves humans to morally give something back to a species that like the badger we are driving to extinction.

You protect your pet cats and dogs from various parasites and illnesses through yearly vaccinations or medications is that ethically wrong -is it just a veterinary gimmick to just fill the coffers a bit more? 

Once I have gathered enough data and opinion from rescues I will be outlining what I have found out about possible preventative treatments for lungworm but if you have any concerns look online for your nearest wildlife rescue/hospital and ask for advice.

"I have a fox den under my shed can I move it?"

 Well, Chuckles: you cannot touch it.  I get asked this every year despite all the info put out. People are that thick that they just will not learn and I state that after almost 50 years researching foxes. 

 Just a few weeks back info posts were sent out....you know this one

Schools: "We have foxes in our school grounds how do we move them on?"! Got that from three schools last year and I explained that foxes are no threat to children or adults. Leave them alone and they move on once the cubs are old. In fact, stop pretending you are teaching kids about wildlife and the environment and use the opportunity to educate them. Get a camera hooked up so they can see wildlife on their doorstep so to speak. But, no, the utter ignorance of "educationalists" shines through.  

One school did try to call my bluff and called in the Health and Safety Executive and what did they tell the school? "You have to leave them where they are. They are no risk to adults or children. They will move on at which point you need to block everything off so they do not den there again".

Recently some fox cubs were found in a cardboard box in some woods. The vixen most certainly did not put the very young cubs there and she certainly did not carry a cardboard box around. That was literally a death sentence for the cubs but luckily someone walking a dog thought they were abandoned kittens so took them to a cat rescue where they realised these were canids not felids and so they went to a wildlife rescue. This would all stress the vixen who was probably looking for her cubs and it also has very serious repercussions on her as she is at risk of mastitis.  Want a photo of a vixen with mastitis we sent for post mortem?

Now, who would remove cubs from a den and place them in a cardboard box out in woods? oh...there is a school very close by and an easy walk to the spot where the cubs were found. If I could prove that school got rid of these cubs on the quiet I would take out a private prosecution against the head teacher and board of governors as well as local education authority.  This was a wildlife crime and the law is quite clear on this. 

Regarding fox dens:

"If the space is occupied by foxes or other animals, it's illegal to trap them by blocking the entrance. Instead, wait until the foxes stop using the space and then block the entrance before the next breeding season which lasts from December to May. Foxes don't usually stay in a den after they have reared their cubs."

It is that clear and with the fox population rapidly decreasing at a rate that even the British Trust for Ornithology after its mammal survey stated that foxes may need to be placed on the Red List every fox lost by vehicle is bad enough but through deliberate tampering with a den and the devastating consequences it can have on cub and vixen -people need to be further educated and those who carry out this type of crime whether Harry Smith at no. 45 or a school/business they all need to be named and shamed. I have reached the point that I can no longer be polite on the matter. You mess about with any wildlife den then you are stupid scum.

You complain about badgers and a badger sett that existed before you were born or moved into the property then you should have asked around before moving in. Touch or harm a badger or mess with a badger sett and there are going to be consequences because it has reached the point that human wildlife crime can no longer be accepted and if it means hitting people in their wallets or purses then good.

Learn to live with wildlife that was there before someone decided it was a good place to build houses because of the view and countryside. Learn to enjoy watching the wildlife and if you have kids let them experience watching wildlife from nearby (but indoors).

Treating Foxes In The Wild Over Treating At A Rescue

 

Interestingly, Sarah Mills, The Bristol Fox Lady, has been criticised by some for treating mange case foxes in situ. 

This despite the fact that the local rescue will not treat foxes with mange and during cub season, even though treatment can be given, flatly refuse. 

Most foxes with bad mange are "PTS" or put to sleep. End of treatment and story. 

I have seen what I would call severe cases treated and the foxes recover -almost unbelievably. The fact that there are before treatment and after treatment photos is all the evidence needed. Sarcoptic mange is very unpleasant for the poor fox but if treated quickly and if there are no underlying health conditions there is no reason why it should not survive and live on. 

The homeopathic drops can have some effect in very early stages but to be honest ivermectin is the best treatment -however, the drops are free and that is what people decide to get and some will continue to use them as the fox gets worse to the point that open sore are going to become infected. 

I have had one person declared that he had "found a new strain of mange that defies treatment".  Firstly, mange is due to a mite and not some virus. The photos he sent me were shocking  and it took a lot of effort not to tear into the idiot. I doubt the fox survived. The treatment that he was using and "always worked 100%" were the homeopathic drops. If you do not see an improvement in a week contact a rescue for advice and meds to treat the mange.

When it comes to treating mange in situ there are a lot of plus points; firstly, the animal does not need to be trapped so it means having to keep checking on traps is not needed.  Secondly, a trapped fox has stress levels that hit the roof. Add to that the journey in a car to a rescue and then captivity while being treated it builds up.  

Treated on site means gaining the fox's trust to an extent by leaving food and monitoring it to make sure the right fox gets it. There are antibiotics first and then on the next occasion the first mange treatment. Once the fox has had all of the treatments you know it has a chance and if there are people nearby who can keep an eye on it all the better.  The fox is treated in its home territory where it knows it can escape and is aware of the surroundings. That in itself helps.

I have found out that other animal rescuers and wildlife hospitals also treat in the wild which is also easier for them as they do not need to find pens for the foxes, extra food and bedding and so on.

