We are currently at a 26 pages long fox death register for 2025 and 351 foxes. These are only the reported ones and based on previous years the actual death number is likely twice that.
For more than twenty years (I think 24 years) I have submitted forms for grants from the EU to continue the fox work and as The British Fox and Wild Canids Study is the only body dealing with fox research and study you might think I might get some success. Unfortunately, grants only go out to selective people/groups who meet the current trend criteria.
I am a white male over 30 so that is an automatic "no". Even though my DNA is 52% German and 7.3% French which over rides my 16% English pulling the "I'm European" card does not help!
In 50 years I have spent far more on the research than I would like to think about. There is no funding for fox research in the UK where foxes are treated like badgers as "dirty mammals" the fate of which no one really cares about (the joke of badgers being a "protected species" is well known).
The work in identifying and getting all of the evidence to reveal the true Old British foxes hunted to extinction, the Old wild cats and so on has been costly. Why did badgers survive the campaigns of melecide when felicide and vulpicide succeeded? I found out why. All with no support.
In 2017 I added a PayPal donation button to the old blog but when a Blogger "hiccup" saw that blog go I had to start from scratch again in 2021 -I added the donation button again. Old blog and new blog there have never been any donations which really signifies how interested people in the UK are in native species -if they are social media "Like" photo opportunities then they are interested
I think that the Fox Deaths Study report being officially suppressed (and, no, neither I or anyone I have discussed this with can make any sense out of that) and I still have the threat of future actions against me hanging over my head.
We need Old Fox and Old wild cat DNA carried out but no UK labs are interested let alone willing to offer their services for free (there would be the possibility of technical papers but "just foxes" I suppose).
The Red Papers were supposed to be works that would at least bring in money to continue the research work but like even the smaller papers -no interest. Again, I spent a LOT of money ordering copies and sending them out to zoologists and organisations that should be interested but not a single response.
In short, the UK is not the place to carry out research and 50 years of long term fox research has achieved nothing other than bankrupting me! So when someone does ask when I am going to post more updated research I am sorry to say that will not be a regular thing because this is a free to view blog (I declined the pay to read option) and quite honestly everything in both Red Papers is fully referenced and if you have a copy you will find out so much that you will not be told in the dogma that are modern wildlife books.
Without sponsors/donators the work hits stumbling blocks.
I was reminded today of a time that I was being interviewed by the BBC (before I blacklisted them in 1997) for a Radio 4 programme. We had briefly covered my work with exotics in the UK and there was an element of frustration from the BBC reporter that I would not discuss the work I did with UK police forces. I had explained that I was on the Partners Against Wildlife Crime list of experts and that I was also covered by the then Public Records Act (is that still a thing?). I advised forces and forces had observers contact me and so there was back and forth and like the police I treated people I spoke to in the greatest confidentiality -in fact in some cases it was the only way to get them to tell me what they saw and not fear ridicule or their name all over newspapers. I would not betray that confidence or today.
The BBC reporter was looking through notes and then seemed to have an idea: "How about telling us what animals have influenced you and your work?" There was a smile as the poor reporter expected something good.
I spoke for 30 minutes on jackals and hyenas. All the time the reporter was making notes and seemed as though on the verge of a breakthrough. "We have those in the UK -you've had reports come in?" Although I had explained everything the reporter's ears were selective in what they heard.
I had once had to travel across Bristol, after a snow storm disrupted roads, to get to BBC Whiteladies Road studio to be interviewed by a radio 5 reporter. A two hour journey there and another two hours home after an hour long interview. Altogether 55 minutes had been recorded. I waited for the segment on the radio days later. One minute. Five hours of my life wasted and never compensated as promised for a just about 1 minute sound bite. That could have been done over the phone.
When it comes to the question of "Why jackals?" the answer is simple.Around 1977 I was at a meeting of the British Flying Saucer Bureau in Bristol. I was invited by an astronomer who only informed me just before that he would not attend "You do your stuff" he told me...I still have no idea what my "stuff" was. Anyway, I was approached by a short man with rather odd clothing and a flattened "Russian Diplomat" style hat: Franklyn Angus Davin-Wilson He smiled at me and said "Your new here, aren't you?" As he held out his hand his smiled showed two long vampire fangs. He was rather disappointed at my reaction -people were usually either taken aback jumped back. I learnt that the teeth were actually from a dead fox and a dentist friend had made a false set of teeth for him to wear. He smiled again and told me that he liked the lack of panic "I think we are going to be friends" he told me.
