Wit's End - 7 foxes in my town garden this afternoon

Lotus-eater

lostinrates wrote: »

The local haunt won't try and turn up with a pair of hounds and horses,

Ouch, bit of a Freudian slip there ....:p




I thought relocating was a very very bad idea and frowned upon by everyone bar the loonies who know nothing.

annie123

It's not a good idea to get the scent of another dog, the fox will come back more to mark over it! nor poisen, not only is it a nasty death but your neighbours won't like you if you kill their cat!

I agree it's a difficult one to come up with a suitable answer.
In the wild their numbers go up and down with the available food source for the cubs each year, as they are taught how to hunt rabbits, mice etc if not enough then not all the cubs make it.

In cities and towns they don't have the same constraints, we put loads of food out for them in one easy to get to spot...bins. And with no natural predators to keep the numbers in check, except for cars, their numbers will grow, bit like the gray squirrel population has.

If anyone doesn't want them in their gardens a water jet will keep them away, it's important that the cubs learn this as they could return with their own young next year to the same garden.

valk_scot

You could try what I do with the local bird killing cats at this time of year...a good strong supersoaker jet. Or just a garden hose from an upper window?

lostinrates

annie123 wrote: »

It's not a good idea to get the scent of another dog, the fox will come back more to mark over it! nor poisen, not only is it a nasty death but your neighbours won't like you if you kill their cat!.

fwiw it works for us. I keep free range poultry, and we run the dogs twice a day between the poultry and where the foxes have been sited. Its not foolproof, I've lost chooks before (not at this place to foxes yet though). I'm neither aggressively pro hunt (though have followed in the past), nor am I anti..I'd rather death by hound t poison anyday. If the foxes become a problem, because the smallholding is my livelihood the hunt will ride through or we will shoot (the latter by preference). I don't mind coexisting if numbers are such that we can and management here works. I like foxes, but I'm a country person and a realist, and I also like my poultry.

There is very little ''wild'' even rurally. I don't think its any mistake that the vixen here raised her cubs near the farmyard. I haven't seen a rabbit here at all.

Lotus, relocating IS a terrible idea I agree, but poison, IMO is worse.

Lotus-eater

lostinrates wrote: »

I'm neither aggressively pro hunt (though have followed in the past), nor am I anti..

Nor am I and I'd just like to make that clear. I grew up following the hunt with my granddad and all my early GF's rode with one hunt or another.
I could quite easily argue either corner, like many things on here.

annie123

lostinrates wrote: »

fwiw it works for us. I keep free range poultry, and we run the dogs twice a day between the poultry and where the foxes have been sited.

That's interesting, we were told by the wildlife rangers that it made things worse. I'll stop passing that info on.

I know the hose works.....I've done it;)

lostinrates

annie123 wrote: »

That's interesting, we were told by the wildlife rangers that it made things worse. I'll stop passing that info on.

I know the hose works.....I've done it;)

And I've not tried the hose, but I can see how it would work in a normal garden situation in a typical town/suburb/village garden. Here, on a garden surround by garden, farmyard and fields, it would be impossible to get the hose to go in enough directions to cover all the bases!

the other thing is, my dh who isn't here during the week, first thing he does on a friday arriving home is piddle out on the far side of the farmyard. He spends all weekend trying to ''mark his perimetre''.

(while I follow him pleading the cause of the compost heap). Really, we could do with more piddling men here!

mardatha

It's not the fault of the foxes but of the people who fed them and the councils who refused to get rid of them at the beginning. No wild animal should be fed, really. Nature has things sorted and balanced and once we start interfering - ie feeding - then things quickly go to hell. I respect all animals, esp the wild ones. But I wouldnt want a load of foxes living on my doorstep.
Bear in mind that foxes climb trees to get over high walls !

katfishh

7 foxes in nothing in a London garden. there seems to be more than in the countryside

I currently have a family of 6 in my garden - 3 adults and 3 cubs. Peeing up my plants (kills the plants) pooing everywhere, and making a terrible rackeet at night.

Outside the front there is a posse of foxes wreaking havoc with bins.

..and what is it with these foxes that they dont eat food from bins on the spot, NO - they drag the bag front the front to the rear and deposit the contents all over the garden. Grrrrrr:mad:

pinkcandyflossprincess wrote: »

would you be able to offer to do your neighbours garden for them if they cant cope with it?
7 foxes does seem bizarre though!:eek:
I wonder if they had killed something as it does seem odd unless one was a female who had attracted lots of male attention or something?

If both gardens are pretty bare of hiding spots, etc i would imagine they would move on, unless your neighbours have been feeding them maybe.
I like foxes and see one each night going on his rounds in my near by fields and have had a fox poo in my garden the other week , however i would be a little horrified to find 7 sat in my garden:eek::eek:

katfishh

Whover poisons a living creature should be reported to the police.
I dont like them wrecking my garden ..but they are kinda cute to watch playing.

Dont like the unmistakable fox pong though! :eek:

lostinrates wrote: »

Please don't poison them, its a terrible death. The local haunt won't try and turn up with a pair of hounds and horses, but if its possible t do so safely would probably shoot them, or give you the number of the sort of ''pest controller'' who'd shoot them for a farmer. There would be a fee for this.

Otherwise trying to get a wildlife group to trap them and relocate them is an option but would be worth taking measures like male piddling and asking a neighbour with a big dog to visit for a cup of tea in your garden while the dog leaves scent in your garden.