The Claim: "Bristol University released mange infected foxes" -Time to address that rumour.

The one rumour that I kept hearing for a number of years was that the old Bristol University fox project had been paid by MAFF/DEFRA to release sarcoptic scabies (mange) in Bristol foxes to see how fast something like rabies would spread in an urban environment. No one was willing to publicly come forward to state this but Bristol plus foxes and, of course, I stuck my nose in.

I asked Bristol University whether it would be possible to view the former mammal group papers?  Despite a written letter and emails not a single response which, honestly, on the face of it seems slightly damning.  Bu8t I found a page talking about the new fox study and who was involved in the work. Nothing. I telephoned and got the impression that the person I spoke to thought I was a little nuts as there "hasn't been a fox project for years".

And online papers from the fox group are not available to anyone outside of a university or one of the qualifying institutions. I am used to this as over four decades of studying foxes, their history, health and so on, does not count. It only counts IF I am parft of an institution and my papers do no0t count form the same reason even if I am a named author on three papers from a university.

So this left the rumours to continue.

 Looking at Stephen Harris and Philip Baker's Urban Foxes book there are things that are quite off ; they state mange kills more foxes than cars. In 2023 alone over 250 foxes were reported as killed or fatally injured by cars. At the same time mange deaths seemed to be declining due to fast treatment. But then, there is a far better reporting system in place and it covers the City and County of Bristol not just North West Bristol.

But at one point this claim was true because up until 1994 mange was not reported in Bristol. That is the reason so many fox watchers who cared for minor injuries etc were caught off guard and could not help in 1994/1995.

I keep stating 94% of Bristol foxes were killed off but looking at some other data the 95%+ figure for the number of foxes that died does seem more accurate.

There have been rumours for a long time that Bristol Uni and its fox study deliberately released mange into the City as part of a study to see how fast rabies would spread as noted and while I may disagree with some of what Harris states I would never believe that he would do such a thing (a criticism (?) against him has been that he is an animal lover and a fox lover to boot).

If you read the item below you will find that the fox involved is said to have left the City and then returned with mange. I can find no evidence contradicting this account but Bristol University releasing any research material might back this up.

DEFRA removes pro-cull farmer from Bovine TB Partnership. Better Idea: STOP THE UNSCIENTIFIC CULL

 

It seems to pro hunt/cull crowd are in a bit of a panic. All of this in one short week. Desperation.

Read what the farmer in this story says. Basically he wants more culling and more areas subject to culling and anyone who objects is obviously a liberal politician. These people whinge and whine away because they know the scapegoat animal is not to blame and there are strong hunting connections and killing badgers can, as one shooter put it, "be a big earner".

And the great British 'animal loving' public sit on their asses watching TV and do not care less.

The Badger trust:

"Badgers are not to blame for bTB in cattle
Bovine TB is a respiratory disease in cattle. The primary transmission source is cattle to cattle. Yet badgers are still the starting point for blame.

"There are no examples of any self-sustaining reservoirs of bovine TB among badgers, even among the longest studied APHA research group at Woodchester (though these badgers appear to have been shot during the cull).

"Based on Defra monitoring, bovine TB is found in a wide variety of species other than cattle, including alpacas, badgers, cats, deer, dogs, foxes, mice, rats and sheep. It has even been found in single-celled organisms."

Read that bit again: ""There are no examples of any self-sustaining reservoirs of bovine TB among badgers, even among the longest studied APHA research group at Woodchester (though these badgers appear to have been shot during the cull). "

And there you have it. Political culling of badgers because what science was used to decide that a group of badgers tested and shown not to have TB needed to be culled to prevent TB? The cull is political and politicians pushing it against the scientific facts are in the pockets of large farmers and other countryside bodies who want shooting to continue for financial and also possible 'fun'.

People outside the UK are calling the badger the "scapegoat" and say the cull makes no sense.

250,000+ badgers "culled" on top of the 100,000 killed on roads every year and goodness knows how many killed in snares and illegal shooting.

Animal husbandry is what needs to be looked at and a viable alternative? Vaccination so why does the UK not do that?

