Fox Study Funding In The UK -Unlikely

 

above: Fig. 1: Analyses of the relationship among aggressive, tame and conventional red fox populations.

From: Red fox genome assembly identifies genomic regions associated with tame and aggressive behaviours

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Someone asked, specifically, what financial figure would be needed to continuer just the fox study. 

To be honest I have never stated a specific amount because in the past I did try PayPal donations as well as Go Fund Me. but with no donations it was considered "inactive". There really is no interest in donating to wildlife studies because it is not considered important in a world where "what is in it for me? and celebrities rule the roost.

An example: "One of the most famous ridiculous GoFundMe campaigns that successfully raised a surprising amount of money was a $35,000 fundraiser started by a fan to "purchase" Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, which managed to raise nearly $2,000 before the campaign creator stated that if they couldn't legally buy him, they would just spend all the money on beer. "

DNA testing the Old type foxes and wild cats is one big expense because of the species cross-checking needed:

Wild animal DNA testing in the UK typically costs between £60 and £400+ per sample. The exact price depends heavily on the species and the type of analysis being performed.

Specific testing costs and services vary based on your specific requirements:

Species Identification: Identifying a general biological species (e.g., mammals, birds, bats, insects) usually ranges from £60 to £130 plus VAT per sample.

eDNA (Environmental DNA): Testing soil, water, or other environmental samples to detect the presence of wildlife (like great crested newts) typically starts around £248.

Wildlife Forensics: For complex, accredited forensic analysis (such as parentage or specific individual identification for badgers or deer), fees range from £250 to £400 plus VAT per sample.

When I have enquired to laboratories the cost they range far higher than the amounts noted above.  For DNA testing what specimens we have £4-5,000?

Purchasing other taxidermies to preserve them for testing and correcting the record might be a similar amount. Once a specimen is gone it is lost forever and cannot contribute to our knowledge of Old Foxes or Old Wild cats. You can see that the combined amounts so far are at roughly £10,000 which, as far as I can see, are amounts that cannot be raised in the UK.

No UK museum, national, regional or local possesses any pre 1900 fox specimens and I tried every one over a five year period in the UK and Eire.  I am aware of a couple specimens in European museums but to find others would mean visiting them personally and tat means travel costs even at the  cheapest rates.

Covering everything as an ongoing study would be around the £20,000 mark and for the UK with a lack of interest in foxes that is unattainable. Working with UK universities?  There is no interest in academia in foxes unless it is to look at possible zoonotic diseases –there is money in that and the possibility of published papers and…more grants.  Identifying two lost UK species does not get these people excited.

Last month the blog had 10,140 visitors and if each donated £2/$2 that takes care of a lot of expenses from the study. 198,460 views of the blog for All Time –that £1/$1 idea sounds wonderful!😂

I have spent 50 years on the fox study and the one thing I have always come up against is the total lack of interest in the species and the history of foxes in the UK –unless there was an ulterior motive.  And before anyone asks themselves the question “I wonder how much of his own money he has spent?”…. thinking about that makes me faint!

When I read something like this online I have to take a deep breath and grit my teeth BECAUSE no Old fox types or knowledge of Old fox types was involved. “Vulpes vulpes has always been here” is a dogmatic statement based on poor research.

“UK red foxes are a mix of naturally established native lineages and European introductions. Genetic tracking and DNA mapping show that ancient British foxes migrated from central Europe before the land bridge (Doggerland) flooded around 8,200 years ago. However, the modern population has been extensively shaped by later additions.”

We Must Have DNA Testing

 It took many years to acquire specimens of what were the last vestiges of Old British fox and Old wild cat. The Colquhoun Mountain/Greyhound fox is seen as the classic example and my colleague LM managed to acquire it through sheer luck.   Colquhoun, at the time a very noted naturalist-'sportsman' described the fox as being a perfect example of the species. It was killed during the 1830s -a period during with the three Old type foxes were heading intro extinction.

Placed next to a full grown coyote taxidermy specimen the fox stands much taller -all accounts and records note its large size and wild nature -similar foxes were imported from Norway in the late 19th century when it became extinct.

When the land bridge between Britain and Europe (Doggerland) was flooded 8-10,000 years ago all UK species became island species and developed into such and the wolf would have developed into a distinct sub species and was noted for being large rather than attaining island "dwarf" status. 

The fox developed for the terrains it was to fit into. The Common or Cur fox stayed close to human habitation and was known as the smallest of the species. The Hill or Mastiff fox was much larger and heavily built for the environment it inhabited and rarely ventured down into valleys unless its hunt for food required it to.

