Fox thread

[Blah Blah]

PnB please give it up. You are neither funny nor clever. FYI I grew up on a farm, that my parents still own and farm. Foxes are neither vermin nor a pain in the ass if farmers take the right protective measures (as most farmers do). They have moved into urban areas because commercial farming has destroyed the hedgerows where the could find the small rodents they could live off. The biggest risk on farms is to chickens and guess what? Most farmers (if not all) have fox proof barns to keep their chickens safe. Have a chat with farmers dealing with mink....you'll soon see who the biggest predators are. Most people moaning about foxes in urban areas are more worried about fox poo in their gardens (as most townies do not keep chickens). Shooting a mother fox is cruel as her cubs may well be left to starve in their set. THAT is why it is illegal.

[DulwichGlobetrotter]

A few comments:

1. Foxes are very nimble - they can hop onto fences and walk along them with ease - I don?t know about cubs, but trying to stop them getting under fences is a bit pointless because they can get over fences & walls easily

2. We have had a ?nuisance? fox over the years who?d visit our garden to eat takeaways it had found, dig holes in the lawn, dig up plants, poo & generally prance about. It?s annoying but no big deal. We videoed its antics (it usually only visited for 5-10 mins at a time around 2am-4am) to figure out what was doing it.

3. The local foxes raid our bins out the front of the house & poo while they do that - I hate this & plan to get some extra bins once things are back to normal so they can?t get into them! It seems to be much worse recently which is probably down to there being less food about from takeaways, cafes and restaurants.

4. The worst bit was the pooing in the back garden as we have young kids & the garden is so small you can?t miss the poo, so we bought a motion-active water spray (basically an add on for your garden hose) that we put out every once in a while in the garden. The fox never set it off - too clever! It would spot it, often taking a look into the garden from the top of the fence & deciding to head off elsewhere.

5. Before we had kids, we lived in a block of flats with large shared gardens & there were loads of foxes in them. We didn?t really use the garden & never had any issues - they were brazen and would sunbathe in the garden during the day. I didn?t mind that at all and got a few nice photos of them.

6. I don?t support people feeding the foxes, just like I don?t support people feeding the pigeons. That may seem like a kind thing to do but it will just attract them and, despite what many have said on here, they are wild (possibly flea & disease carrying) animals & shouldn?t be treated like substitute pets in my view.

7. Don?t poison or kill the poor things. That?s just rotten behaviour & it?ll come back to bite you (unlike the foxes!!)

[Trinnydad]

DulwichGlobetrotter Wrote:

> 4. The worst bit was the pooing in the back garden

> as we have young kids & the garden is so small you

> can?t miss the poo, so we bought a motion-active

> water spray (basically an add on for your garden

> hose) that we put out every once in a while in the

> garden.

Leaving poo is a territory-marking thing for foxes. We had a similar problem and solved it by declaring it as my territory. It's as simple as filling an old tin can with pee and then spreading it around the garden in the late evening. One every couple of weeks is enough. More often if there has been a lot of rain

It doesn't cost anything and it works.

[gabys1st]

A fox in North London bit a baby in cot..

[first mate]

But an incident like this is so vanishingly rare that you cannot damn a whole species on that basis. A fair number of people become very ill and some even die from cat scratches every year but no sane person would advocate poisoning or shooting cats. Bottom line, other humans probably present a greater risk to human life than do foxes.

I would hate to see urban environments sterilised to suit the whims of humans. We don?t own the world, although some of us like to think we do.

[malumbu]

When I moved to London foxes were rare. Now if went on a stroll at midnight I'd see about four of them. They look at you as if saying "have you got a problem mate". It amuses me. Don't feed them though. Put my hand in some fox doo doo yesterday, not at horrid as dog or cat doo doo, and rare enough (a few times a year) for me to put up with it.

[first mate]

Malumbu, fairly sure fox poo a whole lot nastier in terms of pathogens than is dog poo!

[Gaynor Hill]

first mate Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> But an incident like this is so vanishingly rare

> that you cannot damn a whole species on that

> basis. A fair number of people become very ill and

> some even die from cat scratches every year but no

> sane person would advocate poisoning or shooting

> cats. Bottom line, other humans probably present a

> greater risk to human life than do foxes.

>

> I would hate to see urban environments sterilised

> to suit the whims of humans. We don?t own the

> world, although some of us like to think we do.

True if we get a bite from anything even a human we get tetanus shot people go abroad with more chance of being bitten snakes spiders etc. The only thing you get from Foxes would be fleas, nature sorts everything out the get lungworm from a parisite in snails and mange from a parisite none are harmful to human, horrible seeing it if you do fox society can help and sadly only one out of three cubs survive there first year due to traffic

We carry disease look what's going on now even winter flu we give to other

Yes pee pee stops them and one cubs have gone in October the female sometimes decide to move

[Blah Blah]

first mate Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Malumbu, fairly sure fox poo a whole lot nastier

> in terms of pathogens than is dog poo!