During our following conversation he learnt of my interest in wildlife. As it happened he was also a very keen naturalist and I later inherited his collection of 19th century books on lepidoptera, arachnids and beetles. He asked what I thought about the "Vampire sheep slayer of Badminton" to which my response was that I had never heard of vampire sheep before; "Yes, they never thought that title through" was his response. The killing of sheep and draining of blood from their bodies had been reported on by Charles Hoy Fort (after who the "Forteans" name themselves). Fort had an habit of misreporting or even giving sources that contained none of what he included in his books. I have dealt with these incidents in both the 2010 and updated 2022 Red Paper Canids.
It took a few years of trawling through old newspapers at the Bristol Central Library before I had amassed a good amount of information on the case. It could be said that this was my first Jackal in the UK case.
The Sevenoaks jackal was another (sadly, all of the cryptozoologists and Forteans who use my material never credit me). I had no idea at the time that for almost 50 years I would be studying jackals or that it would lead me to discovering why jackals were in the UK and the standard explanation was always that they had escaped travel;ling menageries (I leave out the brainless theory that they were somehow supernaturally transported here and then vanished).
Oddly, this led into my research on coyotes in the UK and wolves -again fully explained in my books even though at first I doubted what I had found as it was all in plain sight and easily findable but people had forgotten or preferred fantasy or dogma over fact. Incidentally, a lot of these 'mystery canid' reports come from the same areas where we get (historically to today) puma, lynx and panther reports: big hunting estates.
What about the hyena then? Again, late 1970s I was told about this mystery creature known as "The Beast of Gevaudan" that slaughtered live stock and people between 1764-1767 in France. Forteans and cryptozoologist had it marked down as a paranormal creature, a werewolf (I'm not joking), a Dire wolf -an extinct species of canine which was native to the Americas during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene epochs (125,000–10,000 years ago). Other Forteans seem to almost relish the theory that the 'beast' was a child sex killer (again, I am not joking) despite not all the victims being young or human.
There were certain t6hings in the accounts that as I read them struck a memory and the animal I had in mind was neither a "freak gigantic wolf" nor an extinct species. I was thinking of hyena. Today "copy and paste" is almost -it is- standard for people writing on these topics since they have no idea everything they need is in what someone wrote before them...and that writer probably also copied from someone else. No one seems to have looked at how the animal attacked and killed or the geography of the area.
Back in those days before the internet you wrote letters and it might take a week or two but you got responses. It takes a minute for an email to out out and no one responds now. But, as outlined in Mysterious and Strange Beasts, I received a reply and a paper published by a museum and it clearly identified the beast as a hyena. The fur was in storage up until (possibly) 1950s when it went "missing". The British press of the day even mocked the French over being messed about by a hyena.
A one off hyena killer. Well, uh, not really because there were other "beasts" in France at the time and some of those appear to have been hyena. Remnant population spreading out across a part of France or escapees breeding and living wild -that we cannot answer, However, after many decades I am still trying to find one last piece of evidence that may indicate that there was a population that eventually died off through inbreeding (I am currently trying to find a copy of that source).
People think I am odd because I like hyena (or "hyenas" if you prefer). But I am still studying and researching hyena as I am jackals I have hefty files and one day I hope these may help promote further historical research as everything is referenced -sometimes with more than four reference sources.
That hyena and jackals crop up in my work on Old British foxes and even wild dogs should not be surprising. For many involved in Fortean or cryptozoology "it was a clearly identified dog" is not sensationalist or sexy enough to sell magazines or books. It always has to be "A previously unknown big cat"/ "Hyena"/ "Dire wolf"/ or "paraform (paranormal) creature".
I just posted (see last post) a video re a fox mating call. Although the original Face Book poster who posted her night time video states the You Tube video matches what she recorded....someone jumped in to say "it sounds territorial".
Well, what do I know!
