A defence of the fox in a PR war that the anti-fox lobby is definitely losing. The UK’s largest predator, a beautiful canid, the red fox, Vulpes vulpes, is a shining example of adaptive success. They are wonderful animals, a true blessing to see in our countryside and our urban environments, a great control of over-abundant rabbits and a consumer of our waste food saving us untold amounts of money on waste disposal. The fox still has a reputation, mainly due to a lobby determined to see it held up as a villain to justify their own bloodsport. Fox hunting is an abhorrent and unjustifiable practice that should be totally banned.
Author Archives: Karl Anthony Mercer
‘Just a Misunderstanding’ – Why do We Hate Some Animals?
A short exploration of the socio-cultural side of why we seem to hate some animals, using jellyfish, mosquitoes, spiders and wasps as examples.
Top Ten Hated (But Misunderstood) Animals: 8 – Wolf (Canis lupus)
It started out as a rehabilitation piece on wolves and ended up with me being a full blown wolf fantatic and begging for their reintroduction to the UK. Wolves are a fascinating species with an undeserved reputation for cruelty and violence. A smart, shy and social group of species, with a remarkable story written in their genome of migrations, troubles, bottlenecks and redistributions. I have developed a new-found love and respect for them in writing this article and, if you are wolf sceptic, I hope it will give you some new perspective, too.
Top Ten Hated (But Misunderstood) Animals – 9 – The Pigeon (Columba livia)
Considered a pest, often called ‘rats with wings’ and purged, poisoned, destroyed, shot, nests broken, removed and starved we have performed untold acts of cruelty on them. But do pigeons really deserve to be treated like that? They are successful because we taught them how to be, and give them an environment rich in all they need to exploit it and be successful. In my opinion pigeons are beautiful birds that deserve a lot more love and respect, and it is only their numerousness and their proximity that make them taken for granted.
Top Ten Hated (But Misunderstood) Animals: 10 – Bats (Order Chiroptera)
Bats! The order Chiroptera. Our mammalian cousins of-the-night, often considered a scary animal, associated with death, dark, withcraft and misfortune but are they really spooky? I argue no. They are a remarkably diverse order of species and even the spookiest of the bunch, the vampire bat, is a suprisingly conscientious and sharing species. So bats, some people may hate them but I think they’re just misunderstood.
Top Ten Hated (But Misunderstood) Animals: Introduction
A short introduction to our Most Hated (But Misunderstood) Animals Top Ten! Why are some animals hated? What lingering cultural superstitions cause us to wrongfully malign certain species? We intend to explore that in this list. This article mainly deals with what won’t be on the list! Including snakes, spiders, jellyfish and, specifically, the spotted hyena.
We Lack Discipline: 1st Quarter Review
A personal, quick catch up detailing what’s happening with the site, what the future might hold and thanking people for their support.
Sh*t and Chips – Is British Food Really Bad?
An op-ed on the reputation of British food and why it is undeserved. British food is not bad, it is a culinary traditional rooted in humble, traditional peasant fare, that when done wrong can be little more than stodgy fuel but executed correctly is some of the most marvellous, comforting food made with some of the finest ingredients in all the world.
Caturday Special: Feliformia, Hyaenidae and Crocuta crocuta
Exploring the spotted hyena, Crocuta crocuta and explaining how it is more closely related to cats than dogs, which may surprise some people. We also discuss their remarkable social intelligence, ability to cooperate and their very odd sexual habits and weird genitals. An interesting species that has an undeserved reputation for being a scrounger and a thief.
We Lack Discipline Preaches: Genesis (Ch. 12-17)
We analyse chapters 12-17 of the Book of Genesis in the bible and, it’s just a whole lot of Abram/Abraham.
