fox watch

[eleanor2]

on the radio this morning they were talking about encouraging foxes into your garden.one lady said she got up in the night for a drink and a fox was happily in her kitchen with her cat and dog.they were pointing out you must check with your neighbours before you put food out to encourage them .some people see them as cute others see them as vermin. what do you think.

[fife]

I don't think anyone should feed foxes they are vermin and not tame, a couple of years ago i remeber reading in the times of a girl who was in her garden and a fox attacted her. People who feed such vermin are encouraging them out of there habitat and into civilization i know of people round here who feed foxes but i don't agree. My father in law would have heart failure if heard such a thing!!

[Oola]

I say live and let live, they only thrive in the cities where people don't clean up after themselves properly or don't secure their bins etc, so they can't blame the foxes for migrating into town. Also the fact that we have migrated into fox territory with expanding towns into the countryside - then blame them for coming into our territory. Doesn't add up to me.

I take care to make sure my hens are as safe from foxes as possible - I see it as my responsibility, and my fault if the fox gets in.

I personally wouldn't encourage them into my garden, for obvious reasons. But I don't see them as vermin, just a part of British wildlife. I think they just get labelled with the term vermin because they're where we don't want them...just like the term 'weed' is for a flower or plant where we don't want it.

Just like it's my responsibility to keep the woodpigeons off the brassicas, so too must I take action to keep foxes away from my hens. I would ask though, if I was going to feed them.

[Healing Hands]

No I do not see foxes as vermin either, they are beautiful creatures, I love to watch them in fields. We have had a few around recently as it is the mating season and every night you can hear them calling, it sounds like a cat fight the noise they make. I had one in the front garden and it was so lovely to watch him/her. Of course I would not encourage them to feed from my garden, but no they are not vermin.

[sheddie]

I like all creatures great and small so would not harm any of them but know country people look at things very differently and sometimes consider these beautiful looking creatures to be a pest.

[eleanor2]

i see both sides.us townies think its great to see the odd fox.but i have country folk in the family and i know they see them as real pests.it cost my brother a fortune to make the lovliest hen house i have ever seen.yet i know the foxes still get the odd hen.once the foxes decimated dad in laws hens.they didn't eat them they got in the pen and just mangled a load of hens and left them there.

[sunflower]

I think it is just a question of humans and foxes keeping to their own territory. Where I live there is plenty of space for foxes. We have a den of foxes just a few metres from our back garden. After buying the hen house, I take it my responsibility to make sure the foxes know that the back garden is my territory not their's. I see them every night and appreciate their amazing eyes and beautiful red coats. However, when my hens arrive in a few weeks time, I will have to be vigilant and protect my territory.

[jazzactivist]

I like to see foxes, they are very beautiful and deserve to be in the countryside more than humans do. I find it hard that anyone would view them as vermin, as that just encourages the idea of humans as the superior race, but foxes don't wreck their own environment like we do! I agree with Oola that it is up to people to protect our livestock from them as best we can, but we should be proud to live alongside foxes and other wildlife and not begrudge them the occasional dinner.

[Oola]

eleanor, I think there's a misconception that foxes will kill needlessly - I don't think they do. As far as I understand it, they like their meat pretty funky and rancid - that's why they leave things, because the intention is for the meat to rot down a bit, and then they come back for it. They'll also bury their meat and come back later for it.

The way I view it is that a henhouse is basically a free supermarket sweep to a fox - wouldn't I go for it if Tesco or Waitrose opened their doors? :) Therefore I have to take the precautions to stop a fox doing what it does in order to survive and feed its family.

I can imagine and know the devastation foxes do, its especially upsetting with new lambs at this time of year, that's why I've always wondered why shepherding doesn't seem to be used anymore (not that I confess to knowing anything about sheep farming or lambing). Seems a good employment prospect to me, I suppose the only problem is for the farmer finding a way to cover the cost of employing a shepherd that works day and night.

[eleanor2]

it is a wide issue isn't it.i think personal views and experiences will be what countson how we view foxes.i do think they are cute and when i hear them making their noise down by the canal.i love nature sounds.i love to spy even a glimpse of a fox. but i also know my livlihood does not come from country living.so my mind is open on the subject.

[Oola]

I know someone that runs a small wildlife rescue hospital. I was there when she had a couple of rescued fox cubs in - they were so unbelievably beautiful! Smelly little oiks though ;) They eventually went to a rehabilitation centre so they could socialise with and learn from other foxes, and then released back into the wild.

[eleanor2]

at least the story fox and the hound starts children off caring about the little fox cub.i do think country folk see things differently.they are bought up more naturally than town children.some who havn't got a clue where meat comes from.if you grow up eating meat but dont actually see how it gets into the fridge.you can afford to have higher principles about animal welfare.yet people still keep buying like the tesco £1.99 chickens.country children are bought up seeing first hand life and death of animals.they know where steaks come from.so in a way they might be more hardy to the issues but at least they are more realist.

[franbee]

Did you see on TV the man who ate the roadkill food? He had a rather unusual attitude to meat! Mind you, if there was a sheep killed on the road, it was butchered and shared out amongst the farm staff, but Mum never would have any for us, she gave our share away.

[eleanor2]

i never saw the programme franbee.i have always thought what a waste if something is accidentally killed to waste the meat.if some -one finds an animal dead tho do they have to make sure it wasn't disease that killed it.

[lily]

Yes Franbee I saw the programme and a very odd lot they seem to be down on Bodmin Moor! We get organic mutton from a farm there, but I don't go to collect it when it's dark (yes I'm a real wimp).
Back to foxes, they are beautiful but I wasn't so enamoured when one got all our hens a while ago and in broad daylight. They also got 14 of my neighbour's ducks- also in daylight. I think they're as much of a problem in towns these days, scavenging bins etc. I wouldn't feed them, but am not in favour of hunting, so I suppose the answer is shooting if there is a real problem with them?

[franbee]

Unfortunately, nature can be very cruel, animals have and are predators, and however soft you feel about it, it's a cruel world for some of them.