Urban Foxes again! Deterrents needed

usignuolo

Well its those pesky foxes again . We seem to have a surfeit of them in our road, I think maybe because a new neighbour moved in who has an extended strip of ground they promptly turned into a wildlife garden, or so they claim. Several more foxes now seem to be living there. But of course they don't stay there.

They are out fighting in the road every night - and they fight right on our front door step, also they defecate everywhere, on the doorstep, on the front path, right outside the back door, on the log pile, on the hose (my neighbour says they chewed a big hole in her hose), all over the back garden. Presumably trying to mark their territory.

I looked up a site which supports urban foxes and it says they stay away from houses generally being shy, and you can keep them out of your back garden by keeping the fences mended.

Our local foxes must also be a different evolutionary strand to the ones described on the site as they are quite brazen, can all dig under fences and climb walls. Our back garden is surrounded by a 7 foot high concrete wall by the way, which is of course no deterrent at all.

We do not put any food in our dustbin as we have a local composting service. But the other day I came outside and they had managed to push over the dustbin and nudge off its lid. It was full (awaiting collection that morning) and they had spread the contents all over the front garden despite the fact there was no food at all in it.

Any suggestions on how I can deter them?

lostinrates

with this amount of problem I think it would be worth speaking to your local council and alerting them.

olly300

You can't unfortunately. One of my friends' is plagued exactly like you and nothing works i.e. getting her husband to pee around the property.

However I've found a few years ago that one of my neighbours' had a large white cat which scared all wild life and other cats off the property. When the neighbour move the foxes came back.

I've moved and been plagued by foxes causing a problem. The problems have stopped this year when one of my neighbours' got a black kitten with a white throat. This kitten, now cat, chases all wildlife away whether it's a fox or squirrel. As a result I don't find fox poo on my lawn.

usignuolo

The council don't want to know. I think the problem is particularly bad because an old guy in our road with a largeish garden died at the start of the year, and so his gardener got laid off and the new tenants never even go out there, so it is very overgrown, plus his neighbour, the new owner who has put in wild life garden, never goes out in his garden either and it is overgrown too, so several new fox families set up home and bred their cubs there earlier this year and now they are all fighting over the territory.

We have lots of cats locally and it makes no difference. But the foxes have got so bold we have to keep our back doors closed on hot nights, and the defecating on the front steps and the paths is getting really tiresome.

I suppose natural selection will settle it in the end. Sorry to offend all the fox lovers out there, but my husband is threatening to hire one of those guys who comes and shoots them at night, just to get the numbers back in balance!

lostinrates

http://www.bristol.gov.uk/ccm/cms-service/stream/asset/?asset_id=34370170

Googling brought up Bristol councils fact sheet on deterring foxes. It might have some ideas.

zarazara

Phone the local hunt. they'll deal with the varmints.