I started studying foxes in 1974 but did a LOT of research before deciding to officially set up a study. This is why I often state that I started in 1974 or 1976. At that time I thought to myself "I'll do this 10 years and that'll be it" -10 years when you are young is a very, very long time. Now, 51 years on I am still at it. 51 years and I managed to discover the true history of the Old British foxes before they became extinct and the New foxes took over. I have even mapped out the true history of Old wild cats.
Add to that, and it took some years, I did what naturalists and museums in Hong Kong had been unable to; I identified the type of fox that existed there before they became extinct.
Studying extinct canid species has been another long term avenue of research and I have specialised in looking at jackals (once a mystery animal in the UK but as I highlighted in my books these were released for hunting in the UK) as well as wolves and coyotes that at one point were common knowledge but post 1900 dogma and not wanting to carry out archival research has meant that knowledge was lost.
I helped to identify an animal as a wolf in Germany in the early 2000s -none had been recorded in that particular region for over a century.
I looked at the "mysterious" Great Dog of Ennerdale and that lead to a whole new aspect of research and finding out that, although originally all were domestic animals, wild dogs were not uncommon up to the 1930s.
Wildlife health and conservation has always been a priority as has education on foxes and wildlife in general. With foxes this led to the study of dead foxes in Bristol and the final report that I put together being officially suppressed and threats against me with the approval of official bodies.
My work to stop badger setts being destroyed with local authority approval has also caused me major problems. As a naturalist you do not earn money but you do get a LOT of enemies😄
In the UK there is no real interest in wildlife unless there is money in it -or a lot of personal publicity. Over 50 years experience and field work on canids, felids, mustelids and others and it is, apparently, of no interest or use.
I've noted previously that some fox births are much later than normal (summer months up to July) due to climatic changes and food being far more available to urban foxes.
I have already started hearing of mating calls during what is normal dispersal season -when young foxes seek out their own territory and mates.
So in case you are wondering....
I had to print (small) then scan at 600 dpi to make this better.
From Bristish Field Sports 1870 (p. 392) and if this is accurate it shows an Old fox type.
In a pub in Nomansland, Hants (in 2010 it was). I suspected a hybrid or jackal but I think this is an Old fox type but no date.
Please note that I have removed all items identifying the taxidermist. This is because of past experience and knowing that there are some very "odd" people out there. The taxidermist was asked about the mask (a mounted fox head) and only knew that it was one of the much sought after Spicer mounts. There was no information re. date.
The taxidermist had no idea about the mask other than that it was in need of repair. The repair work was based on this being identified as a fox.
Have a look at this photograph of a "fox mask" sent for repair after it was cleaned and colour restored and ears rep-laced (ears are a problem with taxidermies)
(c)2025 respective copyright owner
Chunky but the right colouring...notice something off? Perhaps a photo of the mask that was submitted will help?
Yes, it looks like a coyote head and this is a Spicer taxidermy so late 1880s/1890s when jackals, coyotes and even wolves were released for hunting in the UK. So without location I asked for an opinion in each case: "Clearly it is a coyote but looks old".
I decided to try something else so I searched online using the image and it came up as a coyote taxidermy.
I wanted to try AI just to see what it would state. I uploaded the image and:
"The image displays a taxidermy coyote head mount being held by a person in what appears to be a workshop or storage area. The mount is an "as is" item, likely without a base."
Three sets of human eyes knowing what a coyote looks li9ke said "coyote". An image search identified it as "coyote" and feeding into AI -"coyote".
This may be a coyote.
I have seen several fox masks that have been "repaired" and cleans, re-dyed and so on but have traits that do not look like fox and when I was told ears were replaced for "a better pair" by heart sank. It is very likely that someone -a good few people- are looking at their 'fox mask' in their study or man shed and have no idea they have the evidence of the hunting of v coyotes and jackals for 'fun' in the UK. Some even have wolf heads that "show how big foxes are" because, quite honestly, they would not know the difference between a jackal, coyote, wolf or a fox.
The evidence is there in documents (books, journals and newspapers) of the time discussing the housing, attempted cross-breeding and releases of bagged jackals and coyotes at public events for a day of 'sport'.
This is just one example that we will never know the story of but I thank the taxidermists for the opportunity to see it "in the raw".
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”.This is an update of sorts. I was asked if I had managed to sort out the Sarrazin fox mystery. Were they Old Western Fox types or were they the first old type of North American fox shipped to Europe? Either way they are significant -historically to France in either case but to those interested in wild canid history -definitely.
