Yes, UK Wildlife IS Heading Toward More Extinctions. Sit Back And Enjoy Your Pizza

 

The Soon to be extinct mammals

 "The marten cat and the polecat, the badger and the otter. unless where the latter is strictly preserved for hunting purposes, are in many places very rare indeed, and the two former almost extinct, and were it not that the fox...happens at present, to be the petted animal which provides for rich and poor the sport of kings, healthy exercise, and employment for thousands, and puts more money in circulation, directly or indirectly, than all of the other wild animals in the world put together, he too -for, alas! he has many enemies -would in our islands, soon become a thing of the past, with nothing to remind future generations of the bygone glories, delights, and excitements of the chase, save a few antiquated volumes in our libraries, or perhaps a dusty and moth-eaten mask or brush hanging in the ancestral hall!"

Thus wrote Colonel J. S. Talbot in 1905. A true sporting psychopath. In fact, as noted before, there were extinctions of species in the UK that resulted in various species being imported into the UK to keep 'sport' alive. Talbot writes of the excitement and delight of men and women on horse back running behind large hounds all to enjoy the chase and the kill and try to snatch a foot or tail or even head (mask). The hounds themselves, described in Talbot's own words "devoured"the whole fox. The "beloved" hounds were treated despicably and starved to make them read to chase, kill and eat. Cruelty to fox hounds and horses is nothing new.

Talbot also notes how the three Old British foxes were driven to extinction or to hybridise with the newly imported foxes. The extinction of the Old foxes occurred around the 1860s and some may have clung on in remote parts of Scotland but they were said to have survi9ved in Ireland where no new foxes were introduced -one might ask why English hunts sent gift foxes to Irish hunts if the species survived there?

Talbot was a typical old duffer of the 'sport' and writes about how he and hunts would ride through crop fields in Egypt which natives did not like but, you know, bloody foreigners knew their place. In England crops and much more fell victim to riders and hounds which is why the 'hunt loving' countrymen started fencing off their land and fields with wire -so hated by the hunts.

Note also that Talbot states how the Marten cat and polecat had been driven to extinction in some areas and in others were what we would call today "critical status". All of these 'sportsmen' knew full well and wrote and spoke about hunting making species extinct and yet they carried on killing while "o woe-ing!" They could not stop themselves; they had to have the stalking, chasing and killing and souvenir taking of the true psychopath even though they knew they were wiping out species -new ones could always be purchased to continue the 'fun'.

Is it not 'funny' how the same thing is said here about how fox hunting raised and circulated more money and created more employment than any other animal hunted and killed in the world -a complete and utter nonsense and if Talbot believed this he was self deceiving on a grand scale. He was, in fact, stating that fox hunting benefitted the economy on a large scale. When government and local authorities want to push the destruction of green spaces and old woods and forestry to build offices, homes and, ooh, let's say wasting billions of GB£ on a rail network destroying habitat how often do you hear that those objecting are not thinking of the local economy, the benefits to the community and the many jobs that will be created? It is something always spouted and thankfully more people are becoming aware of this.

Yes, the "poor" (which would be anyone not rich enough to be called Middle class or afford to be a member of the local otter, hare or fox hounds) also killed these animals and not necessarily for 'sport' -many did so because they enjoyed killing the animals in question and there was a nice bounty to collect for what you killed. This was proudly and nationally known and accepted and the terms "vulpicide", "melecide" and "felicide" were used -"good work and congratulations" to those who wiped out badgers. Later it turned into a rich man and (grudgingly) woman's "bit of fun" but the British from top to bottom rungs of the social ladder all did their part.

Badgers were baited, poisoned, shot, snared and even simply clubbed while the 'sportsmen' accepted that the badgers were "simple and harmless creatures" -but, you know, "kill 'em!"

The fact that despite all of the melecide British badgers survived has always been something of a mystery (which I recently solved) and in the 1970s the species was give 'protected' status by the government and yet, in 2023 the same people who gave that protected are making a few people quite wealthy by paying for the slaughter of 250,000 badgers and that knowing full well that 60,000 plus are dying on our roads each year.

Talbot feared the badger was about to go extinct but it hung on and survived until the 21st century and over 100 years later humans are set to achieve that goal -recognised by many around the world as wrong. In A Field Guide To The Carnivores Of The World by Luke Hunter (Panthera, London, 2011) it is stated (p. 164):

"Persecuted as a pest and for illegal 'baiting' with terriers. Controversially culled as a carrier of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in the UK, despite strong evidence that culls do not reduce incidence of the disease. Red List"

Red List means that it is considered an endangered species and, of course, in the UK it is 'protected' by the same body (DEFRA/Natural England) that pays shooters a lot of money to go out and kill them. Scientifically if eradicating a supposed cause of disease has no effect then it is clear that said suspected cause is innocent.  In the UK it has been suggested t6hat infected cattle can pass bTB to badgers and vice versa but there is no proven source and some data featured in reports seems inconsistent with facts. In Bovine Tuberculosis in Britain and Ireland – A Perfect Storm? the Confluence of Potential Ecological and Epidemiological Impediments to Controlling a Chronic Infectious Disease a paper by A. R. Allen, R. A. Skuce, and A. W. Byrne (2018) it is stated that:

"Even with such heterogeneity of approach across time and national boundaries, it remains startling that particularly in Britain, which came close to achieving eradication in the 1960 and 1970s  bovine TB is resurgent "

Therefore we -I say "we" as in the British "animal loving" public- sit by and very few do anything. Well, save a species and try to help the environment or watch the latest TV soap "scandal story"....with a pizza and beer? Yes, the pizza industry is doing well.

Talbot and his kin -even as far back as the 18th century- were noting how they were wiping out any and every species for 'fun' but also to make an area better for the chosen sport whether pheasant and grouse hunting or hare coursing. They bemoan the species being lost (no sport when they went) but mass importation was there.

I am writing this knowing full well that it will be "in one eye and out the other". No one cares.  Let's believe that badgers (not bad animal husbandry) badgers spread TB -kill the lot. Foxes are on the decline -so what?  Thousands  of species are dying every year on our roads. So what? The UK does not recognise the need for wildlife overpasses and underpasses nor want to spend any money on that nonsense.

"This green and pleasant land"

"A nation of animal lovers"

The Blood red Island

Get off of your asses and do something before we have another period of extinctions -EXTINCTION IS FOREVER