The Myth of the Chicken Stealing Fox

 

I would like to make a few points here.

The old fairy tail of a fox taking geese, lambs etc needs to be put to rest. The fox is roughly the size of a house cat and the idea that it could take on a full grown goose... obviously whoever had that idea had never encountered a ticked off goose! There are any number of accounts of foxes breaking into chicken coops and being killed by chickens or a cockerel.

In the old 'sporting' books and publications it is stated that, prior to hunt season, gamekeepers were forbidden from harming foxes. Foxes were permitted to take chickens and other fowl and there was a fund to cover losses to anyone not covered by the estate. There was absolutely no doubt in the minds of the 'sportsmen' that very few foxes ever got a bird. Gamekeepers and other estate staff were suspected of "taking their pick" and some were caught and dismissed. An old trick used to be placing parts of a 'stolen' bird near a fox den and then the guilty party could point to these signs and say "a fox dunnit!"

Again, so many of the 'sporting' gentry ridiculed the idea that a fox could take and run off with a lamb that they placed a reward to anyone who could provide proof that a fox did so. That reward was set up in the 1880s and was still unclaimed by 1920 at which point it was forgotten.

Will a fox eat a stillborn lamb? Probably as it would be a free meal.  However, 'sportsmen' and others wanted to observe foxes "at work" during lambing season and found that foxes were NOT killing lambs. It seems that foxes fed on the afterbirth and also milk rich droppings -full of nutrients.

More than one of the 'sportsmen' during the " Age of Hunting" (19th century) who were estate owners, naturalist-'sportsmen' etc and knew their countries and wildlife made it clear that lamb and fowl stealers were "of the two legged variety of vermin".

If you live in a suburb or generally keep chickens then there is no reason for you to lose any bird to a fox or buzzard/hawk.  There are fox proof chicken runs and other devices that will protect your flock from ground or air attack. "Too expensive" when you can self construct? Obviously, then, your birds are not that important to you.  Having written that buzzards flew over and foxes passed through a local garden that had uncaged chickens for years -not one lost. Even a cockerel that was out at night was not so much as pestered by local foxes. Foxes have been observed with cubs in a den within 50 yards of free roaming chickens which were ignored -foxes went out and hunted wild rabbits.

It is worth noting that even badgers were blamed for chicken and lamb stealing -though everyone mocked the very idea and some huntsmen refused to go after badgers as they were "innocuous" -harmless.  That many hunted and baited badgers was frowned down upon by many 'sportsmen' and even the famous John Colquhoun would not hunt them -he allowed his two sons to kill a couple but then forbade any more badger killing.

However, there are people who simply love the 'fun' of killing anything and so badgers, like wild cats and foxes, faced centuries of melecide -in some cases it was a very profitable 'bit of fun'.  Today we still have the perverted practice continuing and there is still money to be made by selling 'roadkill' badgers (and foxes) to taxidermists.

If you cannot resist the urge to kill please consult a psychiatrist.

Mountain Fox -the UK Coyote?

 

My thoughts (I had a bath the other day so something was about to happen).

Cur foxes had a symbiotic relationship with humans and always remained near human habitats -waste food etc.

Hill foxes tended to get by on the slopes of mountains and high hills until there was a bitter winter and low prey and then moved down into valleys/villages for whatever they could get.

The Greyhound/Mountain fox appears to have been, I have written this before, filling in the niche that the coyote and jackal did in their countries. That the fox was taller than a coyote should not be a surprise. The British wolf was large and did not, as some suspected, suffer from island dwarfism. So why should the largest fox.

The Greyhound seems to have moved through woods/forest, swamps and marshes, over hills and mountains, ventured down into the lowland areas and appears to have almost been coyote-like in behaviour -though wolves, foxes, coyotes etc all share similar behaviour.

I think that any DNA results would show that the Greyhound fox was sp. vulpes as were the other types just, as stated at the time, local variations. We can always wish for a new species identification but I think all we will get is recognition of a sub-species.

