Badger cull could see boom in foxes, stoats and weasels

Conservationists fear negative impact on ecosystem and call on the government to release cull data

Jamie Doward

Saturday 8 July 2017 22.01 BST Last modified on Saturday 8 July 2017 23.40 BST

It is one of the more neglected dimensions of the badger cull, but one that could reignite the controversy surrounding the attempt to control the spread of bovine tuberculosis.

Conservationists have long claimed that eliminating badgers from certain areas is likely to trigger an increase in other predators, such as foxes, leading to serious consequences for species and habitats. But the government has refused to publish data showing what impact the cull is having on local ecosystems for fear that the results will be used by animal rights activists to identify the farmers and landowners carrying out the extermination.

Now, following a three-year battle, the Information Commissioner’s Office has told Natural England – the government’s adviser on the natural environment – to provide the analysis within weeks or risk ending up in the high court. The ruling will also have significant consequences for the other information that the body is withholding on the grounds of public safety, conservationists predict.

A recent report for the Welsh assembly suggested that removing badgers would see numbers of other predators – such as foxes, stoats and weasels – increase, something that could have a negative impact on ground-nesting birds, notably the chough, a member of the crow family. Research sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and published in 2007 suggested that “badger culling … is likely to result in markedly higher fox densities. This raises issues relating to the costs of predation on livestock and game, the ecological impact of foxes in conservation terms as predators of ground-nesting birds and hares, and risks to public health as potential vectors of rabies”.

Continued  

Tiny island foxes make remarkable, record-setting recovery

AUGUST 12, 2016

by Chuck Bednar

Three once-threatened groups of foxes residing on an island off the Southern California coast have made history as the fastest creatures to recover from the US Endangered Species List, officials announced on Thursday.

In a statement, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, confirmed that the San Miguel, Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz Island fox subspecies had been removed from the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife, just 12 years after their declining numbers first earned them a place on the register.

US Interior Secretary Sally Jewell called their recovery “an incredible success story,” as well as “a model for partnership-driven conservation efforts across the country.” A fourth subspecies of fox, the Santa Catalina Island fox, was also down listed from endangered to threatened.

“The remarkably rapid recovery of the island fox shows the power of partnership, focus, and science,” added Scott Morrison, Director of Conservation Science at The Nature Conservancy. “Many aspects of this recovery effort – from its scientific rigor to the collaborative enterprise that drove it – can serve as model to advance conservation elsewhere.”

Mammals had been given a 50 percent chance of extinction by 2010

According to Reuters and the Washington Post, the diminutive foxes have called the Channel Islands off the coast of Southern California home for several thousand years, but during the 19th century, their numbers started to decline when settlers brought livestock to the islands.

Read more at 

Foxes are in the doghouse again – and everyday foxism is to blame

Lucy Jones

Tales of vulpine hooliganism are deep in our cultural DNA. But why do we still feel the need to vilify these brilliant, adaptable predators?

Friday 3 June 201615.44 BST

Another day, another story about urban foxes up to no good. Police officers in Tunbridge Wells said foxes are to blame for “destroying” brake lines on a number of cars. Poor foxes, in the doghouse once again.

Certainly, the animals, especially when they are young and developing, like to chew on objects, and may choose to hang out in the warmth under a car. Wildlife expert John Bryant has confirmed that foxes may well have gnawed through the cables in Kent. The story hasn’t tipped into complete fantasy, yet: previously reports have suggested marauding gangs of young vulpine louts were actually“addicted” to brake fluid.

This hooligan urban fox is a common character in the British media. If one animal is anthropomorphised more than any other in Britain, it is the fox – and its urban variety is often a target for a peculiar mixture of hatred, fear and myth. A fox that“trapped” a group of people in a social club in Alconbury, Cambridgeshire, in 2015 was described in news reports using colourful terms that suggested the fox was displaying behaviours outside its wild nature. “Psycho”, “vicious”, “marauding”, “aggressive”, “rampaging”, “angry” were some of the surprisingly unscientific words used. But this was by no means a one-off incident.

Occasionally it is comic. In 2013, a Kent newspaper told of the “fox horror” of a man who had a foxy intruder when he was sat on the toilet. “It was like a struggle for my life,” he said. Often, however, there are sinister undertones with no basis in reality that serve to whip up fear.

Continued … 

Foxes blamed for motorists’ severed brake cables

Kent police warn drivers in Tunbridge Wells to check brakes before travelling after six incidents since blamed on fox cubs chewing through cables

Chris Johnston and agencies

Thursday 2 June 201622.41 BST Last modified on Friday 3 June 201610.46 BST

Drivers in Tunbridge Wells have been left outraged after hungry foxes apparently chewed through the brake cables of several cars. Kent police have now warned drivers to check their brakes before setting off on journeys.

