(Not so) fantastic Mr Fox

[Ingrime]

Sue Wrote:

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> HeadNun Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

>

> I get cats crapping all over my garden - since

> unfortunately I still have patches of bare earth

> after some work was done on the garden boundaries

> - and cat owners are likely to get mangled birds

> and other small creatures brought into their

> houses, but surely nobody would suggest setting

> traps for cats?

>

> DulwichFox, :))

I would certainly endorse any neighbourhood cat-trap scheme, they are also a big nuisance in the local area; if you can't control your pet you shouldn't be allowed to have one.

[doublesj]

This article was in National Geographic recently, it talks about taming foxes and how if we had chosen to domesticate them rather than dogs they would have made (even) better pets. So and i'm just putting this out there as an idea... If fighting them off isn't working perhaps you could try feeding them, and they might be more respectful, cats tend not to poo in their own territory so you never know....

Here is the link to the article if you are interested.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/03/taming-wild-animals/ratliff-text

[jimbo1964]

Apparently if you just have a good wee around your garden it should keep foxes away.

[Sue]

Ingrime Wrote:

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if you can't control your pet you

> shouldn't be allowed to have one.

xxxxxx

And you "control" a cat - how, exactly, short of cruelly keeping it inside the whole time?

[Smithy52]

Although the cat-trap scheme seems slightly harsh I would endorse "controlling" of cats aswell - possibly forcing owners to set up electric fences around their boundaries - with only a mild electrical current mind...I can't be dealing with dead cats strewn around ED!

[Sue]

As one who once touched an electric fence by mistake, I wouldn't wish it on anybody, even a cat who has been crapping on my garden (and eyeing up my tadpoles).

My answer will be very spiky plants like pyracantha at the points where they are getting in :))

[bonniebird]

I like seeing foxes around, but admittedly, they don't cause me a problem, yet :-S I have said on here before though, so many foxes are rescued every year by fox rescues, if they could be neutered and released back to where they came from, they would surely soon start to dwindle, the average life span of the urban fox is 18 months. I know money would be involved, but hey I'm trying :))

[LadyDeliah]

Catching and nutering urban foxes in the same way as is done for feral cats might actually be a solution to the problem caused by their population explosion in London.

Do you think it would be worthwhile trying to get some kind of charity off the ground to do that?

[Angusvanfrehley]

Not at all PC, but one of my old neighbours laid baits in his garden, bit extreme but solved the problem not only in his garden, but our whole street, I guess Mr Foxy Lox got the idea....

[Sue]

What do you mean by baits?

The RSPCA would probably be interested in that .....

[the-e-dealer]

I'm getting fed up with all these people peeing around SE22 is it not time for a cull?

[civilservant]

Bonniebird said 'the average lifespan of the urban fox is 18 months'.

Given that a fox's lifespan could extend to 18 years, that's a sad reflection on the hazards that animals face in cities.

We've lost other animals in cities - hedgehogs, voles, frogs - because we chop up the landscape into small enclosed city gardens separated by lethal roads (habitat fragmentation), lay down 'baits' and other stuff to help maintain our tidy urban lives, keep cats that massacre small birds and other wildlife out of boredom.

The anti-fox mob might like to check this out -

[Sue]

CivilServant, :))

Do you know how long it will be staying there? It's great seeing it from the bus, particularly!

[civilservant]

isn't it, Sue!

She's also called Susan and will be there until 4 September, I gather - see http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/apr/21/festival-britain-anniversary-southbank-centre

[bonniebird]

WOW :)) I like it! Glad some people are celebrating Braer Fox (hope I spelt it right)

[Sue]

civilservant Wrote:

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>

> She's also called Susan

xx

My namesake! Hurrah!!

Bonniebird, nitpicky pedant that I am (as CivilServant can bear out ...) it's actually Br'er Fox, though I always thought it was Brer Fox and I also always thought it was pronounced to rhyme with bear - wrong on both counts evidently (though Wikipedia isn't always accurate) .....

From Wikipedia:

Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear (with the title "Br'er" pronounced /ˈbruh/) are fictional characters from the Uncle Remus folktales adapted and compiled by Joel Chandler Harris.

What happened to Brer/Br'er Rabbit? He's the only one I remember!

Admin, please don't lounge this, I promise I will return to discussing the proposed extinction of urban foxes :-S

[Penguin68]

Br'er is a shortening of Brother - probably a leaning towards the usage of St Francis who referred to animals as 'brother and sister'.

Not an unreasonable thought, in so far as co-existence with the natural world, where possible, seems a broadly good thing (common cold viruses an exception, of course!).

[civilservant]

err... the South Bank fox is actually Sis Fox - unless of course he's a Boy named Sue

admin, please please don't lounge this!

[bonniebird]

Thanks (tu)

[tallulah71]

Last winter my dog disturbed a sleeping fox which was in the shed at the bottom of the garden. The fox was trapped so there was no escape, and the most almighty fight ensued. It was incredicbly distressing to witness and nothing I could do would stop the fight. Banging pans, shouting etc (the hose pipe had frozen in the snow). Thankfully, my dog killed the fox (although I wish it had never happened) but she didn;t escape wound free. She was extremely cut, bruised and shocked for a number of days afterwards. An almost identical thing happened to another local dog-owner.

While I have nothing against any animal, foxes are a nuisance. And I'm afraid I value the safety of my dogs over the preservation of foxes. My neighbour told me yesterday that my 2 dogs disturbed 2 young foxes at the end of the garden so they are clearly still using it as their territory dispite the domestic animals aldready there. I would really appreciate some sort of humane, effective deterrant for them. I have already had the rough patch beyond the fence cleared so they aere not encouraged to make homes, but to no avail. I know one of the neighbours regularly puts food out for them too which doesn;t help.

Not really willing to ask my males friends to come and do endless pees in the garden, and water sensor sprays would be set off by the dogs. Is there any truth in lion poo?

[Sue]

tallulah71 Wrote:

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>

I know one of the neighbours

> regularly puts food out for them too which doesn;t

> help.

>

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Could you not explain the problem to your neighbour and ask him/her to stop feeding them?

Obviously it's going to be almost impossible to deter them if they're getting a regular supply of nearby food.

[tallulah71]

she's already been asked - and told why. She is elderly and thinks she is doing them a favour.

[Marie81]

Before we moved into our house there had been a family of foxes who had been living in the garden for the last ten years! The day we moved in, just as I was about to let the dogs out I saw the foxes sitting in the garden...my dogs went mental barking and banging at the glass door. The foxes saw the dogs, ran off and never came back! I obviously didn't let the dogs out because they would have killed the foxes and probably got hurt themselves.

They still make a lot of noise in the road though but we just make sure the windows are kept closed and my boyfriend now wears earplugs! The most annoying thing is that they wake the dogs up, who then bark and push back the curtains trying to look out the window but there's nothing I can do about that although it does make them clear off again for at least a few more days.

I would take the foxes screaming any day over noisy neighbours or cars speeding down the road with loud music blaring!

[Sue]

Marie81 Wrote:

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>

> I would take the foxes screaming any day over

> noisy neighbours or cars speeding down the road

> with loud music blaring!

xxxxxxx

Same here, but that's a bit different to having your dogs hurt

[tallulah71]

I understand that the foxes were probably there long before we pitched up, but we are here now, and I cannot keep my dogs in indefinitley for fear of another fight. I do my best to avoid it obviously, but I'm just saying they're a bloody nuisance and feasrless it would seem! I just don't want to risk either of my two getting hurt OR another poor fox being killed like that.