Hey -you never know!

Hayley de ronde of Black Foxes UK has a theory:

"I think it is possible both the NARF (North American Red fox: a species that spanned the icy Northern Hemisphere from North America to Russia - adapted for mountain living and extreme cold temperatures, the colour adaptation a part of that) and the arctic were native here because the glaciation created a land bridge.

"That the greyhound fox was actually the NARF (if it wasn't a jackal/coyote type canid lost) and why we never mention the north American silver foxes, even though they were here from mid 1800's and even earlier as pelts. That these are the mountain foxes, with the other two species being the lowland and urban lineages?

"My interest in the old foxes has always been because I wondered if they were NARFs."

As I wrote, I hope that some lab can be persuaded to carry out DNA testing on the taxidermy fox specimens we have. The same applies to the early 1800s wildcats we have from Scotland and we have at least two museums interested in donating samples.

The books (Red Paper 2022: Felids and Red Paper 2022: Canids) are comprehensive in the research but there is only so far we can go with documentation; hard science is needed and it seems that certain factions are already at work to "counter" work they have not seen. However, it is hard to "counter" fully referenced historical documents and records.

Is A Rat In Your Garden Preferable To A Fox In Your Garden?

 

(c)2022 Matthew Maran

Remember that the UK had no mange until hunts imported large numbers of foxes each year "for the sport". Also, foxes, like predators elsewhere, feed on rats and mice.

In California rodenticide poisoning hits pumas. Mange hits pumas. Mange was deliberately introduced in the US to kill off wolves, coyotes, foxes and other "unwanted" animals because Americans simply could not kill them fast enough.

There are predators for a specific reason. We have millions of wild rabbits in the UK and some get into urban areas. A fox is said to be willing to pass a group of openly available chickens (it has been recorded in the past several times) to go out and hunt a rabbit.

In the 1950s myxomatosis (considered to have been deliberately released) wiped out rabbits in huge numbers and foxes were noted to be starving and resorting to eat foods they normally did not -rabbit was THE main prey.

In cities and towns we have a burgeoning rat and mouse population and it has been proven over decades that rodenticides do not work. Even big cities in the US such as Baltimore and Chicago trap, inoculate, health check feral cats and release them again (if they cannot be rehomed) to deal with rats. Even foxes have returned to those cities.

Rodenticides kill birds of prey, hedgehogs, badgers, foxes as well as domestic pets. Rodenticides should NOT be used by members of the public who have no ideas what they are doing.

I was recently told that a young rat was killed (after being dug out) by a fox. What should they do with the rat? I said to leave it and the fox will have it later on. Oh no! Foxes "are dirty and pee on doorsteps and defecate" and the person DID NOT want to encourage them.

I assume that, therefore, rats are welcome??

Believe me, I have faced rat infestation twice and it was mainly foxes at that time that sorted out one of the infestations at my old place. Rats in the walls and on the window ledge as well as running around the garden in daylight is not good.

I would much sooner have a peeing fox or one that drops the odd bit of poop in the garden than rat droppings, urine and damage to the house and garden.

People really do need educating. And, as I have noted before, there are natural deterrents that do work and do not involve traps or poisons.

WHY Are People So Condemning Of Work NOT Published?

I have heard a couple of nasty comments to the effect that I do not know what I am talking about when it comes to Scottish wildcats. My research has been called "amateur" and "dubious".

I now ought to point out that my work has not been published yet in any form. Are these people claiming to be from the future?

At the moment no UK publisher will touch my work for a very good reason: most have been earning money from peddling dogma published by people who have never carried out any historical research but crib (constantly) from modern sources.  I will give you an example.

In 1971 and later in 1980 there were two books by naturalists who knew 'everything' about wildlife so their books were accepted as were their words. In both cases (outlined in my book) the authors noted that they had "never seen one of these mythical giant foxes" -ie a Mountain or Greyhound fox which was larger than a coyote. They were all tall tales "of the one that got away".  