Officers called on wildlife expert John Bryant to determine whether there was an explanation other than deliberate damage to six vehicles in the second half of May. He concluded that a family of teenage fox cubs, rather than a human vandal, had gnawed through the brake cables.

“It is a pretty rare occurrence, but you do get a couple of cases every year. It is the cubs who are teenage hooligans now, so they are up to all sorts,” Bryant said. “They get under cars and snap away at all the cables when they are hyped up.”

A Kent police spokesman said an expert had confirmed that the damage was not caused by humans. “Foxes, especially cubs at this time of year, are known to rest under vehicles, and can chew through pipes. There is no evidence at this stage to suggest the damage was deliberately caused by a person. However, any new reports will be thoroughly investigated,” he said.

Read on … 

Ramblers injured by wire snares set in Peak District NP to trap foxes

So far this year two runners have been injured by the snares – wire nooses intended to catch foxes which prey on red grouse – on open-access land owned by a large shooting estate in the Peak District National Park.

These injuries have highlighted the ongoing debate about the use of snares and the issue of what gets trapped in them. 

An investigation by the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS) uncovered 100 snares set in a small area which is often frequented by runners, ramblers and dog walkers.

The setting of snares is legal and bound by the Countryside Act 1981. It stipulates that they have to be of a type that are free running and slacken once an animal is trapped.

The Act also says that they must be inspected every day and snared foxes must be killed quickly and humanely by a shot from a rifle at close range.

More controversially, though, snares often catch other animals. In the same area LACS found several ‘stink pits’ which contained the bodies of dead animals designed to attract foxes to the snares.

Among these bodies were remains of mountain hares, and the investigators also found a number of dead mountain hares laid out on paths near snares to act as a lure for foxes.

Continued ...

Australian mammals on brink of 'extinction calamity'

By Helen Briggs

Environment Correspondent

1 hour ago 

Australia has lost one in ten of its native mammals species over the last 200 years in what conservationists describe as an "extinction calamity".

No other nation has had such a high rate of loss of land mammals over this time period, according to scientists at Charles Darwin University, Australia.

The decline is mainly due to predation by the feral cat and the red fox, which were introduced from Europe, they say.

Large scale fires to manage land are also having an impact.

As an affluent nation with a small population, Australia's wildlife should be relatively secure from threats such as habitat loss.

But a new survey of Australia's native mammals, published in the journalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests the scale of the problem is more serious than anticipated.

Since 1788, 11% of 273 native mammals living on land have died out, 21% are threatened and 15% are near threatened, the study found. Marine mammals are faring better.

Continued ...

Australian foxes are pests not pets, NSW declares

8 December 2014 Last updated at 04:31

Foxes have been officially declared a pest in New South Wales but there is concern people are taking them as pets.

The NSW government has for the first time announced a pest control order for foxes, which are not native to Australia.

The order will make it easier for local land services to target foxes and to control who keeps them in captivity.

Foxes are estimated to be responsible for about A$227.5m (£121m) of damage to Australia's environment and economy.

"The introduction of the pest control order brings NSW into line with all other states in Australia in ensuring that foxes must be controlled by landholders on their properties," said NSW Minister for Primary Industries Katrina Hodgkinson.

"Foxes are not companion animals - this pest control order sends the clear message that they are pests, not pets," she said.

"Foxes cause extensive damage for livestock producers, with studies showing lamb losses to fox predation can be as high as 30%."

Wildlife 'devastated'

People who currently keep foxes in captivity will have to apply for a permit.

Continued ...

Fox Invasion Threatens Wave of Extinction in Tasmania

ScienceDaily (Dec. 4, 2012) — The effort to stop the irreversible spread of foxes in Tasmania is at a critical stage with many native species at risk of extinction, new research by University of Canberra ecologists and their collaborators published in the British Ecological Society’s Journal of Applied Ecology shows.

Using DNA detection techniques developed at the University, the team mapped the presence of foxes in Tasmania, predicted their spread and developed a model of their likely distribution as a blueprint for fox eradication, but swift and decisive action is needed.

University of Canberra professor in wildlife genetics and leader of the team, Stephen Sarre, found foxes are widespread in northern and eastern Tasmania and the model developed by his team forecasts they will spread even further with likely devastating consequences for the island’s wildlife.

