In case anyone needs this in future as mange has been reported in a fox from St Werburgh's...
eBay - ebec16 theEbay seller I purchased the last two non working cameras from asked for video from the not working cameras then when I responded told me they were on holiday.
Today I got their response:
Dear ,
Good day.
Thank you so much for spending time to deal with this issue with us.
We will respect your final decision for sending this item back.
GCReturnG279
Unit 1 Common Lane, Fradley Park,
Lichfield,
Staffordshire,
The United Kingdom,
WS13 8NQ
I sign my emails so "Dear," and MY 'decision' to return the cameras -two bus trips to the local Post Office and in the middle of lockdown? Quite obviously Lichfield is a warehouse and these people are in China.
My advice is NEVER buy from them.
Obviously with the UK Fox, Wild and Feral Cats as well as EAR work ongoing it reached a stage where what was required was more photographic/video evidence to assess. There is no funding for such a project and there were other things that needed consideration when purchasing trail cams on a low budget.
I hear from other naturalists and they have had a number of set up cameras stolen. Second cameras as well as talking to locals revealed that badger baiters, poachers and those involved with fox hunt groups were removing such cameras. The reasons why they do this I will leave up to the reader's own mind. However, it goes on and obviously these cameras can be resold by the thieves.
Spending £70-£120 ($98 -$167) on a single camera to have it stolen and then get it replaced is not something 99% of naturalists could ever afford (police and insurance companies will tell you that if you put something out away from your property then if it gets stolen you can't go crying for help or compensation).
As my budget is very limited despitre the results of the work I have carried out so far I needed a good camera and as there are properties that would require several cameras to be placed I was happy when someone recommended this camera:
| MPN: | Does Not Apply | Features: | 1080p HD Video Recording |
| Tripping Time: | 1s | Image Sensor: | 3MP color CMOS |
| Type: | Wildlife | Material: | ABS |
| Video Rresolution: | FHD 1920x1080P 25FPS | Megapixels: | 1.2MP |
| Working Mode: | 3Photos + 10sVideo | Model: | PR100 |
Seemed fair enough and at £25 it was worth a try. I got one and tried it in rain, fog, sleet, clear weather and so on. Worked. Good clear images and video. Therefore I purchased a second one; this one did not work and the seller vanished off Ebay (suprise). I tried everything suggested online and it worked....for a week.
I went to another seller and purchased two since they were recommended and "based in the UK", which I later found out meant a Chinese company with a warehouse in the UK.
The above photo shows 5 trail cams and an investment of over £100. I bought the first in July 2020, the second in August and the last ones in October 2020. Out of 5 cameras only 2 work and one of those is not that great.
Now, I changed batteries -three different brands and each time a new set. Never worked. I changed the micro SD card (oh, yes, that's another £25 to add to that £100) but nothing.
Complaining after initially pointing out the faults to the seller has resulted in a request for a video from the camera to see what might be wrong -when they were told the camera was not working and if a camera does not work then you CANNOT get a video from it. Then I was told everyone was off on holiday but they 'really' wanted to help.
Not one seller has ever replaced a faulty camera or offered money back. Once I find out what the currentoutcome will be I shall post the names of the sellers so you can avoid them.
Really, if you are a naturalist or areeven thinking of one of these cameras for home security I could not recommend them, especially if the seller just wants your money and there is no after sales service.
I was looking at a more expensive camera but I'm reliably informed that the camera in qurestion and others are Chinese made and basically not much different.
My eight months of camera trials have not gone well.
The below map is a general one and without the guide to what each colour signifies (species) it will not be of much help other than to show that there are cluster areas which may indicate that what we thought about non native cats in the UK is wrong. Species are being misidentified on a regular basis.
As noted previously, this needs much more field work and preparation before that (once the current lockdown is out of the way trail cams etc need to be positioned) which has hit a concrete wall due to no funding.
Other maps show much clearer data and added to photographic and video evidence the EAR has the results would completely re-write the book on UK "non native" cats....or woulddo.
In 1977 I began looking into reports of “big cats” on the
loose in the
From the very outset of the EAR as well as the Fox Project
the help of local people and media from
The work covers feral domestic cats as well as large “exotic
species” such as lynx and puma. In particular the work revealed in the 1990s
that wild cats (Felis silvestris) had been released in pairs around the
The Fox study is currently looking at the size and coat colouration around the country.
