Hedgehogs: Do We Know the REAL Killers?

  Mammal Society page ("Saving Britain's Wildlife") carried a post about hedgehogs, foxes and badgers and here are some quotes.

Hedgehogs: predators and the truths behind their decline

26th June 2023

The interactions between hedgehogs, badgers and foxes are essential processes in sustainable functioning Earth systems, wrongly portrayed as victims and demons, explains Elspeth Stirling.

 https://www.mammal.org.uk/2023/06/hedgehogs-predators-and-the-truths-behind-their-decline/?fbclid=IwAR3C9HrusTzsRbFDmJsznxAp-2caARsu_NKYnRYZm3rJmgHlQ4LZOSBKnrc

If you look at farming websites you find that foxes and badgers are the most frequently mentioned factor in opinions about lamb losses, despite field and forensic studies spanning the last 40 years consistently demonstrating that in under 2% of lamb deaths a wild predator may be a contributing factor (although not necessarily the significant factor)

Response: Some official figures state 1% and in these cases no lambs were seen killed by foxes but the biggest cause of lamb death was bad animal husbandry which, naturally, farmers are not going to accept. Naturalists in the 19th and 20th century observing foxes in a filed of sheep noted the foxes were eating the rich afterbirth as well as nutrient rich sheep droppings. Even dead lambs were not necessarily touch by foxes though a free meal is a free meal.

Roads and traffic – estimates indicate that over 167,000 hedgehogs are killed annually in Great Britain, and it is ‘unlikely that this level of mortality is sustainable’

Response: I once kept records of dead hedgehogs I saw on roads around the area where I live.  I eventually gave up as there were so many and absolutely nothing I could do about it or get done about it.  Drivers are drivers and basically most do not give a crap if they hit a pet cat so what is a hedgehog to them?  And I suspect that road deaths may be far higher in towns and cities.

(c)2023 Vale Wildlife Group

The conditions hedgehogs rely on for life are vanishing and it’s down to human practices.

It’s a tragedy when a hedgehog dies – but they’re the victims of land management practices that push wildlife aside. People have killed foxes, badgers and small wild mammals for centuries, although this has failed to achieve any lasting improvements in the perceived harms. If the problem is that the remnant hedgehog population is at a tipping point, then the approach is to focus on reviving the natural conditions that will support their revival and maintain the population naturally without requiring artificial inputs.

Response: Humans have always been the biggest contributing factor to species decline or extinction.  What do we do if we find orphaned hoglets?  Well, during the 1990s and early to mid 2000s the Bristol RSPCA centre refused to take them in when found. My neighbour quite clearly explained to the RSPCA that the sow was dead on the road so was not "going to return" as they suggested to her -and to me when I followed up for her. I was told quite clearly: "We do not have the space, staff or time to look after them. If they are brought in we would put them to sleep. Put them back and let nature take its course".

Thankfully more and more hedgehog rescues have emerged as well as wildlife rescues that deserve far more financial support. Now, of course, with the hedgehog in such massive decline people take some notice. 

(c)2023 British Fox Study

Here is something people do not know: for centuries right up into the 20th century bounties were paid for each hedgehog killed (rather as bounties were paid to exterminate British foxes -which they did by the 1860s- wild cats and badgers -the wild cats were exterminated and the reason badgers survived would shock quite a few people). Yes, "the gardeners friend" was deliberately killed mainly in the country to preserve the eggs of ground nesting game birds and in town...probably just because they were there.  At the same time poisons of all sorts were put on gardens from slug pellets to worse. 

Humans have killed hedgehogs in the millions over the centuries and, yes, people are still doing it now and snaring and illegal traps are taking their toll "out of sight" and game keepers are still killing them.  Then again, the badger is a "protected species" and survived centuries of decimation to now be driven to the verge of extinction legally,

Rather like foxes and badgers that are declining at a scary rate in the UK countryside it is very likely that in 20 years time the only badgers, foxes and hedgehogs to be seen will be urban ones,  Foxes kill hedgehogs? I have plenty of first hand observations as well as photographs and video footage of foxes and hedgehogs totally ignoring each other as the eat with inches of each other and the only aggression noted came from the hedgehogs!  I have seen similar with badgers and hedgehogs and in urban areas the reason there is no badger predation of hedgehogs may well be down to the fact that there are feeders. Why chase after something when you can get a full feed just by turning up -even then looking for worms and other insects seems more important than the spiky little thing.