“There’s nothing fantastic about foxes being in Tasmania. If we allow them to establish themselves we could see a catastrophic wave of extinction across the island,” Professor Sarre said.

“This research shows foxes are on the verge of becoming irreversibly present in Tasmania,” he said. “Their apparent widespread distribution indicates that the eradication effort is at a critical point and that there is no time to lose.”

Professor Sarre and colleagues used forensic DNA tests combined with collections of fox scats to detect and map the distribution of the predator in Tasmania.

Read more:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/12/121204112020.htm

Wildwood welcomes new red fox

Wildwood is pleased to welcome Baxter, our new red fox.

The new addition brings number of red foxes at Wildwood to 3 and Baxter is getting on well with his new acquaintances, Wildwood residents Ellie and Chris.

Baxter was brought to Wildwood by The Fox Project, a charity based in Kent and the South East that helps sick and injured foxes and abandoned cubs, providing for their care, treatment and rehabilitation back to the wild.

Baxter, a young male, was rescued by the Fox Project team after being found abandoned as a cub. They cared for him until he was strong enough to fend for himself but sadly he is not suitable to be returned to the wild so has been brought to Wildwood to live with our existing foxes.

Wildwood’s head keeper Paul Wirdnam said “Wildwood has worked with the Fox Project for a number of years, their team do a fantastic job have rehabilitated thousands of foxes just like Baxter. We are very proud to work with them”

Baxter is now on display in Wildwood’s specially designed red fox enclosure and is just one of the huge range of British animals that can be seen at the Wildwood Discovery Park, for more information visit the website at www.wildwoodtrust.org or telephone 01227 712 111

Wildwood is an ideal day out for all the family where you can come 'nose to nose' with British Wildlife. Wildwood offers its members and visitors a truly inspirational way to learn about the natural history of Britain by actually seeing the wildlife that once lived here, like the wolf, beaver, red squirrel, wild boar and many more.

Wildwood is situated close to Canterbury, just off the A291 between Herne Bay and Canterbury.

FACTS - Red Fox Vulpes vulpes

Recognition:

Reddish orange fur, small dog sized; thick bushy tail in winter
Head/body length: average 67-72cm for males; 62-67cm for females; tail about 40cm
Weight: average 6-7kg for males; 5-6kg for females.

General Ecology:

A highly adaptable species, found in nearly all habitats from salt marshes and sand dunes to the tops of mountains. In Britain, more than elsewhere in Europe, foxes have also adapted to life in urban surroundings.

Foxes hold territories, the size of which depends on habitat; they can be as small as 0.2 square kilometres in urban areas or up to 40 square kilometres in hill country. Each territory is occupied by a fox family group. These often consist of a pair - dog fox and vixen - and their cubs. However, in areas where foxes are not persecuted and where there is a plentiful supply of food, a family group may contain several adults.

Foxes have a very wide and varied diet. On salt marshes they eat crabs and dead seabirds, while in upland regions carrion may be important, particularly during the winter months. In lowland rural areas small mammals, especially field voles and rabbits, are the major source of food, with earthworms, beetles, fruit (particularly blackberries) and small birds also being eaten.

Urban foxes glean large amounts of food. Much of this is deliberately supplied by local householders, and is supplemented by scavenging from dustbins, birdtables and compost heaps. Unlike rural foxes, those living in some urban areas eat many small birds and feral pigeons.

Usually only one vixen in a group produces cubs, once a year in the spring. Litters average four to five cubs which are born blind and deaf in a den (called an earth). The earth may be dug by the foxes, or they may enlarge a rabbit burrow or use holes made by other animals. In urban areas cubs are often born under garden sheds. A vixen stays in the earth with her cubs for the first two weeks of their lives. At about four weeks old, usually in late April or early May, cubs begin to come into the open, when they are often seen by city householders.

Foxes generally do not live very long; although they have been recorded up to nine years old in the wild, most survive only one or two years.

Conservation:

Foxes have little legal protection. In some areas they are subjected to much persecution including shooting, hunting, being snared and dug out with terriers and caught with lurchers (fast, long-legged dogs). Self-locking snares and gin traps, both of which were once used to catch foxes, have been outlawed. Free running snares are legal, but they must be inspected at least once a day. These humanitarian provisions are the sole protection received by foxes.

Despite their lack of protection foxes are widespread and abundant. The success of the fox is due to its adaptability and it is in no need of active conservation measures. There remain about 190 fox hunts in England and Wales, but these probably kill a small proportion of foxes compared to those captured in snares and killed by other means. In the early 1980s many foxes were killed each year for their fur, most of which was exported to West Germany. However, with the decline in fur prices, this trade has decreased substantially.