My first response to that is that these Old British foxes had been wiped out of existence by the 1860s so how on earth could these people have seen a Mountain fox?

My second response is that these "notables" were plain ignorant. Stupid even.  They had the ability to read and that is where the evidence lies. Written accounts are anecdotal evidence so you have to assess the credibility of the writers. From the 18th right up to the end of the 19th century the authors declaring that there were three types ("forms" would be a better word since as far as we know these were all of the fox species -yet to be determined through DNA study) of fox -the Mountain/Greyhound, the Mastiff/Hill and the Cur or common  fox.  Details about these are in the Red Paper 2022 Vol. 1 Canids (a vastly updated version of the 2010 edition). These people were naturalists and zoologists and not of the type we know today. They studied, made notes and got to know members of the animal kingdom: they they killed them as 'sportsmen'.

In many of their books and articles they report on how the Old fox types are declining as thousands were imported each year as replacements for their 'sport'. Good descriptions of the three types are given and even how different they were from the now New imported foxes. These are people who KNEW their animals and what is more were beyond reproach in their scientific work. Some produced excellent work that is worthy of praise but then you also read how they killed by shooting or through having dogs tear them to pieces 5-7 foxes a day -cubs and adults. All "jolly fun". 

Oh, we also have examples of Mountain foxes. We have probably the most famous Scottish mountain fox -a taxidermy in its cage and looking exactly as it does in a well known illustration from the early 1800s.  We also have the jackal, wolf and coyote masks (mounted heads) of animals kept and released and also bred by hunts for "better sport" and they have been clearly identified as such by more than one expert in the field studying the animals.

Perhaps if the "noted" authors actually did some research rather than "pop dogma" book writing they would have found all of this...but that requires work and I'm in my 50th year on the subject.

Then we come to the wild cat. People keep asking "Only Scotland had wild cats, though" which, again, shows poor wildlife education. The line "Wild cats in England were extinct by the 1600s" is possibly the grossest piece of misinformation going. Again, I started my study in 1980 (42 years ago) and -as with canids- that pulled in a lot of newspaper reports as well as books and journals from 1780 onward. The English wild cat was as large as its Scottish and Welsh brethren and was known (Thomas Pennant coined the name in the 1700s) as "The British Tiger".  I never understood why and if you look at fringe subjects such as cryptozoology they mention an "unknown large cat -a cryptid" that was the size of a tiger in the Highlands. Cryptozoologists tend to be even worse at research than some zoologists.

Baron Cuvier and others referred to the  large size of wild cats in Scotland and notes some measuring 3 feet (90cms) excluding tail and express the fact that they had never come face-to-face with the larger ones that were comparable in size to a puma or leopard. There was a reason why men would not take on a wild cat.  Again, all detailed in the book.

Wales and England had wild cats and in some areas they survived on into the 1930s and 1940s -documented again. In the late 19th century (when sources stated the wild cat was extinct in Wales) there are newspaper reports of them and in one case a hunter after a fox on a mountainside was attacked by "a huge wild cat" and injured badly. there are other cases.

Going back to the 17th and 18th and 19th centuries all the naturalists and learned zoologists declared that, if not for feral domestic cats the wild cat species would have "died out hundreds of years ago". There were the pure bred wild cats but these were declared extinct by the 1860s in a paper presented to zoologists and that conclusion was accepted. What we saw up until the late 19th century and in some areas in the 1920s were at least 3rd or fourth generation wild cats (hybrids with a high percentage of  true wild cat blood in them). These also continued on in England and Wales before the last ones were killed as part of the felicide campaign started many centuries earlier (for sport and financial gain -a bit like the fate of the thylacine once a bounty was placed on it).

Experts who knew a true wild cat from hybrids noted how most museums displayed hybrids as true wild cats and what makes a "genuine wild cat" today is almost the complete opposite of a true wild cat. The wild tabby has become the current version drawing in the money and, as with foxes, deer, hares and other animals that were wiped out by hunting in the past, there are plans to import European wild cats to replace the extinct ones. Why?