I sent email and a letter request to the Natural History Museum Paris outlining everything. I even had two emails translated to French so that there was no doubt about why I was contacting them.
Nothing other than a link to their online catalogue which tells you nothing and it just seemed to be a case of the Museum having no interest in even discussing the taxidermies and their history.
Please do not get me wrong because I have had similar disinterest from German museums. Silence might bv seen as far better than being extremely insulted by some sit-on-his-ass alleged 'expert' at a Swiss museum. A museum in the Netherlands was the only one to cooperate and actually came up with an 1843 taxidermy from England.
Museums tend to be run by younger people who have no interest in history or anything else other than to make their institutions look good and draw in money -items of historical significance to their country.... "meh"
As I always end these posts with a "if anyone in France can actually look into this please get in touch" I'll do that here.
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Michel Sarrazin (5th September 1659 – 8th September 1734), was an early Canadian surgeon, physician, scientist and naturalist. Born in Nuits-sous-Beaune in the province of Burgundy, he immigrated at age 25 to the colony of New France as a surgeon. He remained in the colony for the rest of his life, returning to France only during two brief periods. While in New France, his medical skills were constantly in demand, and he quickly rose in the ranks, becoming one of the colonial elite.
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Note that this painting is usually thought to be of Michel Sarrazin, however there is some debate as to whether or not this is true.
Sarrazin was both a seigneur and a member of the Conseil Superieur, and held considerable influence in the colony. He had a great interest in botany, and kept up a frequent correspondence with the Académie Royale des Sciences in France, sending fellow scientists numerous specimens of North American plants, as well as detailed descriptions of dissections of animals.
Sarrazin developed a vast knowledge of both the cultural and natural world of New France, and is credited being one of the first scientists to systematically catalogue ecosystems and samples found in New France, resulting in many important botanical discoveries.
Sarrazin received some medical training in France before he was appointed as surgeon to the King’s troops in the colony of New France in 1685.[1] This position required him to minister to both soldiers and town inhabitants. He was quickly noticed for his medical skill, and within a year was promoted to Surgeon Major, becoming the first person to hold this position in the colony.
As Surgeon Major, Sarrazin travelled extensively with troops on expeditions to provide them with medical care. When he wasn't with the troops, Sarrazin was kept busy travelling between the Hotels-dieu of Québec and Montreal, essentially treating the "civilian population of the entire colony".
By 1694, however, he decided to return to France to continue his studies in medicine. He was encouraged to return quickly by colonial authorities including Indendant Bochart de Champigny, who recognized the value and necessity of having a skilled doctor in the colony.
Back in France, Sarrazin spent three years studying in both Paris and Reims, where he received his doctorate of medicine. During his time in Paris, he spent time at the Jardin des Plantes, where he met and studied under Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, who introduced him to botany and "stimulated a lifelong interest in collecting and classifying". Sarrazin would later become a "correspondant" to Tournefort, and their relationship provided Sarrazin with an important link to the Académie Royale des Sciences.
Work with the Académie Royale des Sciences
As a correspondent of the Académie Royale des Sciences, Sarrazin consistently sent samples back to Paris, with no expectation of recognition. New France's uncharted lands proved challenging to botanists, as Sarrazin stated in his correspondence, "I could cross all of Europe more easily, and with less danger, than I could cross 100 leagues in Canada". : One of Sarrazin's Paris correspondents, Sebastien Vaillant, compiled the documents and specimens sent to New France from Sarrazin into a book published in 1708 titled "Histoires des plantes de Canada". This was the first French botanical text of this nature studying North American flora and fauna.
However, Sarrazin's work remained largely unpublished. His only publication by the Académie Royale des Sciences discussed the syrup extraction process of Canadian maple trees, which can be found in "Observations botaniques." Moreover, Sarrazin printed his observations on the fauna of New France as well, notably describing the beaver, the muskrat, the porcupine, the harbour seal, and the wolverine. Therefore, Sarrazin allowed the people of France to acquire more extensive and diverse knowledge on the flora and fauna of New France.