Fox lived in the Shard skyscraper at London Bridge

Romeo has now been released on the streets of Bermondsey

24 February 2011

A fox has been discovered living at the top of the UK's tallest skyscraper.

The animal, named Romeo by staff, is thought to have entered the 288m (945ft) Shard building at London Bridge through the central stairwell.

It survived by eating scraps of food left by builders working on the incomplete structure.

The fox was captured and taken to Riverside Animal Centre in Wallington where it was fed and given a check-up.

Ted Burden, the centre's founder, said: "We explained to him that if foxes were meant to be 72 storeys off the ground, they would have evolved wings.

"We think he got the message and, as we released him back on to the streets of Bermondsey shortly after midnight on Sunday, he glanced at the Shard and then trotted off in the other direction."

'Resourceful little chap'

Barrie Hargrove, cabinet member for transport, environment and recycling at Southwark Council, said: "Romeo has certainly been on a bit of a jaunt and proved rather elusive.

"But I'm glad our pest control officers were able to help out.

"He's obviously a resourceful little chap, but I'm sure he's glad the adventure is over and hopefully he'll steer well clear of skyscrapers in the future."

The Shard overtook Canary Wharf as the UK's highest tower block last year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-12573364

Man's First Best Friend Might Have Been A Fox

by NPR Staff
February 19, 2011

In a dusty, ancient burial site in northern Jordan, archaeologists have made a startling discovery: a fox buried alongside human remains.

It seems some 16,000 years ago, several millennia before any animals were domesticated, humans may have been making an early attempt to keep pets. Red foxes, to be precise.

It's a surprising find, Cambridge researcher Lisa Maher tells NPR's Linda Wertheimer. "When we were first excavating the site, we thought it might have been a dog," she says. It wasn't until her team analyzed the animal's remains that it realized it was a fox.

That the fox was a pet is only one of several possibilities, however. It may instead have had totemic or spiritual significance to the culture. But Maher's team compared the burial site to sites from 4,000 years later, when domesticated dogs did accompany human burials. The similarities suggest "that it probably was a more emotional relationship of one particular fox to one particular person," she says.

Those similarities are also significant because they highlight a continuity in mortuary practices through time, Maher adds. "We're seeing these things, these similarities in mortuary practices and relationships to humans and animals in a much greater time depth than we had previously."

If the fox were indeed a pet, it would be a pretty big deal. "It's certainly a big deal for prehistoric archeology," Maher says, "but it's also a big deal for how we understand human-animal relationships today and in the past."

http://www.npr.org/2011/02/19/133898499/mans-first-best-friend-might-have-been-a-fox

Red fox sighting may spur federal protection

By Michael Doyle
mdoyle@mcclatchydc.com
Published: Wednesday, Sep. 8, 2010 - 12:00 am | Page 3B
Last Modified: Wednesday, Sep. 8, 2010 - 1:55 pm

WASHINGTON – The rarely seen Sierra Nevada red fox could be the next candidate for federal protection – and perhaps controversy – now that one has been photographed prowling near Sonora Pass.

Last month, a remote camera set up by the Forest Service to monitor a bait station snapped a picture of the red fox, previously thought to be confined to the Lassen Volcanic National Park area, 150 miles away.

Saliva samples subsequently analyzed by a UC Davis team confirmed the red fox's identity.

"It looks like it may be an excellent candidate for listing," Lisa Belensky, senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, said in an interview Tuesday. "We're considering it."

John Buckley, director of the Twain Harte-based Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center, agreed Tuesday that "there is justification for listing (the fox) and having a recovery plan."

New Endangered Species Act listings are harder than ever to get, with the federal law remaining intensely controversial, its costs and consequences subject to question.

"Our state water supply has been hijacked by the radically irresponsible Endangered Species Act," Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, declared in one illustrative House speech last year.

Radanovich is retiring at the end of the year. His likely replacement, Republican state Sen. Jeff Denham of Merced, appears to share the Endangered Species Act skepticism commonly voiced by Radanovich and other Central Valley lawmakers.

Radanovich's 19th Congressional District includes Sonora and the Stanislaus National Forest, the region where scientists are now redoubling their efforts to find evidence of the Sierra Nevada red fox.

"Now there's proof, evidence that the fox's population has spread," Buckley said.

The tracks may eventually lead in several different directions.

Federal scientists can propose adding the fox to the endangered species list that currently numbers 1,959 plants and animals. The Fish and Wildlife Service currently identifies another 48 species that have been proposed for listing.