You replace and extinct species with one that has no connection to it but is the current "looks good" type from outside the UK. That is introducing a non native species to the UK and official policy on those types of animal is to kill them. Also, are game keepers and estate owners as well as 'sporty' types going to stop shooting a newly introduced wild cat when they can just shrug and say "Thought it was a hybrid" (which they are allowed to kill freely. Introduce a species to see it wiped out again?

So there are plenty of sources for the cat book and, oh yes, we have taxidermy samples as well as photographs of such, dating back to the early 1800s and they bear no resemblance what-so-ever to the wild tabby.

The best reason I have had one of the books rejected was that it had a "conversational" style. Most books do unless they are dry and over technical. My books are designed to educate people and that means to explain without using (but if I do I explain) over technical terms. For the naturalist and zoologist there is everything needed for peer review: not just one but two to three reference sources (in fact any and all information is fully referenced so that others can continue or critique the work) and rather than write "According to Dr H this can be ruled out" I give the exact quote because being ambiguous is no good. And also it means that I cannot be accused of misquoting.

A publisher likes to fob off a manuscript review to one of its authors who "has experience in this subject" well: (1) if there is a naturalist who has studied canids and felids for 50 years like me I have never heard of him/her. In other words there is no one with the experience or knowledge to assess the work and they will also not go all out double checking sources. (2) established wildlife writers are NOT going to write "OMG -we've been earning a living off false information for decades!"  (3) I have experience (a lot of it) with publishers readers taking material from submitted manuscripts and using it as their own work: there is no come back on that either and 50 years work stolen is not something I want to see.

We have the taxidermy, photographs as well as every and any reference source you could ever want to double check. If a publisher cannot accept the evidence presented then really they are not that good. It means that, once again, I will need to self publish and before anyone asks -yes, I have tried European and American publishers.

Ignore those who criticise unpublished work that has not been posted anywhere but do question their reasons, their motives,  for wanting to slap down serious and fully referenced work that is important to British natural history. Oh, and ignore those who say that there was never an Irish wild cat -we have the evidence that there was.

When Did British Wild Cats Die Out -plus some facts Zoologists ignore through dogma

The above is probably a Gen 3 or 4 wild cat and actually has more of the Old wild cat in it than today's "Wild tabbies" (c)2022 British Wild cat and Feral Study

Here is something for those soliciting money to save extinct wild cats from extinction (I launch my own Save the Dodo fundraiser next week 😁)

 Source: Jardine, The Naturalist's Library, 1838

Cuvier in 1834 refers to the British wildcats and their length of 3ft+ (90cms) and also states that he would certainly not wish to meet the largest "of puma or leopard size"

So, as I explained in The Red Paper 2022 Vol.1 Felids, there WERE wildcats in Ireland and the existence of same was only argued by later naturalists (late Victorian) who simply had not seen or shot one. Origins of these cats I also covered.

When the Red Paper felids is published you can read the exact words declaring the Scottish wild cat as being extinct by 1860.  Coincidentally, that was around the year the last of the British Old Fox types survived to.

Lungworm -The Silent Killer

This last week has seen a sickly looking fox taken to a vet where it was discovered that it had lung worm. The fox had to be put down by the vet.

This raised questions as to how bad lung worm is.  Hayley de Rond of Black Foxes UK will point out; lung worm is known as "the silent killer".  Worms in foxes in the City of Bristol is common so there are ways you can help if you are a feeder -you must be sure that no other person is dosing a fox as overdosing is a serious matter.

You can always find natural plants that foxes will eat and are considered natural medicines -currently working on that post.

The following diagram is taken from Worms & Germs 

 I take this from the Medivet website

 https://www.medivet.co.uk/pet-care/pet-advice/lungworm-in-dogs/#:~:text=Lungworm%20is%20a%20type%20of,fatal%20consequences%20if%20left%20untreated.

What is lungworm?