In my opinion treating in the wild is how it should be done unless there is an obvious problem that needs a vet to check the fox over.  It benefits the rescues by not draining resources and badly needed cashflow and it benefits the fox.

We need to learn and change practices because our endangered foxes are far more important than "We decide what to do and it has to be done our way" humans.

The Reality of Publishing and Wildlife Work; No One Cares

There seems to be this odd belief that "You've written books you must be rich!" Those people have obviously never worked in publishing or been an author. The senior editors and the publishers are the ones making the money in the big companies. If you are an independent publisher like Black Tower Books... no one gets rich.                                                                                                                                          The whole reason I got into self publishing was because mainstream publishers were not interested in books that did not follow the accepted norm which is that every single government is covering something up and you need to put that into your books even if untrue. The ones after money tend to follow that advice.  I could not in all conscience tell a pack of lies just to make money and three previous books were "loved" by commissioning editors but all came back with the same thing "Controversy is needed. Government cover-ups!" I responded that there were none and was told "make it up!"  But if I made that up and anyone with a brain looked into it then everything I had written would be seen as potentially false.  The editors dropped the books!

One did have two people re-write what I had submitted and made it 'their original' work.

With the wildlife books I knew there would be problems. The late Sir David Bellamy described the original (2010) Red Paper: Canids as "explosive for British wildlife history" and some other lifelong naturalists were of a similar opinion. So why would no publisher handle the 2010 or the two 2022 volumes?

First there is the fact that a lot of publishing houses have directors that are in with the horsey countryside set and may even partake of a little fox hunting themselves. An editor commissions my book showing the history of hunting and what it has done is going to be terrified of losing his/her job. One even hinted at that as the reason why the manuscript he "loved; very detailed research" was rejected.

The other is quite obvious. Publishers have been churning out wildlife books that have been literally copying and pasting from others since the early 1900s (it was also going on in the late 19th century).  Most of the information on foxes, for instance, come from the very biased old naturalist/'sportsmen' and they would often argue about facts. You really got information from the ones who shouted loudest. 

For instance; the idea of a white fox was ridiculed by many fox hunters and some were shocked when they saw one and reported on it -then became ridiculed themselves.  The "average life span of a fox is five years at most" is a nonsense. That would be the average life span of a fox in hunting territory. 

Another instance; by the 1960s and after "naturalists" and zoologists were making fun of the mountain fox stories -they had never seen any other than the occasional large red fox. This showed how little research these people had carried out because they could not have seen a Mountain/Greyhound fox as they became extinct in the 1860s. There are, however, taxidermies of such Old foxes. The continued claim that the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) is the fox we have always had in the British isles again shows lack of even basic knowledge. We know that at least 2000 a year were imported into the UK for hunting and we know where they were imported to.

Is a publisher who has been churning out books with the same old dogma for decades going to turn around and accept a book (s) that show this? Experts will not come out and say it but strongly hint that today's Scottish wild cat is not a pure one. In fact, Scottish zoologists in 1898 held conference at which the top man who had studied wild cats for over 40 years (no, not me) declared -and it was a declaration officially accepted- that the Scottish wild cat had become extinct circa the 1860s for basically the same reason the Old foxes did. There is a lot of investment and money in wild cat "rewilding" and a lot of books on wild cats and those would face the same dismantling as the books on foxes.

The other bigger problem is that people do not care. Back in 2010 I offered free copies of The Red Paper to anti-hunt groups as it had every counter argument that could ever be needed. No takers. No interest.  I then let social media fox groups know about the book and its contents and...no takers. No interest.  Similar when the 2022 books came out. 

There is another problem and that is the dilettante 'wildlife expert'. These are all over social media and basically troll on any subject that is posted and I have often asked why they are on these groups as that is their only 'contribution'. One said that he had no intention of buying my book unless I explained what was in it and what my conclusions were for my "theory". First, if something is based on historical documentation and statements then it is not a "theory". Second; outline all I had found out and give my conclusions...the whole point of the book was so that those interested could peer review everything as it is thoroughly referenced and no one gives out that type of information. Someone says they will not buy my detective crime thriller unless I tell them the full plot and "who did it"?? These people I have come across so many times over the years and the fact is that they would not buy the book in any case. 

The idiot at the museum who would not cooperate because he had heard of no such thing as old foxes and he has researched red foxes for 30 years. I was not asking him for anything but to check the museum fox specimens (which apparently were stored "right behind me") for certain characteristics. In one fell swoop he became the poster child for stuffed shirt and non-inquiring 'expert'.  He wanted to know what my work had found, etc., etc. and I learnt a long time ago that academics whether at universities or museums will steal your work.

And the reading public? I doubt there are many left as all their 'facts' come from You Tube and other online sources including Tik-tok. People are just not interested in the fact that original foxes and wolves and wild cats and some deer, hares and a lot more species were wiped out and what we see today are not even the original wildlife but imports. They do not care that even wildlife bodies have called for red foxes to be Red Listed as endangered or that there are set plans by the UK government to make badgers extinct. Why would they go through the manual labour of holding a book and, heavens preserve them, reading all those words?!

So, no. Having a reputation as a "noted naturalist" does not sell books. The 2022 Red Papers have sold zero copies despite all the publicity I've pushed out. I think two of my papers have sold. That is the reality of publishing and wildlife work; no one cares.

"Sport Hunting"