Otters And It's All About Looking At Local Population Health and Environment

Following on from my seven hour day of trying to get someone to collect a dead otter yesterday I need to make some things clear.

Firstly, I am a mammalogist and mammalogists study the biology of different mammals. They study things like the history, physiology, anatomy, taxonomy, environment and behavior of different mammals. A mammalogist also considers how these animals interact with each other in their natural environment. My main focus since 1976 have been foxes and wild canids as well as mustelids and since 1980 wild cats and feral cats.

The environments these animals inhabit tend to cross-over and so we see diseases, etc. from ticks as well as rats and secondary poisoning and, of course, various types of worms.  It is very important that we know how and why foxes, badgers and otters die -mainly via road traffic but we have found a lot through the Bristol Fox Deaths project under the auspices of the Wildlife Network for Disease Surveillance -I would like to thank all of those involved for the support in finding out what we have so far.

I consider any study of wildlife important and the Cardiff University Otter Project is an important one. Their work is focussed on a particular aspect and I was surprised to learn that very few diagnostic post mortems of otters  exist. A month or so back an otter from the North of England was due to be sent to Cardiff but it was suggested that the carcass be diverted to Bristol for a diagnostic post mortem. Cardiff agreed. Not only would Cardiff get a post mortem report but also the samples it required for its work so everyone gets what they need and adds to our knowledge of wild otters.

When I announced this it seems that I was seen as interfering and robbing Cardiff of its research subjects even though I stated Cardiff had agreed to this and why. In fact the backlash was a bit nasty and when I asked what problems had been created I was greeted with silence.

We have the Greater Bristol Otter Group and I believe some thought I ought to keep my nose out of other peoples business. I was 'interfering' in fact. Why and how I do not know because an otter from the North of England is a little far out to be labelled "Greater Bristol". On two other occasions I was alerted to dead otters and informed the GBOG and offered to ask Bristol PM to carry out post mortems but was told any otters went to Cardiff.

I do not interfere with another group but as I record badger and fox deaths in Bristol any large mammal found dead is usually reported to me.  We have the problem that people will report anything dead to Bristol City Council which does not cooperate on wildlife projects and their response is to pick up dead animals for incineration so any valuable information we could have gotten from the sad deaths is lost. My urgency yesterday was because another dead otter was picked up by the council street clean team around two weeks ago. It is possible that there have been other occasions.

My main intention is to ensure that the otter group gets the information it wants, Cardiff gets the samples it needs and Bristol gets to perform a diagnostic post mortem. Everyone is happy and the research continues.

The big problem is to find people who can pick up any dead otter quickly and store it until someone can transport it to the Bristol PM labs -ideally the same person from pick-up to hand off.  This is the biggest hurdle as not many people want to handle dead animals and often the days they are needed are likely to be when they cannot get away due to other commitments -hence needing a couple of people on call at least.

So there you have it. A long-winded but straight forward explanation. Not me interfering but trying to see that the maximum information is gained from every animal that sadly dies on the roads or "cause unknown". Whether a fox, badger, wild/feral cat or otter they are all part of the same small ecosystem and learning from one species may well help all the others.

 

The Truth About UK Species Eradication -It's Nothing New

 Perthshire Courier - Thursday 18 February 1841

The print from the period is hard to read so...

11       foxes

198    Wild Cats

246    Martin cats

106    Polecats

301    Stots and Weasels

67      Badgers

48      Otters

78      House Cats, going wild

27      White tailed Sea Eagles

15      Golden Eagles

18      Osprey, or Fishing Eagles

98      Blue Hawks, or Peregrine Falcons

11      Hobby Hawks

275    Kites, commonly called salmon-Tailed Gledes

5        Marsh Harriers, or Yellow-Legged Hawks

63      Gos Hawks

285    Common Buzzards

371    Rough-Legged Buzzards

3        Honey Buzzards

462    Kestrels, or Red Hawks

78      Merlin Hawks

83      Hen Harriers, or Ring-tailed Hawks

6        Jer Falcon Tag-feathered Hawks

9        Ash-coloured Hawks or Long Blue-tailed do

1431  Hooded or Carrion Crows

475    Ravens

35      Horned Owls

71     Common Fern Owls

3       Golden Owls

8       Magpies

And this was great work carried out to clear things for grouse hunting. The eradication of one species after another and this was going on in every other hunting territory. Anything not wanted was called by the hunting term “vermin” and killed.

By the 1860s the Old fox types were gone (note only 1 foxes killed on the above list imp[lying they were rare) as were the wild cats -note almost 200 killed on this estate which would have been adults as well as kittens. In fact in accounts from the 1830s it was noted that Golden Eagles were very rare as were wild cats and foxes were getting scarcer and the red squirrel was wiped out -they are not even listed here.

As for domestic cats “gone wild” it needs to be pointed out that there was an “in joke” about how game keepers always had the “best fertiliser” for their fruit and vegetable patches -domestic cats and dogs that wandered within shooting range of a game keeper were shot and disposed of pet dogs wandering a few feet from owners and off-the-lead were openly shot in front of the owners who could do little. So for a bounty on every animal and a race to se who could kill more on every straying pet was money in the pocket.