Lungworm is a type of parasitic worm that can infect dogs. Unlike other intestinal worms such as tapeworm and roundworm, adult lungworm travel around a dog's body and can damage their lungs and other major organs - causing fatal consequences if left untreated.

What causes lungworm in dogs?

Lungworm larvae live in snails and slugs, as well as the faeces from infected dogs or foxes (which is where the slugs and snails pick it up from).

When these are eaten, either intentionally or accidentally, the lungworm larvae are ingested into the dog’s digestive system. The larvae can also be picked up from snail and slug slime, so any dog toys or bowls left outside can pose a risk. Frogs can also become a host for the larvae.

Once a dog becomes infected, the larvae mature and move around the body, eventually ending up in and around the lungs. The adult lungworm then lay eggs which mature into more larvae which are subsequently coughed up, swallowed and exit the body via the dog’s faeces, thus starting the cycle again.

This cycle of infection means that lungworm can easily spread within dog communities, so prevention is key.

What are the symptoms of lungworm in dogs?

Lungworm can cause cardiac and respiratory diseases and can be fatal in severe cases. Many dogs won’t show signs of lungworm for some time, meaning it can go undiagnosed in many cases.

Symptoms of lungworm include:

• Excessive bleeding
• Unexplained or excessive bruising
• Coughing
• Difficulty breathing
• Loss of appetite
• Vomiting and/or diarrhoea
• Weight loss
• Tiredness and depression
• Pale gums
• Seizures

How to treat lungworm

If you think your dog has contracted lungworm, contact your local vet immediately.

Diagnosing lungworm can be tricky; your vet will carry out a number of diagnostic tests, such as taking blood and faeces samples to see if any eggs or larvae are present. They may also conduct a chest x-ray or insert a tiny camera into your dog’s windpipe to find evidence of the parasite.

These tests will help your vet decide which course of treatment best suits the needs of your dog. Occasionally, lungworm can be killed off by changing your parasite prevention routine.

However, if there are signs of bleeding, blood transfusions and a stay in hospital may be required. There could also be a chance of permanent damage, so prevention is essential.

How to prevent lungworm

Prevention is better than treatment. Using effective lungworm prevention as part of your ongoing parasite treatment is the best way to protect your dog. Speak to your vet about the best option for your dog and for more information about high-risk areas.

Be extra-vigilant when out walking with your dog to stop them from eating slugs, snails and faeces. Always remember to pick up after your own dog and wash any toys and bowls that have been outside to reduce the risk of infection.

Puppies are renowned for eating anything they come across, you should be especially careful during spells of wet weather when slugs and snails are frequent garden visitors - always ensure your puppy is supervised and fully up to date with their worming treatment. 

above -lungworm

The Need For Fox (and Wildlife in general) Rescues

  I wrote this on a couple of wildlife groups pages:

"Really, I should not be surprised but it seems that other than a couple of people taking in grey squirrels and the odd hedgehog rescue there are no real wildlife orientated rescuers in Bristol.

What happened? There used to be people all over the City right up until the late 1990s and now...nothing.

I had hoped there were some about that avoided having to get over stretched rescuers from Secret World involved and the long trip down to Somerset for any animal/bird.

It is a sad thing to have to say that the UK really is not geared up for wildlife rescue but it's even sadder that a City the size of Bristol is totally and utterly unprepared for a sick or injured animal...and we have birds and wildlife on our doorstep north, south, east and west."
and someone responded:

"maybe you need to start one?"

All of that seems far more important now. Secret World had Zoe Webber working as a volunteer trapping and rescuing and Matt Lvy moved down from Scotland to work at the rescue where he was rushed off his feet. Despite what Secret World might say, depending on who answers the phone, it says it cannot cover Bristol and that has been proven over the past few years with only Zoe Webber's efforts keeping a regular presence.