An additional 245 species are deemed "candidate" species. These are plants and animals deemed to be at risk but which are not added to the protected list because of what the Fish and Wildlife Service considers higher-priority obligations.

"There are species that sit on that candidate list for years and years," Belensky said.

http://www.sacbee.com/2010/09/08/3012009/red-fox-sighting-may-spur-federal.html

Scientists hail find of rare fox in Sierra Nevada

11:35 pm

RENO (AP) — Scientists are hailing the confirmed find of a Sierra Nevada red fox about 90 miles south of Reno, a native subspecies feared extinct in the range since the last verified sighting in 1990.

The fox was photographed Aug. 11 near Sonora Pass on the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest by a motion-activated camera set up by U.S. Forest Service employees monitoring the activities of other wildlife.

DNA testing of saliva samples from a chicken-filled sock at the site found the fox is most likely a member of a remnant population of the subspecies in the Sierra, said Ben Sacks, an assistant professor of biology at the University of California, Davis, who conducted the tests.

“This is the most exciting animal discovery we've had in California since the discovery of a wolverine in the Sierra two years ago,” Sacks said. “Only this time the unexpected critter turned out to be homegrown, which is truly big news.”

Researchers determined the wolverine wandered into the Sierra from the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho.

John Perrine, a biology professor at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, said it was the first confirmed sighting of the fox subspecies (Vulpes vulpes necator) in the Sierra since 1990 near Tioga Pass in Yosemite National Park.

“What's exciting is that it shows there are native mountain red foxes in the Sierra right now, which is something we didn't think were still there,” Perrine said. “We didn't have any evidence they were there and now we do.”

The DNA testing showed it's unlikely the fox wandered 150 miles south to Sonora Pass from a very small population of the subspecies around Lassen Peak in northern California, Perrine said.

The fox is genetically distinct from members of that group in the southern Cascade Range, he said. The fox carried a genetic signature seen previously only in three other foxes that were collected in the Sierra before 1926 and later became museum specimens, he added.

Sacks said he thinks other members exist of the subspecies known for its darker-colored, soft fur.

“There's a remote chance they were ready to blink out and we got the last one, but I think that's highly unlikely,” Sacks said. “There have to be other foxes out there in the Sierra.”

Scientists are unsure why the shy creature has declined in numbers. Environmental groups have blamed logging, livestock grazing and trapping.

California banned trapping of the foxes in 1974 and listed the animal as a threatened species in 1980. The Forest Service lists it as a sensitive species in California.

Perrine said evidence indicates the subspecies warrants protection under the federal Endangered Species Act, but he thinks more research is needed to meet the burden of proof for such a listing.

“It's a special, unique part of our natural heritage, and we know now that it's not totally gone,” he said. “We have an opportunity to protect it for the future.”

Rachel Mazur, wildlife biologist for the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, said cameras will be set up in a wider area around Sonora Pass in an effort to learn more about the animal.

“To us, it's definitely a species of concern,” she said. “It's as rare as you can get when you only know of one member of a subspecies.”

http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20100905/NEWS/100909767/1064/NEWS

Carnivorous mammals track fruit abundance

Photo: Minette Layne

14-Jun-2010

The scientific community already knew that many carnivores eat fruit, but had thought this was something purely anecdotal. Now researchers from the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) have shown that carnivorous animals such as foxes and martens play an important role in helping fruiting plants to reproduce and disperse their seeds.

Far from viewing the relationship between carnivorous mammals and plants as irrelevant, a team of researchers from the USC studied how foxes and (Vulpes vulpes) and the European pine marten (Martes martes) consumed the fruit of the rowan tree (Sorbus aucuparia) in the Cordillera Cantábrica mountain range, and found that both species were capable of tracking yearly differences in the abundance of rowan fruit in Cantabrian forests, and in addition showed a marked preference for the most productive trees.

"Carnivores are not indifferent to seasonal and spatial variations in the amount of fruit they can obtain from the rowan tree", Ignacio Munilla, co-author of the study and a researcher at the USC' Department of Botany, tells SINC.

The study, published in the journal Acta Oecologica, suggests that some of the ecological paradigms about seed dispersal developed in tropical environments should be reconsidered for temperate climates. Munilla says: "The rowan is important to carnivores and carnivores are important to the rowan".

The rowan appears at altitudes of over 1,000 metres in the mountains of the Cordillera Cantábrica, and is a pioneer species that colonises secondary scrub and "prepares the way towards mature forest".

