Fox cull petition

[computedshorty]

Sung to the tune of "Polly Wolly Doodle."

Version I

Nobody likes me, everybody hates me,

Guess I'll go eat worms,

Long, thin, slimy ones; Short, fat, juicy ones,

Itsy, bitsy, fuzzy wuzzy worms.

Down goes the first one, down goes the second one,

Oh how they wiggle and squirm.

Up comes the first one, up comes the second one,

Oh how they wiggle and squirm.

Version II

Nobody loves me, everybody hates me

Think I'll go and eat worms

Long ones, short ones, fat ones, thin ones

See how they wriggle and squirm

I bite off the heads, and suck out the juice

And throw the skins away

Nobody knows how fat I grow

On worms three times a day

Ohh...nobody loves me.

[Sophiescarlett89]

@ Big D- Foxes are wild animals, and fox + chick does not equal a sit down together drinking a cup of tea with crumpets, with the birds and the bees and flowers... They are designed to EAT chickens, and if you do not take sensible precautions with regards to securing your chickens, then you can expect them to have made every fox's christmas come at once!!!

@ BrandNewGuy i agree totally!! :-)

@polla2256 loool exactly!

I personally do not come across much fox sh*t, yes i HAVE seen it but in such small quantity as foxes are not well fed, compared to dogs and i see dog sh*t almost every day sprawled across the pavement. Im not anti dog either by the way, have had 2 dogs who i love dearly, i love all animals in general, i believe in being a responsible dog owner though as i would not be happy cleaning dog crap off my daughter's shoes at all...

Although presently i do not feed fox's, i tell you this; if foxes became under threat by our ridiculous goverment i WOULD set up a fox sanctuary in my back garden (i have plenty of space) and provide for them and make them a good environment... It will not be possible to get rid of foxes they breed like there is no tommorow anyway :-)

[LadyDeliah]

Foxes have killed 5 of my chickens. They didn't eat any of them, just ripped them apart. I have a dog flap now so the latest batch of chickens have lasted 18 months so far but I have to lock them up every night to make sure the dog would hear them before they actually managed to get in the coop.

Foxes are a pain in the arse if you have any small animals and are not really safe to be running around in cities, but I think some awareness of how we have encouraged them with discarded food and rubbish is a better option than a cull. I doubt a cull would be successful anyway. They can't exactly go around shooting at them in populated areas or poisoning them. If they tried to bring in the dogs, they'd have to shut off all the traffic for a night or the dogs would get run over and I'd like to see a fox hound scale a 10ft wall.

I think the only option is an awareness campaign.

[woodrot]

I think the first step is to ban Jeremy. His unerring reasonablness and balanced judgement is the root of our problems in ED

[LadyDeliah]

Yes he did kind of give with one hand and taketh away with the other.

[woodrot]

we dont not tolerate reason on the EDF.

[LadyDeliah]

Not after half a bottle of red, most definitely not!

[computedshorty]

My Chickens take themselves into their shed just before dusk, I then lock them in till morning.

Sadly my last hen has just died aged seventeen, I still have the Cock but he needs a few Hens to keep him company, I have tried from various places for two from Battery Hens but they are all up north, or a long way from me.

All our pets get on well together,see picture.

[susiq]

you can get a couple of hens from ex battery org, contact 01884860084 they have nearby deliveries.

[Coman]

Any advice on removal of fox droppings from my courtyard

[MrBen]

You're not a proper man unless you've shovelled shit a few times in your life.

[Help-Ma-Boab]

Elephants shit at that. Blairdruumond safari park, circa 1989...

MrBen Wrote:

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> You're not a proper man unless you've shovelled

> shit a few times in your life.

[Sol]

I still find it unbelievable that people feed foxes and pigeons. The only reason is ignorance. They are both messy and spread diseases; which are a risk, specially for small children.

[Coman]

Coman Wrote:

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> Any advice on removal of fox droppings from my

> courtyard

I happen to like foxes, but I don't like them fouling on my granite fourcourt. If there was less food litter in the area then fox numbers would be sustainable at a natural level. There is ample food source in local parks and gardens.

Reisdents should be encouraged to feed pigeons and foxes at a designated place in the local park or community area

[aquarius moon]

Sol Wrote:

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> I still find it unbelievable that people feed

> foxes and pigeons. The only reason is ignorance.

> They are both messy and spread diseases; which are

> a risk, specially for small children.

It's posts like yours that are unbelievable.

Please do not call me ignorant because I feed foxes & pigeons.

They have just as much right to be here as we do, and are just trying to survive, as we are.

Animal haters will jump on the nearest bandwagon, be it cats, dogs, foxes, rats, mice, pigeons, green parakeets,

whatever is trending.

I feel very sorry for the lost chickens because they have a right to be here too.

But, maybe their owners need to protect them better with stronger fox-proof housing.

Hungry foxes will obviously attack chickens because they are starving.......which is why I feed them.

As for a cull? The thought of it makes me sick to the stomach.

Sophiescarlett89, I commend you for your comments on this thread. If you do ever set up a fox sanctuary in your garden, I wish you so much good luck as would like to do the same, but not possible for me x

[malumbu]

Cull would be quite dangerous as foxes may enter the foochain.

Fox and badger lasagne anyone?

[WorkingMummy]

mollydoodle Wrote:

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> I think foxes are issue to be dealt with I have

> had at least one in my house that came through the

> catflap and left me a rather nasty poo on my

> floor. They have since tried to get in again as

> the catflap is now locked and we find them banging

> against it. I have a cat, a toddler and about to

> have a newborn and it does concern me that foxes

> will still try and get in. We looked at ways to

> deter them but all the info people like the RSPCA

> had was how to feed them!!