Despite noting all of the species declining and becoming rarer the ‘sports’ of the day still killed after all they could import more squirrels, more deer, more hares, thousands more foxes and even wild cats so they had a good hunt and shoot.

I would like to write that this was all in the past but it is not. A quarter million badgers slaughtered over fake science as recognised by many and not just in the UK. Red squirrels in commercial forestry are still trapped, snared and shot and hundreds of foxes are shot ‘for fun’ each week across the UK by ‘sportsmen’. Re-introduced birds of prey are still being killed as are hedgehogs in game-bird areas.

Oh, and this is all information from online news sources or sites and the great British ‘animal loving’ public sit back but, just one “lonely sheep” and thousands (undoubtedly many meat eaters) kick up a fuss until something is done.

The UK -The Blood Red Island

Firework Incidents & Evidence

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/fireworkevidence

250,000 badgers killed. Hundreds of foxes killed each week -no interest. One "lonely sheep" and 52,000 People yell!

  One sheep doing very well and that put on weight and was not in any danger got into the news because "it's lonely" -yes, the SSPCA sat on their asses until private people rescued the sheep and then stepped in for the publicity -its what the RSPCA and SSCPA do

A petition calling for a rescue operation gathered more than 52,000 signatures.

Yes, 52,000 people managed to work their pizza stained fingers to sign that petition. It was a struggle to get anywhere near the 30,000 signatures needed to stop snaring or to protect foxes which took 2 years. 

Over half the badger population in the UK has been wiped out based on a 'scientific' nonsense. The badgers may struggle to survive in the future as a pro hunt government has decided to kill more (costing the public millions and that 250,000 killed badgers figure may be untrue and the number is likely higher). Where the ****** hell are those members of the public protesting and signing petitions to stop this? Oh, it wasn't a "lonely sheep". We have a fox population dropping in numbers buy the year and they could face another extinction event and yet does anyone protest about the hundreds of adult and cubs killed monthly by shooters as 'fun' and 'sport'?

So the great British public of alleged animal lovers will allow slaughter of foxes and badgers  but yell for a "lonely sheep" to be rescued.

The United Kingdom.; The Red or Blood Island

An animal welfare charity had previously said any attempts to rescue her would be “incredibly complex”.

However, a group of five men managed to haul her up a steep slope and said she remained in excellent health. They plan to shear her overgrown fleece before handing her over to a farm park.

The rescue mission was organised by Cammy Wilson, a sheep shearer from Ayrshire, after seeing media coverage of the ewe’s plight.

Mr Wilson, who is a presenter on the BBC’s Landward programme, organised the rescue in a personal capacity along with four others.

Speaking in the video posted on Facebook, he said: “We’ve come up here with some heavy equipment and we’ve got this sheep up an incredibly steep slope.

“She’s in incredible condition. She is about a condition score of about 4.5. She is overfat - it was some job lifting her up that slope.

“She is going to a very special place that a lot of you know very well, where you’ll be able to see her virtually every day.”

The marooned sheep was first spotted by a kayaker in 2021 - Cammy Wilson/Facebook

The Scottish SPCA said they had been aware of the ewe being stranded at the bottom of the cliff for some time but were unable to find a safe way to rescue her.

A spokesperson for the charity said: “This morning the Scottish SPCA [Society for the Protection of Animals] were in attendance at the hillside after they were made aware that a group of individuals with climbing expertise were attempting to rescue the stranded sheep by descending down to where she was trapped.

“The team brought the ewe up successfully and our inspector examined her.

“Thankfully, the sheep is in good bodily condition, aside from needing to be sheared. She will now be taken to a specialist home within Scotland to rest and recover.”

The sheep made national headlines after a kayaker took a photograph of her and shared concerns about her welfare.

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

https://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/the-red-paper-2022-volume-1-canids/paperback/product-r97ywj.html?

 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”.

The Red Paper 2022 Volume II: Wild Cats, Ferals and New Native Species

 

226 pp

Paperback

Interior Color and Black and white

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

https://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/the-red-paper-2022-volume-2-felids/paperback/product-n48529.html?

£25.00

In 1896 Scottish naturalists and zoologists declared that the true Scottish wild cat had become extinct by the 1860s. What we see today is nothing more than a wild tabby cat. In this work the true history and destruction of wild cats from England, Wales (where hybrids clung on into the 1940s) and Scotland is explored and after decades of research the true look of the wild cat is revealed. The "English Tiger" and "Highland Tiger" truly lived up to that name.

Dogma is finally thrown out.

There is also a look at the "New Native Cats" ranging from Asian Golden Cats, Lynx, Puma and others and the evidence leading to their being so designated. No silly press or media stories just solid facts backed up by evidence. The author acted as an exotic species wildlife consultant to UK police forces from 1977-2015 as well as cooperated with university projects on the subject.

Island cats as well as feral cats their lifestyles and problems mare also covered .

Fully referenced and including maps, illustrations and very rare photographs -some never before seen in print- make this a book for amateur naturalists and zoologists.

Ask An Important Question -Such as Why Out Of All The Badgers Killed No Post Mortems Take Place

 This in just 10 years and in all that time not one case of TB amongst those handling badgers or taxidermists