Back when the project started there were no phone cameras, trail cams and even video cameras were a rarity. Both projects are currently beginning a new phase and I would very much like to hear from people (although anonymity is guaranteed I cannot accept anonymous submissions due to past hoaxing) who have seen large or unusual cats, photographed or video recorded them. The same applies to unusually coloured foxes.
The basic details I need are name and address (confidential) and date and time of the sighting/photograph/video.
I can be contacted via email at: earpol@yahoo.co.uk or by letter at EAR/FP c/o
All help and information is welcome –Thank You
Terry Hooper-Scharf
Coordinator EAR/Fox and Hybrid Project
Find out more
https://exoticanimalsregister.blogspot.com/2020/11/projects-surveys.html
There was a naturalist, rather sceptical when it came to reports of non natvice cats in the UK. I would mention a report to him and he would tell me how unreliable witnesses were and say Probably a large house cat".
I promised him never to give out his name because of what he saw.
He had gone up to Scotland to visit a friend who offered to take him to one of the best fishing spots around. So he drove to Scotland, had a pleasant day talking over work with the friend and then one morning he was taken to the fishing spot. Apparently secluded, surrounded by bushes and woodland. His friend remembered that there was a call coming through that morning so had to rush off. The naturalist (who was a Professor of biology by the way) sat back and soon caught a big fish that he knew his friend would be envious of so put it on a nearby bag.
Apart from birdsong it was quiet. Very relaxing. Then there was a rustle in bushes to his rear and in his mind it was either his friend returning or a fox unaware he was there. "I can hear you. I know you are there" he said. No response but he heard a movement so just glanced to one side. He froze. Walking casually toward the bag with the fish on it was a puma: "Biggest bloody cat I've ever seen. Male -I noticed that as he walked off!" The puma ignored him, picked up the fish and walked off. About 2o seconds all together and not long after the man's friend returned and saw a very ashen faced naturalist frozen to the spot.
He eventually explained to his friend what had happened. Huge laugh -"BIGGEST fish caught? Taken by a bigger cat?" All weekend that joke was repeated. I kept professional chatting to him while wanting to yell "Nah-nah-nah-nah-nah!". He described a puma in every detail and when he told his boss he was told "Yes. Let's keep that to ourselves shall we? We need those grants to keep coming in!"
I was then contacted by a zoologist who had been studying puma on Vancouver Island. As he put it "Trying to study them" -they knew the cats were there, saw the occasional tracks and heard the odd vocalisation but in a year he had not seen one. Travelling along the road one day in good clear and sunny weather he was driving casually taking in the view and fresh air. Glancing out of the car window he saw something move into sight. He slowed down and watched as an adult puma casually strolled along a field some 200 yards away until it moved into some trees. The zoologist then carried on for about half a mile before braking and said out loud "Wait. That is not right!"
The man had flown from Canada the day before, hired a car and was still in the "I'm in Canada" mindset when he saw the cat -in the Scottish Highlands. Hence his sudden braking. "I was going to tell the team I'm finally seen one of the damned cats then realised where I was" he told me.
So what about a sernior lecturer in zoology who had been involved in puma work in the US and Canada who, "in perfect viewing conditions", stops his slow moving car as a black puma steps out into the road, stops, looks at him before moving on? He told me how he sat in thecar and noticed each diagnostic feature of a puma and once it had moved off he got out of the car and took road and barrier measurements to get an idea of size. A biologist, who refused flatly to talk to the zoologist whose word was not in question, told me "Oh, he probably saw a panther!" To this the zoologist asked me to get the biologist to talk to him (he wouldn't): "If I had seen a leopard I would never have gotten out of my car afterwards to make measurements. A puma is a puma and a leopard a leopard!"
One biologist told me that he was at a farm one day and a faremer had shown him a deer carcasse. "It looked typical large cat kill" he told me. The farmer had seen the cat in question. Two other men present said "Oh that's dog attack -you can claim on your insurance and we'll back you up on that. Not a cat" As they uttered those words (making it clear that if the farmer wanted his compensation they would back that...as long as it was a 'dog attack') some 50 yards away "The biggest black cat I've ever seen in my life walked across the path ahead of us." Thetwo sceptics rushed off to their cart and refused to acknowledge what they had seen. Those men were from DEFRA.