"Given its abundance and wide distribution, the rowan is a very important resource in European forests, from the mountains of the south of the continent right up to Scandinavia", says José Guitián, another co-author of the report and a researcher at the Department of Cell Biology and Ecology of the USC.

However, the amount of fruit this tree produces varies widely from year to year. Periods without any fruit alternate with years of extremely abundant harvests with more than 50,000 fruits per tree. Despite these enormous year-on-year fluctuations, a study over an uninterrupted test series of 11 years into the significance of the rowan in the diet of the fox and marten compared with the environmental abundance of this resource showed that both factors – harvest and consumption – followed very similar patterns.

Monitoring of 20 trees

The same research team also carried out another study published in the same article, in which they monitored 20 rowan trees over 10 days and nights. They found that carnivores visited the 10 trees with the largest fruit production most often, picking up fallen fruit and helping to disperse the seeds.

"The probability of a tree being visited by a carnivore seemed to depend directly on the number of fruits that had fallen below it. The carnivores went off with a considerable proportion of the fallen fruit (much more than the amount destroyed by rodents during the same period)", says Guitián.

The carnivores also help the rowan to thrive by dispersing the seeds contained inside the fruits that fall from the tree.

According to the researchers, the rowan-fox-marten system could be important in mountain ecosystems on the Iberian Peninsula. In addition, the fruit falling under the mother plant may not necessarily represent a failure in terms of dispersal "since there could be a high likelihood of these seeds being mobilised by carnivores".

###

References:

Guitián, J.; Munilla, I. "Responses of mammal dispersers to fruit availability: Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) and carnivores in mountain habitats of northern Spain". Acta Oecologica 36: 242-247, 2010. doi:10.1016/j.actao.2010.01.005

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-06/f-sf-cmt061410.php
(Submitted by Chad Arment)

Trapped foxes freed with washing liquid

Monday, April 19 2010, 17:12 BST
By Mayer Nissim, Entertainment Reporter

Three red fox cubs who became trapped in a drain have been set free with the aid of washing liquid.

The creatures were trapped in a grate in Plainfield, Connecticut when their mewing was heard by nearby residents, Rex Features reports.

Firefighters, police and an animal welfare officer arrived on the scene but did not have the appropriate tools to cut the metal to release the cubs.

Vaseline and corn oil proved ineffective in freeing the foxes, but animal control officer Karen Stone freed them with the aid of washing up liquid.

"Except for being a little soapy, I think they were okay," she said.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/odd/news/a215265/trapped-foxes-freed-with-washing-liquid.html

RSPCA foxed by 'puppies'

RSPCA workers were shocked when five tiny 'puppies' dumped in a plastic bag in London turned out to be fox cubs.


A passer-by found the tiny quintet in a garden in Stoke Newington and rushed them to the RSPCA Harmsworth Animal Hospital.




At first it was thought that the black bundles of fur were Staffordshire bull terrier puppies.

The reality, however, proved to be something slightly wilder - they are in fact fox cubs.

Just where there mother is and how they came to be dumped in a plastic bag remains a mystery.

One thing however is certain; if the cubs hadn't been discovered when they were they would certainly have died.

RSPCA officer Greg Hagen added: "We are also worried about their mother as she could also be suffering."

The little foxes - called Buddy, Bobby, Tony, Elliot and Lulu - are now being looked after by Lyn Vaughan at her home in Surrey.

The kind volunteer fosters injured and orphaned foxes for the Fox Project Charity and is a pro when it comes to feeding hungry cubs.

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_3736377.html?menu=news.quirkies.animaltales

Man accused of spraying protesters with fox urine

The Associated Press
Tuesday, January 19, 2010; 8:31 PM

PORTLAND, Maine -- A 36-year-old Maine man facing assault charges after allegedly spraying fox urine on protesters and a police officer outside a Portland restaurant. Police said the man was arrested Sunday night after spraying a group outside The Front Room restaurant protesting what they call labor violations. Restaurant owner Harding Lee Smith was the target of a lawsuit claiming he's been violating state and federal wage and hour rules.

Police said the suspect lives in an apartment above the restaurant, but does not work there. Smith told The Portland Daily Sun that Murphy might have been reacting to the protests that have been taking place outside his restaurant.

Fox urine is commonly used as a repellant to keep animals out of people's gardens.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/19/AR2010011903594.html
(Submitted by Robert Schneck)

Alan & Fleck have an "Arctic Fox" of a time

There are two particular residents of Kent who have been enjoying the cold snowy conditions more than anyone else.

Wildwoods resident Arctic foxes have been feeling right at home as snow blankets their enclosure making them truly feel they are in the arctic.