Secret World is in Somerset and it is a long drive to take a sick or injured animal on. Once Secret World withdraws the number of sick and injured animals being "put to sleep" is going to increase. "First response" or "First treatment" vets, if you can find one willing to deal with wildlife, will generally resort to putting a fox or badger to "sleep". It's easier and cheaper and I write this having now had 50 years of experience with vets and wildlife -up until the 1990s most vets (unless a trainee establishment) would tell you (sometimes politely) to "get stuffed" if you said you had found a sick or injured fox or badger. Police officers on country patrols would invariably carry a lead pipe or other implement in the boot of the patrol car to swiftly put any injured badger or fox "out of its misery".

We are supposed to have improved since that time and to an extent we have as the "lead pipe blessing" no longer occurs. Rescues try their best but in the past individuals had to step in. In Bristol there were a few experienced fox watchers who kept an eye on the local foxes and handed out treatments where they could and got the occasionally "thank you bite" -"It's a wild animal and I grabbed it by the scruff of the neck to dose it and it had no idea what I was up to!" The 1994 mange outbreak in Bristol that killed around 94% of the fox population was the last time most of these people tried their hardest and many with no help from vets.

For some reason in the 1990s to mid 2000s people knew me as "that man that deals with sick pigeons". I did, true, but had no idea why until two youngsters arrived at my doorstep on a sunny bank holiday Monday with a squeaker (juvenile pigeon) they had fished out of the Feeder Canal. They cycled to the RSPCA centre only a few hundred yards away where someone told them a great big lie: "We don't deal with pigeons...we can give you the address where to take it though" -my address. I had rescued and kept racing pigeons until the local man, a Mr Truckle, could collect them to send back to the owners. I had also rescued a couple of wood pigeons -one dislocated wing and another had a broken leg. I pointed out to the RSPCA inspectors who called where the long time nests were (in my garden) and that I could look after them until release. All agreed. After a couple days I phoned the RSPCA to see what was happening and was told "It's policy to put to sleep wild birds" -twice I was told that and, yes, I made a serious complaint.

After that I would not trust the RSPCA again and Secret World were not that interested so, I tidied up an old wooden shed that was really only big enough to hold a few tools in but was warm, dry and secure enough to keep a boxed up pigeon with food and water in.

Above: Me in much chunkier days with two of the half dozen pigeons treated and re-released. (c)2022 T. Hooper-Scharf/VWLG

Once I moved home there was no longer a shed so things moved indoors. Having a "dog transport cage" I turned this into a pigeon holding cage.  It is quite large so the pigeon can move about in it and a thick twig can be fixed for roosting.

Initially the pigeons were kept in a quiet corner of the kitchen and at night the cage was covered. I would have preferred a larger cage but when limited by space you have to go with what you have. The pigeons (after the pots and stove are covered) would be allowed out of the cage while cleaning (daily) took place. This allowed me to assess the bird's ability to fly as well as overall condition.  

How strong is a pigeon getting; if you firmly hold the legs between your fingers so that it cannot get away you will find the bird flaps to fly away and if it flaps its wings they are not damaged. It also shows how strong the bird is.

I looked after several PMV infected pigeons. Vets will automatically put these down as they cannot be released or will pass the virus on to others (just search this blog for "PMV"). They do recover but your options are limited. You will either need to look after the bird for life or find a rescue that takes only PMV recovered birds -there were a couple back in the early 2000s. Any today means transporting the bird to them and no courier service that usually transports animals and birds will touch a PMV bird.

That's your choice. Luckily on two occasions I had trainee vets transport the birds  from me to the sanctuary otherwise I would have a couple aging pigeons in my kitchen.

Bristol now has a pigeon rescue but I very much doubt they are going to want PMV birds recovered or not.

Bristol has someone who will rescue sick or injured squirrels -taken to a vet is an automatic death sentence for them.