Members of badger watch groups -including some well known naturalists- have seen these cats. Some have been sighted in an area for 15-20 years indicating that there are offspring (as I've proven). There are five (5) areas where I received unconnected reports from and discovered that not just the current generation of parents were telling their children what to do if they see a "large cat" but that they were taught this by their parents who had been taught by THEIR parents and this led back to the 1920s/1930s. At one point I had 4 people from different parts of the same village report a large cat to me (no, I did not tell them WHO else had reported the cat).
It takes decades to start finding these things out and only then after people who are protecting the existence of these animals -farmers, estate owners, game keepers, country shooters and many others- have checked me out. Even then it is not unknown for me to be told "you had better NOT tell anyone else!"
I found that the British Naturalists Association (f 1905) knew about the cats. The National Farmers Union knew about the cats. Police forces and other official bodies knew about the cats so why does DEFRA lie while killing any "exotic" they can?
I have studied the data going back to the 19th century and the existence of "exotics" -cat or otherwise- has had no detrimental effect on "natural" fauna -in fact it has had positive effects in many cases. Apart from a few hoaxes no human being has been injured or seriously harmed by a free living "exotic" in the UK going back to the19th century.
Wildlife tourism could well be very profitable for the economy. Hiring people to hunt or trap and kill exotics is very expensive and is an openly known fact to everyone but the public.
The United Kingdom needs to once and forall stop wanton killing of these animals. With millions or rabbits and deer many of the species that have become native after a very long time are good at "pest control".
Like the fact that the UK had a rather barbaric fur industry until recent years is being whiote-washed so is the killing of many exotic species each year. Introduced or not: it is still an evolutionary process taking place and it has balanced out well.
Ask your MP to stop the exotic (some times exotic pets are killed, too) killing in the UK.
I first began work on the Fox
and feral cats project in 1977, the same year that I began looking into reports
of non native cat species which led to the Exotic Animals Register (EAR).
Since that time I have
invested thousands of pounds because, as a naturalist, there were no funds
available. Funds tend to be reserved for university associated zoologists (who
don’t have to worry about paying the bills and research –most have well paid
jobs anyway). Like many naturalists before me I suffered the indignity of the
professionals using my data without credit. Naturalists working out in the
field and conducting studies is how the professionals have always gotten their
base data anyway; that is how things work. Being labelled a “noted naturalist”
has negative financial reward.
I made a number of
discoveries pertaining to the history of the fox in the
Oddly, thanks to information
passed along to me it is also possible that I have identified a formerly
unknown squid species.
The EAR became the public
face of my work as from 1977-2013 (and occasionally still) I became an exotic
animals consultant to UK police forces and began getting results that were not
acceptable to the Department of Environment Farming and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)
who made sure that, despite objections from the chief constables of two police
forces, I was no longer on the list of experts (Partners Against Wildlife
Crime).
The amount of evidence, from
the scientific investigation of teeth markings on carcasses, teeth measurements
taken from horses and other animals attacked, the kills themselves as well as
tracks and DNA, is such that it proves non native cats are in the UK and have
been in some cases going back to the 19th century. Because of DEFRAs kill policy as well as
illegal hunt groups (my life has been threatened several times) the locations
of known cat and other animals territories has remained a closely guarded
secret. I have the affidavits proving that “exotics” have been trapped and then
killed as well as statements from farmers who were visited by men in white vans
to remove suspected big cat kills on ‘my’ behalf –needless-to-say this had
nothing to do with me and it was confirmed (in error) that these pick-ups were
organised by DEFRA.
Habitat, found sources and
much more have been studied over the years and it gives a complete picture of
what is going on. I have spoken to a good few sources who protect non native
cats on estates, etc, as they are “tremendous vermin controllers” –squirrels,
rabbits, etc. also “Since the cat has been in the area the deer herd is much
stronger and we don’t see much disease or weakened animals as before”.