During the rest of the year Alan and his daughter Fleck find modern Britain a bit on the warm side but in the winter they really perk up.

Arctic foxes are natives of the cold arctic regions of Northern Europe and can cope with temperatures as low as -50 degrees Celsius. Once a British species they became extinct in the UK after the last ice age - mainly killed by man for food and fur.

Arctic Foxes are just one of the huge range of British animals that can be seen at the Wildwood Discovery Park, for more information visit the website at http://www.wildwoodtrust.org/ or telephone 0871 7820087.

Wildwood is an ideal day out for all the family where you can come 'nose to nose' with British Wildlife. Wildwood offers its members and visitors a truly inspirational way to learn about the natural history of Britain by actually seeing the wildlife that once lived here, like the wolf, beaver, red squirrel, wild boar and many more.

Wildwood is situated close to Canterbury, just off the A291 between Herne Bay and Canterbury. For more information visit our website at http://www.wildwoodtrust.org/ or telephone 0871 782008.
Arctic Fox Facts

• Arctic fox a member of the order Carnivora and is one of 14 fox species in the dog family, the Canidae.



• Foxes, unlike wolves, share many traits with cats – highly sensitive whiskers on their muzzles and wrists, lighter, more agile bodies, partially retractable claws, they stalk and pounce and have soft toe pads and hair between their toes (thought to be adaptations for sneaking up on rodents), and pointier cat-like canines for efficient killing.



• One suggestion for these adaptations is that Nature came up with common solutions to common problems; another is that the fox’s cat-like features were inherited from an ancient ancestor that lived before the cat-dog split.



• Intelligent and adaptable, brazen and curious.



• It will defend its food against a marauding wolf, explore the deck of an icebound ship and stick its nose in an explorer’s tent.



• Generally a solitary predator, hunting and feeding alone, unlike its more sociable cousins, the wolf and the dog; largely nocturnal.



• The Sami people of northern Scandanavia call it svale – the bold one.



• Its range is circumpolar, everywhere north of the Arctic Circle – US northern tundra, Canada from the Yukon to Hudson Bay, Labrador and Baffin Island, Norway, Sweden, Finland and northern Russia, plus almost all Arctic islands and the polar ice cap (explorers have found Arctic fox tracks within a few miles of the North Pole itself).



• Some foxes stay in the same area throughout their lives; others undertake epic journeys of thousands of miles.



• Population estimates vary between 300,000-1 million worldwide, but the number is considered irrelevant because populations reproduce and die in dramatic waves (boom and bust). The important consideration is that the species survives successfully on such an extreme environment.

Adaptation

• Almost every aspect of Arctic fox physiology is finely tuned to conserve heat energy.



• The Arctic fox breaks some of the key rules of biology: 1) that larger animals have an easier time in cold conditions because a large body has a smaller surface area, relative to its body mass (i.e. heat doesn’t leave a bulky mass as fast as it does a small one) and 2) Allen’s Rule - after zoologist Joel Allen – which states that warm-blooded animals living in cold environments tend to have shorter limbs and more compact bodies.



• The Arctic fox is tiny and combines long legs and a slender body with a flatter face and shorter ears.



• Its circulation is designed to conserve heat loss. The arteries and veins in the animal’s extremities are very close together, transferring heat energy from the outgoing warmed arterial blood to the incoming veins, before it can be lost in the outer extremities. So the blood in the feet and extremities is a lot cooler and the warm blood is kept circulating in the core areas of the head and torso, conserving heat. Rather than heat the whole house, the Arctic fox closes the door on those areas than can withstand a lower blood temperature. Caribou/reindeer do the same.



• It can also shrink the blood vessels leading to its skin to control heat loss.
  
  This means its paws in particular can be maintained at just above the point at which they would succumb to frostbite, well below the animal’s core body temperature.



• Why is this cold tolerance so amazing?
  
  Scientists regard the Arctic fox’s cold tolerance with awe, especially as instead of using shelter as they are usually out in the open, curled in a ball, against the worst Arctic blizzards.
  
  The fox is dealing with the following problems:
  
  
  • a difference in temperature between its blood and the air around it of perhaps 100ºC
  
  
  
  • a barren Arctic environment with little food
  
  
  
  • no behaviour changes to cope with the cold – it doesn’t hibernate, migrate or socialise to huddle together and conserve heat
  
  
  
  • its size is tiny – it’s the smallest tundra animal living out in the open in winter (an adult Arctic fox weighs just 3.5Kg, compared with an Arctic hare which weighs 50% more).
• Scientists say the Arctic fox is pushing animal life as far as it can go.