(c)2023 Time Out With Nature

In the countryside a really hungry badger or fox may well kill a hedgehog in desperation. However, even here there are other resources. At one badger sett a badger was seen on several occasions carrying back a dead rabbit. The initial thought was that the rabbits were shot and left for wildlife to dispose of, however, it turned out that there was a road close by and the rabbits were killed by cars racing along it.

In the 1860s we lost the Old British foxes, the wild cat, the Old red squirrel and many more species (the 19th century is seen as the "Golden Age of Hunting" when every and anything (not kidding) was perfect to snare, shoot, poison and hunt with dog packs. Of course, these losses were "replaced" by imports from Europe to "continue the sport".

It is important that we understand what is killing off wildlife and habitats. We saw the badger blamed for hedgehog decline.. Then we judged to foxes killing off hedgehogs. Both blamed for the hunting agenda or by people or organisations not wanting to accept that humans were the greatest (in many places only) culprits.  It is why dogma regarding wildlife continues because the truth is too harsh for "a nation of animal lovers" -a myth in itself.

Please read the article by Stirling but always bear in mind that humans always love to find a scapegoat.

Fox Numbers ARE Declining

 

I keep hearing the "so you say" when declining fox numbers are mentioned. This is no personal fantasy and there are a number of organisations who have noted the decline over the years. It is just a fact that 99.9% of people have no interest in looking up the data or even care about wildlife.

The British Trust for Ornithology looking at mammal monitoring during its survey noted https://www.bto.org/our-science/projects/breeding-bird-survey/latest-results/mammal-monitoring

Three mammals have declined significantly: 

• Rabbit (67%)
• Mountain/Irish Hare (61%) 
• Red Fox (48%)

In the case of Red Fox, there is some regional variation in their decline; in the south-east and south-west of England, there are 25-year declines of 30% and 56% respectively, but in the east of England, there are signs of a potential recovery.

That East of England recovery is arguable. 

It has to be taken into account that the SE of England is more heavily populated and traffic heavier so the high number of losses to cars would, we assume, be higher and that is worrying based on the current death rate in just Bristol.

Our Fox Deaths Project is also showing the high number of foxes falling victims to pneumonia, leptospirosis and babesia. Cub deaths are assumed to also be high since nursing vixens killed by cars or other means would result starve.

Numbers of foxes in the countryside are declining because every night the 'big hunters' go out to shoot whatever they can and if the numbers they claim to kill (brag is more like it) then it is no surprise. 

At the current rate I have no doubt that in 20 years time even the town foxes will be in decline and only urban badgers will exist. The UK is "The Bloody Island" when it comes to wildlife.

Plastics and Wildlife

 Although not the cause of death two foxes that underwent post mortems as part of the Bristol Fox Deaths Project had plastic in their stomachs. We also know that one fox outside of our area died due to ingesting a rubber balloon.

We have photographs from fox feeders of "takeaways" they put out in plastic bags. I only wish those people could be prosecuted for endangering wildlife but this is the UK. Take a look at these photos. 

No one putting food in plastic bags for wildlife is an animal lover - this is moronic  in the extreme.

The problem of people throwing rubbish from cars is still there. People dropping litter on walks is still there. I have noted many people on "country walks" reporting discarded plastic carrier bags and any number of party balloons that have been released and fallen into woodland or park areas. I have asked how much they collected and been told "That's not my job -I was walking and enjoying myself" or even "I had the dog with me so could not pick anything up" which are pretty lame excuses.

But we live at a time when people on wildlife groups will note that they often drive past dead badgers and foxes but never report them "They're dead so of no interest" (despite a couple of those involved "Liking" my posts on dead badgers and foxes). 

We need this information to assess the wildlife losses (particularly of species in decline such as foxes and badgers) but we also need to be aware that every piece of plastic litter picked up can prevent an mammal/bird from swallowing it and suffering the consequences or getting material stuck around legs, heads and bodies requiring a trap and rescue that might fail -and the animals fate is....

So, please, please, pick up any plastic litter you see while out and about because it could prevent a mammal or bird death.

Thank You

Are Badgers Potential Burglars :-)

 People are always surprised that foxes can climb but they are known as "the cat-like canid"' and jumping walls and fences as well as climbing trees is a well known fox trait (or should be).