"These are considered safe commodities. Live cattle: WOAH standards make no provision for vaccination of cattle against TB at present, as BCG vaccination interferes with internationally-accepted tuberculin-based tests which underpin current criteria for certifying herds free of TB."

So we want out of Europe etc and also have a vaccine but will not use it and killing wildlife is simpler and as these people know the cull IS political with political candidates getting backing from big farmers and financial contributions.

Badgers already face extinction and what if every badger is wiped out and BTB continues -foxes? Wipe them all out then...field mice?

Start at the source and where the responsibility lies; with the farmer.

https://www.fwi.co.uk/livestock/health-welfare/livestock-diseases/bovine-tb/defra-removes-pro-cull-farmer-from-bovine-tb-partnership

ALWAYS be tick aware!

 ALWAYS be tick aware!

I write this every year and every year I am accused of being a "Grass nazi" and wanting to have tall grass cut back but here goes nothing.

Early signs in affected dogs include change or loss of voice, lack of coordination of the hind legs, change in breathing rate and effort, gagging or coughing, vomiting, and dilated pupils. Signs occur 3–5 or 5–9 days after the tick attaches, depending on the type of tick involved.

Ticks will bite and feed on your dog or cat for up to a few days, and drop off once they've had enough. During this time, it's possible the tick could give your pet a disease. Ticks carry a serious bacterial infection called Lyme disease. Dogs, cats and humans can all get Lyme disease, although it's uncommon in cats.

This photograph is of an emaciated vixen Sarah Mills , the Bristol Fox Lady, attended earlier today. Note the number of ticks on the neck and it seems some have been scratched off.

If you feed foxes and can get a flea/tick med to it you will be doing it a favour.

When Is A Wildlife Rescue Centre NOT A Wildlife Rescue Centre ?

 

Bristol is in a wildlife crisis.

Apart from the continued use of rodenticides by the City council and the number of foxes, otters and badgers killed and injured there is a wildlife r5escue problem.

Sarah Mills (The Bristol Fox Lady) has helped to reduce the number of fox deaths from mange and even help injured foxes with no official funding -she is also asked to occasionally answer calls for Secret World. Why? Secret World gets a lot of donations and just a look at the amount of money invested in its "wildlife hospital" shows something is not right.

Simply put,unless they ask Secret World is not interested in foxes etc in Bristol. It supposedly has a wildlife hospital but Bristol has had to rely on Vale Wildlife Hospital in Oxfordshire to treat and also release foxes.

People reporting manged foxes are advised to contact Fox Angels for their mange treatment -a group based on the other side of the country.

In the last few years I have heard it all from Secret World from requesting a put to sleep note from vets who say animals passed on to them just need rest to recuperate to "our fox pens are full" when they are not down to "We don't have any drivers/volunteers/ambulances to answer the calls"

In short Secret World is not fit for purpose. It goes out of its way to make it awkward for people reporting injured foxes. In most other parts of the country wildlife rescues treat foxes with broken legs but Secret World told three people who contacted me that "Any fox admitted with a leg injury is pts as standard". My brother reported a fox with a leg injury two years ago and was told the same so I, as a member of the public, phoned SW and reported a fox frequenting the garden with a leg injury. What was I told? "Best to let nature take its course. Any leg injury fox is pts as standard"

So what is going on? They have had volunteers who work hard and at anti-social hours but it seems that is no longer the case. Secret World needs to note on its website that it will not treat sick or injured foxes.

Either that or Secret World needs to actually DO what it claims it will do rather than be known amongst other UK rescues as "The PTS Centre of England" (I did not even know it was called that until a year ago.

Donators need to be told exactly what Secret World will do because having to get people from Oxfordshire to help or mange meds from the other side of the country raises a lot of questions.

Pl;ease Look Out For Sick and Injured Badgers and Dead Sows With Cubs

 

To answer a question I set up the Bristol Badger Group in 1994/1995 after trying for months to contact the old group (apparently it had folded before 1994).