There are even a couple people who will rescue or look after hedgehogs and even though hogs are now endangered there is no funding for rescuing and looking after them. RSPCA? No. A neighbour once told me that she found four hoglets in the garage and the mother was dead out on the street. She contacted the RSPCA who told her: "Leave them where they are and see if the mum comes back" and she pointed out that the mother was dead. "Put them back then and let nature take its course. If you bring them in we'll put them down as its policy -we don't have the room or staff".  Before anyone queries that I double checked and was told the same thing. I left them in no doubt regarding my thoughts.

Foxes. Fox cub found and unwell: "Put it back where you found it and let nature take its course" one vet told the woman who found it. She went to another vet and the fox was treated there.  "Broken leg -we'll pts"/ "chest infection -we'll pts"/ "Nasty cut to its leg (or head) -we'll pts" and I hear this over and over again. Vets refusing to even give First Vet/emergency treatment to a fox and some that do ask immediately if there is a sanctuary or rescue taking it? Say you have not sorted that out yet -"We'll pts" and I have heard this from people actually in a vet reception who contact me because the vet has refused to see a wild animal or declares if he sees it then it is pts only".

That is going to become more common place. Bristol has a large urban badger population and the second largest urban fox population outside of London. Yet we have no rescue centre and the one that does exist is overflowing and not capable of handling larger wildlife such as foxes or badgers. For going on 30 years I have been telling anyone who will listen or read that Bristol needs a wildlife rescue centre based IN the City.   But we are not in any way unique.

Running wildlife rescues is a full time job  and the public expect you will respond to all their calls and rescue any and all wildlife they report as sick and injured within an hour. If you don't then the criticism and defamation received is soul destroying and you can argue til you are blue in the face that you are overcrowded with rescues and you do not have room, volunteer staff or the finances to take in more -there are rules and regulations. That gets the slap-back of "Well, you should have thought of that before calling yourself a wildlife rescue!"  The physical and mental health toll on those running rescues is massive and some have complete meltdowns which gets the other slap-back of "Well, they obviously weren't capable of running a rescue in the first place!"  Heard it and read it.

In areas where you have rescues check them out and see whether they take on wildlife such as foxes and badgers. If they do then support them.  You go shopping maybe buy a tray of canned dog or cat food or even bag of dry food to donate as that takes some of the spending costs down for them. Old newspapers, old towels and blankets -all donatable. A DIY or timber yard; find out if they have bags of sawdust that you can pick up to donate (timber yards tend to have a lot). Ask the rescue; what do you need donated most.

We need to keep as many of these places going as possible and keep publicising them and never forget to donate.

A rescue needs premises. Ideally, someone with a big piece of spare ground with a large shed or barn offering that up as a starter would be good.  However, that really very (very) rarely happens. Remember cages and treatment areas need to be set up and those need to be cleaned and kept up to a standard. The biggest expenditure is going to be veterinary treatment and meds and looking at the basics is enough to scare anyone off.

We are listed as one of the highest wildlife deprived countries in the world. Animals are killed daily in their hundreds "for fun" as well as by cars. We put out rodenticides t5hat kill not only rodents but foxes,m badgers, hedgehogs and even birds of prey that pick up a "dead meal". How many domestic pets die from rodenticide (secondary) poisoning we do not know accurately but die they do. Encouraging foxes and feral cats does NOT devastate native wildlife (that in itself is an unscientific and moronic statement by certain factions) but they will go for good food sources -rats and mice and there are plenty of them in a City like Bristol.

The Fox Deaths Project run by Zoe Webber and myself is looking at how foxes die within the City and we are learning a lot. On a weekly basis I hear of foxes injured or sickly being pts at vets because there is nowhere to take them or keep and treat long term. We are supposed to be a nation of animal lovers and everyone expects someone else to take care of sick and injured wildlife: but very few people are willing to contribute to the work itself.

Bristol needs a wildlife rescue. Most other parts of the country need wildlife rescues. Tutting away at news reports about how messed up the environment is and how wildlife is dying needlessly does not cut it.  We need the backing and support and not just for a week.

As it is at the moment I can see 2023 turning into a year of more and more dead foxes as well as badgers because we can do nothing.