Overun by foxes?

[Evie]

There are so many foxes now in the Marmora Road area I think it is becoming a problem. I regularly have 4 in my back garden and see quite a few hanging around on the streets. They are becoming less timid and obviously more used to humans. I can no longer go into my garden without treading in their poo and the back bushy area where they must live is really stinky and don't they carry disease? There poo is also on the pavements. I am an animal lover and wish them no harm and love to watch them, but can something be done before there are so many that we have to start shooting them, is there a contraceptive they can be given? Are they being monitored? Is there any plan for our friend the urban fox?

Evie

[XXDECORATORXX]

we have the same problem here near north cross road, i counted 5 of them last night. 20 year ago i only use to see one or two but know its out of hand. i was walking home one night eating a potion of chips and the fox actually sat down and held his paw up, which was well strange "the fox must of been taught that i think" who knows.

but is really annoying trying to sleep and getting woke up with all thge screaming at 3 in the morning.

[peterstorm1985]

The problem is caused mostly by availability of food. Stop their food source - usually discarded takeaways - and there will be less of them.

If there is a 'stinky' area in your garden it is probably because there is somewhere nice for them to live. They like cover at ground level, so if you trim off the lower branches of bushes they'll be less keen. The other obvious thing is not to be so nice to them; I don't mean do them harm, but shout at them occasionally. They do get the message.

They are certainly not monitored. Contraceptives etc are a waste of time and incredibly expensive. Fox numbers rise and fall by food availability, which is why there are so far less off them in the country. If you see open skips etc of food waste behind the various food outlets in this area, that's where the problem comes from.

I'm afraid there are also some very misguided people who feed the foxes.

[minder]

Googled Marmora rd and it's probably because you have a golf course, brenchley gardens and camberwell old and new cemetaries on your doorstep. It's the foxes habitat.

[XXDECORATORXX]

also i belive there is a spray or powder you can use arround the boarder of your garden to stop them crossing, but if it rains may eventually wash away, could be even more anoying.

you could try and raise a complaint with the council.

if you have a cat and catflap makesure its locked they are known to go through them too.

[Loz]

Go out and have a wee or ten in your garden. Foxes don't like it. Use your garden as a toilet so the foxes don't!

[Evie]

Forgot to mention their screaming, they make so much noise, they wake me up too. I don't leave food around and do not feed them, I suppose in areas where there are lots of people there is bound to be access to food, surely there should be something more structured in place, some government plan, or is it like most things today, reacting too late to a problem that is obviously going to happen. Why is contraception so expensive? I am sure they will have to start culling them soon.

[The Minkey]

As I wrote in the gardening thread, the good folk of Foxgrove organised a cull of their local foxes and once the foxes were gone found themselves to be inundated with rats.

My backgarden backs onto the Aquarius, so I'm directly across from you, Evie. I only have to go to the back door and they scarper sharpish.

[DulwichFox]

The Minkey ia correct..

Without Foxes the Rat population would explode.

Foxes kill more rats than they do chickens.

I prefer Foxes to rats.

Fox

[Carl Cooper]

I love foxes I do, have six of them stuffed around my palatial mansion in ED. Going hunting on Saturday and hope to add to the collection, so I will slowly but surely solve the problem for you all. No need to thank me I am just glad to give back to the community unlike some of you

[DulwichFox]

Carl Cooper Wrote:

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Absolutely nothing worth reading...

Also read all 5 of your posts.

Absolutely nothing worth reading...

I feel the content of your posts (Vulgar) will ensure you will not be with this forum for very long.

Fox

[Salsaboy]

Hear hear, I thought the same.

[martin]

the minkey wrote:

"good folk of Foxgrove organised a cull of their local foxes"

what utter horrible shitehawks - why would you have animals killed ffs!

[Spaceman]

Someone i know had the same problem with foxes in her garden, she trimmed back the bushes that they used for shelter and sprayed a weak bleach/water solution around the area they were coming into the garden. she did this for about 5 days and they haven't been back since.

[DJKillaQueen]

I've noticed more foxes where I live this year too but I do live next to Peckham Rye Park and a Reservoir on the other side. I don't have an issue with foxes tbh. I worry more bout anti-social people and the mess that people make. Go and smell any alleyway in Soho on a Saturday or Sunday morning for example. When we suggest culling people for the mess and noise they make then I might support control of the fox population.

[The Minkey]

Like you DJQ, I find people nuisance far more offensive. I sleep with earplugs every night due to noise coming through my party wall, so I don't really get disturbed by fox noise even with the windows open. I also find myself less vexed by a mound of fox poo on the lawn than the sweet wrappers, fag packets and drink bottles that end up in my garden having been tossed out of next door's bedroom window.

[martin]

minkey you poor soul... you DO live beside vermin.

[ElDuderino]

Respect the fox.

[DulwichFox]

I know that if I am woken up by foxes during the night my car is safe.

When I am woken up by drunken yobbos walking down the middle of my road at 3.00am

I am not so sure.

It is a priviledge to come across a fox in town.

Fox.

[Evie]

My point was that if something constructive is not done to control them then culling them will be the consequence, I do not want them killed, I was hoping there was some preventative measure like contraception, now I am not suggesting they were condoms either!!!!

Evie

[Evie]

OOOOps.........wear condoms

Evie

[peterstorm1985]

Evie, if your foxes were given contraception, presumably by drug laced food sources as they don't have the dexterity for anything else, then your foxes would have less young but that would merely allow other foxes from further away to move in. Availability of food and places to live causes the number of foxes. I don't quite understand why you think culling will happen. The foxes may be annoying but it's pretty rare for them to do serious damage. They've come into my house before but there is a simple solution. I shut the door when I'm not around to deter them - which, to be honest, is a sensible thing to do. If a fox gets in unnoticed, so can a burglar (you don't have to lock the door to stop the foxes so they're less of a threat).

[peterstorm1985]

Thinking more on the subject, there is a lot more damage done in my garden by snails and the foxes eat them so I vote for the fox. (I do regularly cull snails though by squishing them)

[Earl Aelfheah]

There would be no need for contraception if they weren't so damned foxy.

[aquarius moon]

peterstorm1985 Wrote:

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> Thinking more on the subject, there is a lot more

> damage done in my garden by snails and the foxes

> eat them so I vote for the fox. (I do regularly

> cull snails though by squishing them)

That's really cruel!

I pick up snails from the pavement, so they don't get trodden on.

I also have loads of them in my garden, living inside upside-down flower-pots!

I feed them on left over lettuce leaves & salad stuff.