The Mountain or Greyhound fox moved through mountains, swamps, forests and was known for its strength, stamina and that meant a lot for hunts who relished the chase and endurance as much as the kill. Mountain foxes existed and were hunted to extinction on the island of Ireland and British mountain foxes were later sent as "gifts" to Irish hunts. The foxes of Ireland, itself separated from Britain when its land bridge  sank would also have been a specific sub-species.

Looking at all of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries archives by naturalists, 'sportsmen' and better known quadruped specialists the Old mountain fox filled the niche between wolves and the regular fox. A niche filled in the Americas by the coyote and in Europe and elsewhere the jackal.

There is little doubt that the Old British mountain fox was a fox -in the past before testing there were many often silly suggestions as to its origins- and that similar foxes existed in Western/Central Europe. The Red fox (Vulpes vulpes) gradually moving from the East into Europe along human migratory routes. Taxidermy specimens are rare to find due to age or lack of interest. No single museum in the United Kingdom or N. Ireland/Eire possess any specimens. I know because I communicated with each and every one of them and the oldest foxes they had were post 1900.  The Extinct Fox and Wild Cat Museum (EFWCM) has the largest collection including two foxes from the noted French naturalist Sarrazin -which may be either the first examples of old North American fox or specimens of Old European fox.  

Similarly, in the 1830s, Colquhoun also shot what are thought to have been the last pair of Old wild cats from Scotland before the European wild cat was introduced for hunting and then interbred with feral domestic cats. The Old wild cats were known in  as "The English Tiger" but after extinction that title moved north to be adopted for "the Highland Tiger" of Scotland. 

These cats were much bigger than the wild cats of today, were sandy/yellowish and had "tiger stripes" and were so powerful that hunters attached metal spiked leather collars to their hounds as hounds could be easily killed by the cats.  Human fatalities were also known as the cats gave no quarter when bordered or wounded.

The Colquhoun cats are probably the last of the genetic line and, again, there seems to be evidence that such cats existed in Western Europe (we know of a specimen at a museum in Ireland that looks to be Felis lybica in origin and was probably introduced there during the Iron Age).

Without going into overlong hypothesis the Old wild cat would be a distinct species that was killed off and later replaced by what we know as the European wild cat of today.  This makes sense since Ireland, Britain and Europe were once joined and animals roamed freely with no obstacles in their way.

What we do not have, because of the lack of museum specimens (there is an 1845 British fox in a Netherlands museum)  is any DNA test results because of that. DNA results could well re-write British, Irish and European natural history on these two species.

No labs seem interested in testing samples and such tests are beyond any finances we have. 

Nothing Has Changed -It Has Just Gotten Worse

 Apart from a while living in Germany I was born and raised in Bristol. From an early age I had an interest in wildlife from the smallest insect to the largest mammal. I think it amused my gran when I used to pick up worms from her garden in St Werburgh's and just hold and examine them.

St Werburgh's was great as we lived in Sevier Street with the brook and Mina Road Park to our rear. The odd owl landing on the window sill at night was "fun" (huge glowing eyes outside the window); I interacted with a pretty smart jackdaw and even observed a large caterpillar that after all of these years (I was about 10 years old at the time) I have never been able to identify what species it was.

In 1975 whilst walking to work down Pennywell Road I saw by first fox out in the daylight (it was around 0630) -not far behind it was a pursuer: a chunky black and white tom cat that looked determined to teach "that damned dog" a lesson for coming into its area. A year later I set up the British Fox Study here in Bristol. I also looked into wild cats and badgers. In 1977 I was rather accidentally drawn into exotic animals and spent 1977-2018 acting as a UK police forces wildlife consultant (and later as part of the Partnership Against Wildlife Crime -PAWS).

Yes, I did get interviewed in newspapers 9national and regional) and even on local, national and non UK (Australia and Forces Radio Europe) on my work.

So I started out all those decades ago and tried as best I could to avoid publiciity while I also helped people build wildlife pounds, remove the odd adder that had wandered into their garden and tried to persuade local authorities (Conservative, Labour and currently the very non Greens) to help do more for the environment and help conserve our rapidly dwindling wildlife.

I had the first ever post mortem study into fox deaths set up in Bristol which yielded some interesting results. Outside the UK I am known for my research on canids and felids -particularly extinct ones and I managed to identify which fox inhabited Hong Kong before hunting drove it extinct -something naturalists there had been unable to do.

In 2000 I wrote a paper that clearly stated there WAS a genuine Corsican wild cat (aka "fox-cat") -science caught up with me about five years ago!

I have researched and discovered what the original British fox looked like as well as the wild cat -al archived and published for posterity.

British academia's response? "You aren't with a university are you?" which is their way of saying "you ain't part of the club". Far more interest outside the UK.