This research also led to two
discoveries: the first is the “Hooper cat”; I received a message from a police
officer in
The other discovery is very
significant. Initially I had wondered whether the “Hooper Cats” were melanistic
individuals from other cat species but though possible in some cases (in fact
it seems likely) it was ruled out but on cross-checking
And more is being discovered
about the history of foxes in the
Here is where the problem
starts. Finance. I have an aging PC that constantly breaks down and in this day
and age a computer is a necessity (though I always keep hard copies of data) –as
is a scanner and, although I have invested in three such items trail cams are
required for field work. There are other things that need to be paid for to
continue the projects and there are no grants available or universities and
colleges willing to accepts the project as part of its structure.
Funding is needed and I had
hoped that The Red Paper might have sold copies to bring in revenue but
interest in it is zero at best.
At the top right you will
find a PayPal Me donation box, although I would sooner people buy a book to
support the ongoing work so they have something tangible for their money, there
is that option IF you want to donate.
As it stands 2021 is going to
be a year where most everything stops because I am plain run out financially.
That’s it. Thank you for reading
this post.
As all of the blogs -EAR and Fox, Wild Cats and Hybrids have been going a few years now and no one seems interested I am movng them to Private which means you will need to join in future.
Unfortunately, we live in a society where stealing private information as well as information from groups is common practice. I in no way what-so-ever support the hunting, trapping or DEFRA killing of exotic species in the YUK that have been here long enough to become native species and if after more than 40 years my research has shown that they have caused no harmful environmental effects (in fact farmers and even game keepers n some areas state the opposite) then they should be left alone.
By the time I had drawn up my Wild Cats, ferals and Hybrids paper in 1999 (pub. 2000) I had gathered a lot of data but there were projects that I wanted to undertake but were beyond my -I'll laughingly call it- "my short pockets"
____________________________________________________________________
My post on why a black puma is/was not impossible was removed for a very simple reason and I have been chided with claims that I have "reconsidered" my claims. Firstly, it is quite obvious that those doing the chiding missed out on grabbing the article for themselves and hope that I can be bullied into re-posting it and they can then get it. No.
My decision was made at 0340 hrs when I finally decided that decades of having my original research stolen and used by others as their own work without even crediting me. The post (in print form) comes to over 20 pages. In fact, that is a piddling number of pages considering the witness testimony (including from one senior lecturer in zoology who had worked with pumas).
My intention is to put all of this together and those seriously interested in the subject rather than wanting to sensationalise material, can buy copies and help me cover the work as well as eat! Since 1975 I have spent many thousands before and after the creation of the Exzotic Animals Register (EAR). You will see why I get miffed at people using my work for their own gain.
Next, Swansea University and the Exotic Cat Group headed by Prof. Alayne Street-Perrott. I worked with Prof Street-Perrott from 2005-2011 regarding non native cat species in the UK. I had considered her a friend but my problem is with the cutting off all communication without any explanation. I see that as a personal slap in the face.
Regarding Prof. Street-Perrott's work with the ECG and research I could not praise her highly enough. She put a great deal of work into historical research as well as into technical paper presentation. Prof. Street-Perrott also did a great deal of field work and examined and recorded much evidence that cannot be refuted regarding the existence of non native cat species. For this she will always receive my highest praise (which is very hard to come by).
Alaric Smith who carried out much field work and research alspo receives praise from me for that. Again, the problem is that he suddenly just bailed out which may have put Prof. Street-Perrott "on the spot" -I have no idea- but certainly left me rather angry.
The work is not in question. It was exemplary. It is the sudden, almost out of character, behaviour from 2011 that I dislike.
Was, as has been suggested, political pressure put on Swansea University and Prof. Street-Perrott (feathers were ruffled at certain points particularly with the Chief Veterinary officer -although Defra only works directly in England, it works closely with the devolved administrations in Wales) to cease and desist in the work I have no idea. It would still not be an excuse to not just telephone and explain things or even respond to my letters or emails at the time -after all I was not about to go out declaring "cover-up and silencing" to the press!
The experience did make me decide to never assist or work with any such establishment again.
My first thought was that this was a silly story and after a lot of consideration I decided it definitely WAS a silly story. A dad drops h...