Not actually true. Both foxes and dogs originate from the same animal family, called canidae. Both dogs and foxes are carnivores and are susceptible to worms. Both also get fleas. Foxes can be treated for those things in the same way domestic dogs are.

[first mate]

Yes, but rarely are.

[supersammyc]

they killed a fox (see the photos). maybe the mother?

we heard some shooting of something the other night. an airgun or catapult or something

a long trail of blood on the ground

i can guess which of two neighbours it was. saw one of them today and she said they reckoned they foxes had moved on now. what an odd thing to say!!! "I'm glad - they were ruining our garden" the husband said when I said we'd found a dead one

disgusted with these people.

have called the RSPCA to come round and inspect the body to find cause of death

[tiddles]

OMG how awful - so does this mean there are some pups left to fend for themselves. Lets hope your neighbours are suitably charged.

God this has made me sad.

[ED Bird]

Sammy, please contact The Fox Project http://foxproject.org.uk/! I will do the same as I'd be very interested to know how they would deal with this situation & if there is any way we can at least have these foxes relocated.

You say the RSPCA are coming round to inspect the body for cause of death... These horrific images appear to have been taken in someone's garden. Did this happen in your garden?!

[first mate]

This is barbaric. It looks as though teats are visible suggesting this was a vixen rearing cubs. Those cubs will suffer. Thank you for leaving the corpse of this poor animal for investigation. I hope they throw the book at whoever did this.

[ED Bird]

first mate, my thoughts exactly!

[supersammyc]

"You say the RSPCA are coming round to inspect the body for cause of death... These horrific images appear to have been taken in someone's garden. Did this happen in your garden?!"

actually the RSPCA just left a voicemail saying it's legal to shoot a fox. useless! didn't even come to check how it suffered or what firearm size killed it. And someone is shooting weaponry in densely populated area!

Someone also called 101 but doubt they will do anything.

have followed the blood trail over a few houses but it's hard to see where it started

[first mate]

I am not sure the RSPCA are correct.

Govt advice is as follows:

Shoot

?You can shoot free foxes using a suitable firearm and ammunition.

You shouldn?t use firearms in urban areas for reasons of public safety.

The British Association for Shooting and Conservation has a code of practice on shooting foxes at night(lamping?).

Examination of the body will reveal if suitable ammunition and firearm were involved (the firearm has to be licensed).

Firearms should not be used in urban areas.

There is advice elsewhere that if a whelping vixen is shot her den and cubs must also immediately be found and the cubs humanely killed to prevent unnecessary suffering. Unnecessary suffering is a point in law.

[Annie5]

gabys1st Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> A fox in North London bit a baby in cot..

Really? Foxes are generally very timid. Far more likely that a dog (esp if bred to defend and be aggressive) will bite a baby in a cot.

[supersammyc]

just spoke to a neighbour who heard the shooting sounds at 1am on Saturday and then an animal yelp and crying sounds for about 30mins! this animal was not killed in a humane way!!!!

[DulwichFox]

This is all Very Disturbing .. What else is the person responsible for this capable of doing ?

[ED Bird]

If you think a wildlife crime is being committed then you can report it to the Police Wildlife Crime Unit online or by calling 101.

You can also report wildlife crime anonymously to Crimestoppers, by calling calling 0800 555 111.

Website link:

https://www.met.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/wc/wildlife-crime/what-is-wildlife-crime/

[supersammyc]

UPDATE: the neighbour at 186A admitted to hiring someone "professional" to shoot all the foxes. Not so professional as the mother got away only to die a 30 min painful death. A few of us had a bit of a shouting match with him on the street earlier today

[Mark]

Foxes do make screaming noises when they're wanting to mate, look up "screaming vixens". There are two sides to a story like this and we're just hearing one, it'll be good to hear the other and get all the facts, not just speculation.

[kiera]

No, it is not speculation that this fox has been killed - supersammyc has posted the photos of its dead body. A vet needs to examine the body to establish the cause of death. That vixens scream at mating time, which is in January, is not relevant - it's obvious from the photos that this fox has suffered. Supersammyc is trying to find help & doesn't deserve criticism.

Supersammyc - have you been able to find help from the police or a wildlife/fox welfare organisation? Please post an update on here to let those of us who are concerned to know what has caused the death of this fox know the present situation and whether we can help in any way, especially as there are now probably cubs left without their mother.

[tiddles]

This is all horrific - imagine what else these people will do - ?the neighbours cats were annoying us so we shot it?. There are too many things about this that are wholly wrong and something should be done to hold them to account- it?s bloody wildlife ffs. Currently flocks birds are eating the cherries in my tree - do I shoot/poison them as they are annoying? No we allow wildlife to live alongside us. Please call the police on these people as a matter of urgency