This ought to surprise a few out there. A lady from the West Midlands wrote:

"Being woken up in the night thinking someone’s trying to break into the garden with a noise of fences being climbed. I ran to the window to see what was happening only to be greeted by this!"

Badgers have the strength and claws to climb but few people get to see them do so and the fact that they can climb is never mentioned in wildlife books because for the last hundred years everything has just been copied from one or two sources and writers do very little research work or even field work on badgers.  Like foxes they are largely ignored and killed for unscientifi9c reasons.

I was once told how a couple were woken just after dawn and they could hear someone climbing the ivy that led to their bedroom window. The husband got his golf club and was ready to fight off the potential burglar. Things went quiet and the couple waited and then the husband moved to look out the window. His wife screamed as he fell back but then he started laughing.

"What?" his wife asked. The husband got up and sat on the edge of the bed giggling. Apparently as he looked out some two feet (60cms) from his face was a badger. The badger, he claimed, looked as shocked as he must have done and t6urned and shot down the ivy. His wife looked out the window to see the badger moving off into undergrowth.

So, foxes are good climbers. Badgers are good climbers. No other nocturnal visitors to worry about though, right?  Well, hedgehogs are also good climbers but they do tend to stay where the food is on the ground and as far as I can find out hogs have climbed to ground floor windows but not the dizzying height of foxes or badgers.

A "Green and Pleasant Land" But In Reality "The Island of Blood"

  We really have gone back to the 19th century.

Badgers became a protected species after centuries of melecide. Now, under that protection DEFRA and HMG is wiping the species out.

Foxes are being killed by the thousands on UK roads and hundreds are shot every month by 'sportsmen' for 'fun'. The fox population is now at a critical point and may face another extinction (there have been several).

True wild cats in the UK were also killed by the dozens -kittens and adults- as part of a felicide campaign that lasted until they were no longer here. Extinct. 

The solution for wild cats is to introduce European wild cats which, again, are not the true Old species but hybrids and we are introducing them to keep the wild tabby cat alive and roaming the countryside -with hundreds of shooters each week going out killing anything they please under cover of darkness (including pets)Native red squirrels were wiped out by the 1860s and...more were imported (as with the fox, hares, deer and other species to keep the shooting going.

And now this -the full article can be found here:

"Last-ditch attempt to prevent second UK capercaillie extinction

"The latest survey by the RSPB found just 542 Western Capercaillie surviving in Scotland last winter, a severe drop from the 1,114 counted in 2015-2016.

"The critically low number of birds has led the Cairngorms National Park to draw up an emergency plan to save the species, which has suffered due to recreational disturbance and poor summer weather, likely brought about by climate change.

Western Capercaillie could once again disappear from Scotland within the next two or three decades (John Fielding).

"Scotland was home to approximately 2,000 Western Capercaillie just 20 years ago, when its range stretched west to Loch Lomond.

"The remaining stronghold in the forests around Strathspey is under increasing pressure from dog-walkers and cyclists. Andy Ford, the Cairngorms' director of nature of climate change, said that mountain-bikers and ramblers had readily followed voluntary restrictions, while officials are now planning to reroute visitors away from the most sensitive areas.

"Western Capercaillie has already undergone an extinction in the UK. The birds existing in Scotland today are the descendants of birds reintroduced from Sweden in 1837, after the grouse had been hunted to extinction."

Oh well it must be the environment, right? Not people going out shooting these birds. Climate change is being used to swerve the blame away from the real problem -humans (who also caused climate change). There is also a falsehood here. The bird became extinct in 1837 and extinction is forever. All that has been done is import birds to be shot and killed and you cannot re-introduce a species because what you are importing are not the old British birds.

Who is going to watch these newly introduced species 24/7 and 365 days of the year because, like the imported wild cats, they are going to be killed off. Extinct in 1837 (during the 19th century "The Golden Age of Hunting") is extinct. The birds and cats should not be introduced because the UK is not animal friendly and the fact that His Majesty's (who loves to hunt and kill) Government in the shape of MAFF and its successor DEFRA just lost control many years ago when it came to badgers and now automatically pays bounties for cubs and adult badgers to be killed based on very bad 'scientific' data shows that we will lose the badger -it seems almost like a deliberate plan to eradicate the species.

We will loose the badger, the fox and the introduced species will not establish for long.

We should be called "The Red Island" to show that killing wildlife to extinction is still accepted and worst of all, a large number of the public do not care.