Natural History and wildlife work has no recognition

 I should not laugh really but at times I think people have great expectations beyond reality.

Someone asked whether I get recognition in some way (officially) for the work I have done regarding British wildlife?  Okay, so here is my serious response and please wait for the punchline at the end.

I got interested in foxes in 1974 but only decided to study them in 1976 when I set up the British Fox Study. From accepting dogma that the "little red dog" we see today I decided as an historian to look at all of the historical research I could. I found none. I then started studying newspaper archives and the old newspapers and journals. A brief mention led me in one direction where I found an item referring to something else I had never heard of. I questioned what I read and found a true history of foxes in the UK and Ireland and how we really did have three old types of fox. 

What I uncovered was described by the late David Bellamy (sadly he passed away before he could write a foreword for The Red Paper (2010)  which was described a "explosive" in how it tore apart what we have been told about foxes and the actual facts. In 2022 The Red Paper 2022 Vol. I: Canids was published and pushed our knowledge of foxes and other canids in the UK far beyond what the 2010 book did. 

I have also looked at fox welfare issues, the treatments available to foxes as well as mange in the UK. Educating people interested in foxes has at least turned some around to taking a more serious approach to fox watching and feeding as well as treatment of injuries, etc.

It was a very long and hard fight but I eventually got the approval to officially have post mortems carried out on certain foxes and what we have found out has been eye opening at times. The Bristol Fox Deaths Project is drawing to a conclusion after two years and was the first and only project in the UK.

I also maintain the Bristol Fox Deaths Register which contains reports of every fox found deceased within the City and County of Bristol so that we can assess the actual death toll along with cause of death.

The historical research is still not concluded and my colleague and Linnaen Society member, ML, has also contributed a great deal to this work by getting her hands on actual Old fox specimens. This study will continue as will my ongoing study of other canids world wide.

There is a lot more obviously including corresponding with naturalists/zoologists and museums in and outside  the UK - I have even discovered that Western Europe had its own Old fox type before the Red fox arrived. 

Since 1980s I also researched and studied wild cats not just in the UK but beyond and several of my hypothesese on certain island cats made in 2000 have recently been scientifically verified.

Again, the history of the wild cat in the UK and Ireland is complex. I found that what we are told today are Felis silvestris are not the original wild cats but imports and imports that were also released by 'sportsmen' in England. By the 1860s the true wild cat was gone in Scotland and that has been proven from decades of research and a declaration by Scottish zoologists in 1897. 

Museums, newspaper archives and much much were consulted and, again, my colleague ML managed to find some Old wild cat taxidermy. Much of this work is in my other 2022 book The Rede Paper 2022 Vol. II: Felids.

When the old Bristol Badger Group became defunct in the 1990s I took over and although Health and Safety in the UK will not allow post mortems of badgers I set up The Bristol Badger Death Register to record all deaths. Documenting badgers in Bristol as well as educating many both in the City and nationally on badger welfare and history has been a hard task. How badgers survived when foxes and wild cats did not because of persecution is another discovery that took years of work to find out.

I regularly post, often quite long and windy, items on foxes, badgers, wild cats and British wildlife and try to educate and push aside the dogma taught. 

Apart from this in 1976 I was, as a young naturalist, almost pushed into looking at reports of "British Big Cats" and in 1977 I set up the Exotic Animals Register (EAR) and became an exotic wildlife advisor to UK police forces and became a  member of PAWS (partners against wildlife crime). The EAR is still consulted today both by the public and press and police.

I now need to add that none of this was paid work. All expense4s were from my own pocket and often left me "financially embarrassed". 1976-2023 is a long time and, no, you do not get recognition for the work -I was once warned by an old naturalist that "being a naturalist will never make you financially well off" and he was right. I have carried out the field work and more research on wildlife than most zoologists and I do often wonder what a "normal" day would be like -perhaps get 6 hours sleep a day!

Here is where I show how little regard true naturalists are held in. Some 50 years of no-stop research and wildlife work and not even a pat on the head (but plenty of battles). Lavatory attendants (still an important job) have been awarded MBEs for 20 years work. That I think puts things into perspective 😂😂