Does anyone know what if anything we should do about the foxes, last Monday I walked to work and every 6 feet there was a mess where they have torn the rubbish bags. someone told me they kull them every now and again.
no 'they' dont kill them as foxes are not considered vermin. It is the people who put their waste out long before it is due to be collected and cannot be bothered to use a bin with a lid - who are the problem. What' we all should do is' be considerate of other people when we dump our rubbish on the streets.
no one culls urban foxes - and no one actually knows how their populations are doing in towns. sometimes bins with lids are not possible, sometimes putting rubbish out just before the bin teams arrive is not possible ... so rubbish all over the place happens. there are several fox threads taking various points of view if you want more info.
we have a family of 5 living in our garden - whilst watching the cubs play is cute, our cats are so terrorised they are peeing indoors on the furniture and we cant even keep the recycling in bags outside the back door (wouldn't ever put rubbish in anything but a heavy lid bin!). Any garden torches, tools, gloves etc left unguarded even briefly during the middle of the day are trashed - any legal ideas or firms who help?
Have you ever hosted a fox family? They don't 'go of their own accord'. Foxes are territorial. This family have lived and bred in our garden for over a decade They have killed pet rabbits in heavy cages, brought other people's rubbish into our garden and destroyed stuff for years but this is the first year we have seen them chase the cats or come to the back door/sit in the garden at midday within a few yards of us. And no - washing cat pee off the sofa day after day and being frightened that they will seriously hurt or kill our cats is not liveable with. We have been tolerant - even tho they have caused the kids much distress from time to time - but now some helpful suggestions would be appreciated.
The foxes are not malicious but just little puppies that want to play and any item they see to them is a new toy. Maybe for the very short time they are going to use your garden you could put away your tools and gloves. Do you know that If you employ a company to dispose of them they will be captured and shot, and that would be a great shame.
i thought it was obvious that we are not bothered about their nuisance value with tools etc - we are pretty sussed on minimising that after all this time. Also - as I have already said they are with us year round. It is the effect on the cats and from that on us which is now intolerable - and shooting foxes is illegal and not what we would want, hence the request for any legal helpful suggestions. By the way it is an adult who is chasing the cats, not the cubs.
The best thing is probably to try and minimise the places where foxes can make their earth. I find it ironic having grown up in the country that apart from killing the odd chicken or goose, foxes are more of a nuisance and health hazard in the city than they are in the country. We cleared out all our back alleyways about 7 years ago and it helped but then people come and go and don't keep vigilant. I don't think we can do much more. I saw a bin with a plaited rope threaded through its lid yesterday with a brick tied on either end to keep the vermin out! I do think it will get to the point where if the fox population is not curbed, then it will have serious consequences.
Dear all, you may have seen from previous posts of mine that i'm a fox over and not a hater. I work in a wildlife rescue centre and cannot bear the thought of harm coming to these beautiful animals. However.... it seems to me that some people like Katherine S have a problem that really has become a PROBLEM and the more it continues the more resentment and anti-fox feeling there is. Therefore let me introduce you to a non-lethal fox management company who can help... http://fox-a-gon.co.uk/ Please check out their site and see what they can do for you. The only thing I ask is that you would pay attention to breeding cycles and ensure that you are not removing an adult parent away from cubs.
Thank you Julie - that is exactly the kind of helpful suggestion I was hoping for. We are definitively not fox haters either - in fact we take leftovers to local woods and wild areas for them and have always given the cubs a refuge starting when a mother ran into our garden with her family after builders chased them out of the building they were living in - the start of the garden dynasty. I am also a country person, where the foxes really don't have much impact, and ran the local anti blood sports campaign before moving to the city. You are right though - over the years the impact on us has escalated enormously. We have adjusted and adjusted but the limit comes somewhere. Once this litter has moved on, I will take stock of the parents' behaviour and we will take it from there.
A few years back quite a large area of my garden was taken up with deep entrances to their underground dens (is it dens?) . At least a quarter of the lawn was destroyed. I tried blocking the entrances with branches, bits of wood etc...but each time they pushed them out again. A friend then said "human hair" was the answer. I collected a bag full from the hairdresser and arranged it down the holes and then reintroduced the tree branches. Hey presto, they went. Apparently they do not like the oil in our hair. Since re-turfing the garden, I now sprinkle hair around after every visit to the hairdresser. I also put it under and behind the shed. When I brush the dog, I add that too . So far it has worked. They sit on our neighbours lawn, walk along the wall, but do not actually live in my garden. costs nothing, so worth a try?
Hi Katherine - you are not alone in having a problem with foxes and my heart goes out to you with your cats. There will always be these pro- foxes but at least Julie came up with something practical. Other people in earlier threads have suggested male urine can be helpful too....
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you may have seen from previous posts of mine that i'm a fox over and not a hater. I work in a wildlife rescue centre and cannot bear the thought of harm coming to these beautiful animals.
However.... it seems to me that some people like Katherine S have a problem that really has become a PROBLEM and the more it continues the more resentment and anti-fox feeling there is.
Therefore let me introduce you to a non-lethal fox management company who can help... http://fox-a-gon.co.uk/ Please check out their site and see what they can do for you. The only thing I ask is that you would pay attention to breeding cycles and ensure that you are not removing an adult parent away from cubs.
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