“Compassion requires the judgment that there are serious bad things that happen to others through no fault of their own… The basic worth of a human being remains, even when the world has done its worst. But this does not mean that the human being has not been profoundly damaged, both outwardly and inwardly.”
— Martha Nussbaum, Upheavals of Thought (via philosophybits)
What are the physical distinctions between the North American Red Fox and the European Red Fox?
Typical European red fox;
Typical North American red fox;
The main differences are in the coat. Euro foxes have short, dense coats with a fairly coarse texture. Their coats are designed for a wet climate and I’ve seen rain literally run off a fox’s coat without getting them wet. North American reds have coats more designed for dealing with cold and snow. Their fur is longer and much finer and softer in texture. I have pelts of both European and a NA fox and the texture is noticeably very different.
Left is a European fox, right two NA foxes. Euro foxes are a little bigger than American ones and the colour tends to be a bit duller/darker with more frosting over the hindquarters. You don’t see many light coloured foxes like the western US one in Europe. Grey coated foxes are also common in Europe but rare/absent from American ones. Colour does vary a lot depending on region though. The cross morph is also does not occur naturally in European reds.
From what I understand, NA reds have shorter muzzles and ears, bigger, wider feet and their legs tend to be a bit longer than European foxes (although this varies by sub-species.) The black markings on the legs in Euro foxes tends not to extend more than half-way up the leg and is more of a very dark brown, whereas on American foxes the black often extends all the way up the leg. The exception are grey morph foxes which have more prominent black markings. In summer the black markings recede and fade in Euro foxes but often don’t in American reds. American reds also typically have bigger white tips to their tails and it’s common for European foxes to have black-tipped tails.
Like I said it does vary a lot depending on country/region. Eastern US reds are pretty different from Western reds and tend to have more features in common with Euro foxes (possibly due to releases of European foxes in those areas?) In Europe there can also be quite a bit of variation. Even in the UK, foxes from southern England are smaller and lighter in build than those in Scotland.
Also for fun, here’s a suspected European/American red fox hybrid. This fox was found living wild in the UK but clearly has features of both and it’s coat does not seem to be giving it much protection from the rain;
There are plenty of groups in the UK which I’ll link below. But I wouldn’t recommend getting involved by only joining your local branch of AFN or some other organization or network. Honestly the best connections I’ve made have been with autonomous individuals and affinity groups you can’t just join.
If you wanna get involved start turning up to events, like and follow loads of anti-fascist groups and pages so you hear about more events and meetings. Follow other groups in your region even if they’re not local to you, you’ll find out about more demonstrations and general knowledge. Meet people at these events, nothing builds friendship like stopping Nazis or successfully running away from the cops! The more antifa you meet the more people you can securely organize with in a decentralized trust-built network. There are more lefties in your area than in your local antifa group.
The best way to get involved in anti-fascism in your area is to find local activists or people who share your ideas, if you don’t even have a local group or events maybe you should organize them yourself. I will provide some brilliant resources from Crimethinc on how to form groups, plan direct actions or events, and how to adopt the perfect security culture. We need to find eachother and come together when we are in need, so we can take actions and attend demos together.
You should defo check out your local group, but just be aware that they are a fixed entity and you may do better outside a closed rigid organization. Because networks are made up of individual cells their size, experience, knowledge, connections, and abilities are different. Some groups may have more active members, or regular actions they may want help with, or they’re difficult to contact and closed off.
UK Antifa networks
Anti-Fascist Network, the UK’s largest antifa organization with chapters in most cities.
On the website are some long lists on branches of AFN and useful links and page to follow. Honestly if you wanna find a local group look on Facebook or Twitter “[Town/region name] Antifascists” they have loads of group all over. (Website)
Feminist Anti-Fascist Assembly, who did a lot of good demonstrations last year against Tommy Robinson and the DFLA. (Twitter)
London Anti-Fascist Assembly (LAFA), a more recent group based in London doing grassroots community work to oppose racism and demonstrate worker solidarity, they recently helped to shut down TERFs crashing the London mayday rally. (Twitter)
Plan C, an anarchist and anti-fascist group that has been present at anti-tory, anti-Trump, and anti-fascist demonstrations, as well as opposing Tommy Robinson and the pro-Trump march in London. They do lots of leafleting and postering from what I’ve seen. (Website)
Antifa Intel, they give valuable resources about UK fascists and anti-fascist events, generally useful information to have. (Twitter)
There are a load of UK groups you might be interested in like Anarchist Federation, Antihomophobe Action, Scottish Anti-Racism Network, and so on. But the best ways to find comrades in your community involves working locally and organizing on your terms. Good luck. Hope this was even slightly helpful.
There are a load of UK groups you might be interested in like Anarchist Federation, Antihomophobe Action, Scottish Anti-Racism Network, and so on. But the best ways to find comrades in your community involves working locally and organizing on your terms. Good luck. Hope this was even slightly helpful.