The question I keep getting asked by people who wonder WHY I still do all of this with no financial reward or official recognition (I liked it when someone pointed out that a lady who was a public toilet attendant for 30 years got an MBE for her work but "You just get tones of ------ thrown at you!" -it stops any ego developing)

From the 1970s when things were bleak -the Energy Crisis and power cuts- to the 1980s when people seemed to be trying to at least do something to save the environment and wildlife we have seen, since the late 1990s, a downward spiral of not many caring about all of the UK species going extinct, all the trees being cut down and Green Spaces grabbed for selling off.

Local authorities and national governments all have the same mantra: "**** wildlife and the environment -there is money to be made!"

When I am gone very few are going to even know about the work I have done. The UK as a whole doers not care what is going on outside of TV or on the internet. Otters, badgers, foxes and deer are all piling up on the roadside (former wildlife track) but build under or over passes for wildlife to cross? No. That would cost money -it's just wildlife after all.

STOP! CHECK! REPORT!

 

We hit 100 dead foxes (reported) in Bristol on Wednesday. Today I listed foxes 101 and 102 and awaiting info on (possibly) 103.

When vixens die and they are lactating then cubs die. We've had cases in the past of where very young cubs have just been seen wondering about eating any vegetation they can -usually twigs.

Whatever part of the country you are ion (or outside the UK):

PLEASE do not be that ignorant "I really do not care" driver/walker. If you find a dead fox or collapsed fox check if it is lactating (extended teats) and REPORT it asap as cubs may need rescuing.

It Is Quite Shameful

 

 Well, I heard from two people in Europe that my fox work is unique. I find that hard to believe but then I got the latest response from Germany re. the Fox Death Study resaults:

Dear Terry,

 

Thank you for your message to NABU.

 

NABU does not conducting any specific research into foxes currently, and unfortunately we are not aware of any other projects that investigate the various causes of death among foxes in more detail.

 

Data on fox hunting bag figures and road traffic accidents is collected by the German Hunting Association (Deutscher Jagdverband): Jagd- und Wildunfallstatistik | Deutscher Jagdverband

The IZW in Berlin deals with wildlife diseases in Germany in general. They may also have data on diseases affecting foxes: Department of Wildlife Diseases - Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research

 

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any further questions.

 

Kind regards

 

Janice Pahl

Referentin

Naturschutzkommunikation

__________________________________________________

 

NABU (Naturschutzbund Deutschland) e.V.

Bundesgeschäftsstelle

We are in the year 2026 and and bleat on relentlessly about wildlife welfare in third world countries yet ignore our native wildlife.

This explains why zoologists in  Norway have no idea that large "mountain foxes" were exported to England -none have done the research. It explains why zoologists just think EU DNA in foxes and other UK species is normal -they have no idea of the mass importing of animals to continue hunting after native species were exterminated. It shows why, despite the historical pictorial evidence for there having been an Old fox type in Western Europe zoologists believe there have only ever been red foxes (Vulpes vulpes).

It is far easier to teach and keep pushing established dogma than it is to spend years accumulating files and reading through old books and journals AND scientific papers.

We are in the year 2026 and and bleat on relentlessly about wildlife welfare in third world countries yet ignore our native wildlife.

Shameful

The "Liberalism" of the Vixen

 

A long-term study led by Professor Stephen Harris and his team at the University of Bristol uncovered surprising behavioral patterns in red foxes (Vulpes vulpes).

After radio collar tracking urban fox populations for over 25 years, the research found that Dog foxes are remarkably loyal, often staying single for the rest of their lives if they lose their mate. This loyalty was thought to be linked to Dog fox role in raising offspring and maintaining territory stability.

Vixens, whose reproductive success depends on securing a mate each breeding season, tend to form new partnerships relatively quickly.

The study highlights the contrasting strategies between the dog fox and vixens: while males invest in long-term pair bonds and territorial defense, females prioritize reproductive timing and opportunity.

This research offers rare insight into the complex emotional and social dynamics of wild animals and challenges the assumption that monogamy is rare in mammals.

What Is A NARF?

  Back in the 1950s the "big money earner" was going to be fox fur farms. In fact they were being set up back in the 19th century as commercial ventures.

Not very sanitary, often cruel 'entrepreneurs' found things were not as promised. Throughout the early to mid 1950s the fur farms folded. Was there massive blood letting as the unprofitable foxes were all killed? 

The easiest way of getting rid of "stock" you did not want anymore was to just release them. No legislative control over releasing foxes and some land owners probably saw the extra foxes as more 'sporting fun'.

Did these North American Red Foxes (NARF) interbreed with new native Red foxes? Probably. I have shown before photos of over large foxes from parts of the UK that had traits of the NARF. Now of course we have the breeding and escaping Silver fox interbreeding with the Red fox.

What is the size difference between a bred for sale NARF and Red fox? I think the photo below demonstrates that. This image goes back 6 or 7 years and I believe is from a keeper.

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