• Many of the other Arctic species are considered cheaters – they have evolved to avoid the cold rather than endure it. Many bird species migrate south to avoid the worst of the Arctic winter and small mammals like lemmings survive by spending the entire winter in a relatively warm network of tunnels under the snow.

Christmas dinners for the animals at Wildwood

As we all rush around trying to find a Christmas Turkey and plan the most important meal of the year, the keepers at Wildwood have been creating their own recipes to give the animals in the park a special treat. Feeding time is like stepping into the kitchen of a London restaurant with stacks of fresh fruit, vegetables and meat being prepared to the highest standards.

Pomegranates, bananas, oranges and clementines are just a few of the healthy options that greet the smaller mammals and birds this Christmas, ‘It gives them something to work on,’ said Christine, one of Wildwood’s keepers, ‘especially the pomegranates where they have to think about how they are going to get at the seeds.’ But there are a few treats in store as well, as the occasional doughnut can be seen inside the Fallow Deer Paddock.

Though Wildwood buys in a much of the food it uses for the animals it also receives donations of out of date food from a supermarket.

‘We are lucky that Sainsburys is very generous to us with their donations of out of date food’ commented Martyn Nicholls, Head of Press and Marketing in the park. ‘In these difficult times they have really made a difference to our animals.’

Wildwood is only closed on Christmas and Boxing day and will be open over the rest of the Christmas holiday so why not walk off your Christmas dinner around the park?

Wildwood's 'Wildlife Conservation Park' is an ideal day out for all the family where you can come 'nose to nose' with British wildlife. Wildwood offers its members and visitors a truly inspirational way to learn about the natural history of Britain by actually seeing the wildlife that once lived here, like the wolf, beaver, red squirrel, wild boar and many more.

Wildwood is situated close to Canterbury, just off the A291 between Herne Bay and Canterbury. 01227 712111, www.wildwoodtrust.org.

Christmas food facts

Eating mince pies at Christmas dates back to 16th century Britain, where it is still believed that to eat a mince pie on each of the Twelve Days of Christmas will bring 12 happy months in the year to follow.

At lavish Christmas feasts in the Middle Ages, swans and peacocks were sometimes served for dinner.

A traditional Christmas dinner in early England was the head of a pig prepared with mustard.

The Christmas turkey first appeared on English tables in the 16th century, but didn't immediately replace the traditional fare of goose, beef or boar's head in the rich households.

In Victorian England, turkeys were popular for Christmas dinners. Some of the birds were raised in Norfolk, and taken to market in London. To get them to London, the turkeys were supplied with boots made of sacking or leather. The turkeys were then walked to market. The boots protected their feet from the frozen mud of the road. Boots were not used for geese: instead, their feet were protected with a covering of tar.

During the Christmas season, over 1.76 billion candy canes will be produced. Candy canes started out as straight white sticks of sugar candy used to decorate Christmas trees. A choirmaster at Cologne Cathedral decided have the ends bent to depict a shepherd's crook and he would pass them out to the children to keep them quiet during the services. It wasn't until about the 20th century that candy canes acquired their red stripes and if you turn it upside down, it becomes the letter J symbolizing the first letter in Jesus' name.

In Armenia, the traditional Christmas Eve meal consists of fried fish, lettuce, and spinach. The meal is traditionally eaten after the Christmas Eve service, in commemoration of the supper eaten by Mary on the evening before Christ's birth.

In the Ukraine, they bake a traditional Christmas bread called "kolach". This bread is braided into a ring, and three such rings are placed one on top of the other, with a candle in the centre of the top one. The three rings symbolize the Holy Trinity. They also set the table for Christmas Eve dinner with two tablecloths: one for the ancestors of the family, the other for the living members as in pagan times, ancestors were believed to be benevolent spirits who, when shown respect, brought good fortune.

The Ukrainians also prepare a traditional twelve-course meal at Christmas time. A family's youngest child watches through the window for the evening star to appear, a signal that the feast can begin.

Deaf fox cub learns sign language

AN ABANDONED deaf fox cub has apparently learned sign language from her 'Doctor Dolittle' owner. Devon animal lover Beth Tyler-King says she uses hand signals to get the fox to obey basic commands. 'To get her to sit, I put my palm out facing downwards to say "sit" and she does it. When she is being naughty I waggle my finger at her.' Ms Tyler-King was keen to adopt the cub as she too is deaf. 'She couldn't have come to a better person,' she said.

Metro Ireland, 17 December 2009, p4.