Sarrazin was also a surgeon, and although he was not permitted to diagnose illnesses or prescribe medication, he was adept at healing fractures, bandaging wounds, draining abscesses and bleeding patients. Sarrazin was the only certified surgeon present during a smallpox epidemic aboard a ship anchored in Québec, the Diligente, and thus was in charge of medical procedure surrounding the ordeal. While there was no treatment for smallpox, Sarrazin was successful in preventing the spread of disease and in alleviating the pain of his patients by administering cold baths for the fever and powder for the sores.
Sarrazin's specimens can now be found in the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, in Paris; including a specimen of Sarracenia purpurea.
Maison Michel-Sarrazin
The Maison Michel-Sarrazin is a private palliative care, non-profit hospital. The House opened its doors in 1985 and since then has treated over 7,000 patients.[7] In 2010, the House celebrated its 25th anniversary.
Le Prix Michel Sarrazin
The Michel Sarrazin Award recognizes the scientific career and outstanding contribution of an experienced Québécois scientist. It is awarded annually to a scientist who, through innovation and productivity, has contributed in vital ways to the advancement of biomedical research.
Sarrazin was a notable historical personality with many achievements to his name including the first mastectomy in North America (on 29th May, 1700, at the Hotel-Dieu of Québec). Amongst specimens sent back to France, as noted, were New World animals and these included two foxes -the first from the Americas to Europe.
My colleague, LM, has made a number of observations as well as taxidermy finds of historical value from the UK. LM contacted me one day about a name printed on the botton of a taxidermy piece.
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Inscription "Sarrazin", "Naturaliste" and "Fontenay-le-Comte" where there was a small private museum at one time owned by Mathurin Jacques Brisson 30th April 1723 – 23rd June 1806) a noted French zoologist and natural philosopher resided at Fontenay in 1783 so the connection seems solid.
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Again, these finds are solely down to LM and that is where the credit should go.
What does the French Natural History Museum Paris think of these finds? No idea as they have not bothered to respond to emails on the matter. One would assume that with Sarrazin's name (if they know who he was) and the fact that these were the first two foxes transported from Canada to France that there might be some interest. Addenda. After a year I gave up and you can read about the responses here:
How did they get into the UK? Well, considering conflicts such as the Napoleonic War, World Wars I and II it is possible that they just came into someones possession. However, it is more likely that in financial hard times the foxes and other specimens were sold off and there is still a trade in French fox taxidermy today.
.French establishments may have no interest in the two foxes or their history ('surprise') but LM now has guardianship of them and they are saved for posterity not some "man cave" or "living room bar".
Notes on Sarrazin
Rousseau, Jacques. "Sarrazin, Michel". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Retrieved Feb 2, 2013.
Young, Kathryn A. (Autumn 1993). "Crown agent-Canadian correspondent: Michel Sarrazin and the Académie Royale des Sciences, 1697–1734". French Historical Studies. 18 (2): 416–433 [423]. doi:10.2307/286874. JSTOR 286874
Tondreau, R. L. (October 1963). "Michel Sarrazin (1659-1734): The Father Of French Canadian Science". Transactions and Studies of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. 31: 124–127. PMID 14072248.
Tésio, Stephanie. "Daily Life: Health and Medicine". Virtual Museum of New France. Retrieved Feb 2, 2013.
"Sarracenia Linnaeus". www.labunix.uqam.ca. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
Vallée, Arthur (1927). Un biologiste canadien: Michel Sarrazin 1659–1735, Sa vie, ses travaux et son temps. Quebec: Proulx.
"Maison Michel Sarrazin".
Eccles, W. J. Canada Under Louis XIV 1663–1701. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1964
Tard, Louis-Martin. Michel Sarrazin: le premier scientific du Canada. Montreal: XYZ, 1996.
Gauthier, Jean-Richard. Michel Sarrazin : un médecin du roi en Nouvelle-France. Sillery, Quebec: Septentrion, 2007.
Caron, Wilfred-M. "History of Canadian Surgery: The Early Surgeons of Quebec." Canadian Journal of Surgery. 8. (July 1965): 239–53.
Parsons, Christopher. "Plants and Peoples: French and Indigenous Botanical Knowledges in Colonial North America, 1600–1760." PhD diss., University of Toronto, 2011.
Regarding the previous posting about bounties on the Isle of Mull including for foxes and badgers I asked Google AI for information on fox...