The BBG does not appear on the Badger Watch listing for the simple reason that I did not pay £50 to continue what I was doing and to just get listed.

Sick or injured badgers can be reported to Secret World but remember if it is sick or injured phone and do not use the online form.

https://www.secretworld.org/contact-us

Telephone: 01278 783250

If you have any other concerns let me know. If you see a dead badger please report it to me and if you can please check that it is not a lactating sow as there may be cubs that need finding and rescuing.

Please pass this along to anyone in Bristol.

Thank You

If Otter Deaths Are An Important Research Topic.... Maybe People Ought To Get Their Act Together?

Pretty angry about a message this morning from someone who "might"/"could"/"probably" and who then went on to explain how important his time was and that he had told some (no idea who) where the dead otter was...it was a mess of a message.

I have sent the following out to Bristol Nature Network and Bristol Naturalist Society on Face Book:

 "I was today contacted, as far as I can ascertain, not by a member of the Bristol Otter Group about the otter I confirmed as being dead on Friday. I was contacted after a discussion at an event (apparently) and it was reported that there was  a dead otter at a known blackspot -firstly for animal welfare and protection I do not give out locations of otters whether dead or alive and so the location was misinformation not originating from me.

"Last year I spent a great deal of time communicating with Bristol pathology and Cardiff university and in the end it was decided that otters should be diverted to Bristol where full post mortems could be carried out (such PMs are a rarity) and Cardiff got the samples it needed and this would give an overall picture of otter health -it would also save the otter group having to store the otters for a long period and then drive to Cardiff and back. I even had someone at the time who would drive out to collect the bodies for them since it can take 24-48 hours at best to get any response from them. I was given a public slap on the face (on this group) for having said the otter group agreed to this. I did not state that.

"The important thing is to get animals who are under study to a pathology lab asap. After a number of hours rigor mortis sets in and even in the current weather flies settle on carcasses and they become "maggot surprises" -we are all too familiar with that ion fox carcass retrievals. On the 2nd February I reported a confirmed otter death and posted here about it and that a vet was in possession of it. I believe that it was four days later I was asked which vet. Vets that are willing, and there are very few, to keep a dead animal in their freezer only do so for about 24 hours so unless a request is made to store for a day more then protocol kicks in and  the carcass is sent for disposal. So 3-4 days later the otter is gone.

"The current otter was reported and confirmed as an otter on Friday. If fly strike and other wildlife have not all started doing their work it would be a miracle. I kept a location map of both and awaited someone from the otter group to get in touch. As a field naturalist and the person recording fox and badger deaths in the area I tend to have something like a dead otter reported on the day of death. Fresh.

"I will keep recording any otter deaths an d make people aware of them but unless the otter group changes the way it works then these will also be lost. I learnt the lesson the hard way about collecting and submission so I hope protocols can be changed so that people are contactable and can go out to recover bodies asap.

"And 'thank you' to the person who contacted me and indeed MY time is equally as important with the workload I have."

Why get into wildlife work/projects if you are not going to bother?

Taxidermists Put Bounties on UK Wildlife

 

As a demonstration of why foxes and other wildlife in the UK is on the decline...

Last week a "pest controller" was asking how much taxidermists would pay for a melanistic (black) fox as there are some in his area. There was discussion that black or white foxes would fetch a better price than a "common red"!   

Today a taxidermy group are advising someone on how much they can sell a grey squirrel for and how black squirrels fetch another higher price and white squirrels more.  These are online groups of people who KNOW what they are doing and in these cases they are setting bounty prices on UK wildlife -supposedly illegal.  

Rare colouration in animals should not make them targets for dim-witted idiots with guns to kill and make money from and when it comes to known black and white squirrels they are in residential/park areas and using firearms in a suburban area is illegal.  

Red foxes, as noted, are not "common" but the numbers are dropping and, again, to deliberately target black or white foxes that are rare as they will bring in some money is a bounty.  

I would encourage anyone noticing people out with a rifle or acting suspiciously in areas where there is wildlife to report them to the police as these people are part of the big problem when it comes to wildlife numbers dropping.