Mollydoodle we had something very similar with an incredibly daring family of foxes denned in our garden. They constantly tried to get in the house, and we could not allow our three small children outside the back door. The idea that these foxes were afraid of humans (as per RSPCA) was a joke. They did not run away from us unless we shook a large stick at them. They saw us as intruders onto their territory and frequently showed their teeth. I have no doubt that given any chance they would have tried to take our newborn, just as they would a chicken or rabbit.

We tried everything to deter them. Water jets, sonic devices, the works. Pointless. Eventually we had them trapped and humanely killed. It was not cheap but it was necessary. Totally unapologetic for that.

Whoever said (above)'keep your backdoor shut to keep foxes AND peodophiles (?!?) away from your children" simply has not faced this situation.

And while I wouldn't support attempts to eradicate them I think feeding them is a real nuisance to others and disturbs the natural balance which their presence in our cities helps to preserve.

[ClareC]

Happychick rescue battery hens and rehome them, and they deliver them.

We rescued 6 from them last June, they are really friendly and we get up to 4 eggs per day which has continued through the winter.

The urban foxes are far more bold than the country ones, and seem less well fed!! I don't think it's the country ones being driven into towns, it's the towns being built onto countryside that is the issue. The London foxes are so many generations from the original country foxes I would be surprised if they could survive in the country now.

Foxes killing because they are hungry is nature, there is no difference to them what the kill is. I find killing for the sake of killing harder to understand. Foxes and cats seem to share that trait!

[Sol]

Residents should be encouraged to feed foxes and pigeons in public areas? No wonder why this city is full of foxes and pigeons if that's the common thinking. They should not be fed at all. They are not pets

[first mate]

It is man who has created the environment in which these urban foxes thrive- with fewer feeding opportunities they would not breed and thrive so easily and the need for food would force them to compete for and protect much larger ranges. There is no need for this as the city is replete with waste and litter- all those discarded bones, overflowing bins, waste outside and at the backs of shops. Foxes have never had it so good or so easy. The new, bolder fox is simply filling an evolutionary niche, courtesy homo sapien.

No cull will ever get rid of foxes, not unless we stop providing the food and that won't happen because humans are just, well too self centered. Culling would have to be done every year. I wonder what method would be used in the inner city? Poison...way too cruel and dangerous for other animals, including pets. Traps? Ditto. Shooting, too dangerous. Darting and then euthansia- think of the expense. Please god don't let some bright spark think of introducing a fatal disease like a fox version of miximatosis(sp).

The only real solution is for humans to manage their litter properly, oh and not feed wildlife- it's a win, win approach surely.

[edhistory]

Our valley (Nunhead and East Dulwich) is about 1600 acres.

I have read that an area the size of our valley with its pre-urban environment would support four extended fox family groups.

I have not been able to find a definition of an "extended fox family"

Can anyone help?

John K

[civilservant]

WorkingMummy Wrote:

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> They saw us as intruders onto

> their territory and frequently showed their teeth.

WorkingMummy, I wonder whether you are aware of the irony in your account of the fate of the fox family that denned in your garden.

Foxes den only when they are rearing cubs. The unusual ferocity was due no doubt to a female (as well as her mate and possibly her cubs from a previous litter - the extended fox family http://www.thefoxwebsite.org/ecology/ecologylifecycle.html) attempting to guard the new litter against the threat that you presented.

Ultimately, your family's needs won out over the vixen's family, in the way that most human-animal interactions do.

[WorkingMummy]

Yes, civil servant, like I said, a family of foxes.

Of course defence of territory is about rearing young. I wasn't under the impression that the vixen was pissed off at us for ruining the bleeding roses or something! And I did not have the foxes removed as a way of expressing moral judgment on her aggression! I well understood it, which was precisely why I feared it.

What mother wouldn't put her children's lives and safety above the life of a fox?

??

[susiq]

in case you havent noticed people also spread disease, are messy, rob, kill, torture, have little regard for any other life, think they are the only creature with a right to exist, take more out of this planet than they put in, knock out children regardless of how many there are already in the world, badly drive bloody great 4x4s in town, despite lack of adequate parking, whinge on about "messy animals" without having a good look at how they live, move onto a nice plastic island, where everything is wrapped in non-biodegradable film, without any wildlife, unless of course its dead and stuffed in a glass covered museum, the children can then look at all the messy animals we wiped out, the worst disease on this planet is not spread by animals, its born with a very high opinion of itself.

[WorkingMummy]

Susiq, out of line, and yelling at the wrong person.

I do not think I am the only creature who should exist. As I quite clearly stated , I do not even support a general fox cull. Only the selective, humane control of foxes that are posing an immediate threat to small children.

Since last year, we have had many foxes passing through our garden, with no harm from us. We only drew the line when we could not open our back door without a couple of cubs trying to bounce their way past our legs into our house and adult foxes snapping at our babies whenever we ventured out.

I do not approve of cruelty to any living thing. I will simply protect my children from attack and danger, same as any mammalian mother of any species. And I do so with as much compassion as is consistent with that end, which is more than Mother Nature ever does. The natural downward pressure on any population of any animal is predation, starvation and disease. The foxes in our garden suffered way less than they would have had they died of natural causes.

Responsible, compassionate management of our environment, yes please. If you have a constructive suggestion as to how I might discourage another fox den in my garden, so as to avoid the need to bring in exterminators in future, then I'm all ears. (If my neighbour would quit feeding them, this would help.) But handwringing over the bald fact of our place at the top of the food chain, or in your case, venom towards a human mother who "unfortunately" (as civil servant said) succeeded in removing a real threat posed to her children by a non-endangered, non rare, wild animal, it's just idiotic.

Don't think I'll return to the lounge if yours is seriously the prevailing view of regulars to this space.