Got a Den at bottom of garden that had allowed to grow wild.

Saw the mum and her 3 cubs frollicking on the lawn yesterday evening.

Options

Call local hunt and get the horses and dogs which is a bit impractical

Find someone with a gun

Lay out some meat with poison - very last resort and least favoured

Find humane method

Have 2 littlies who like to play in the garden and while away at the moment I don't want them playing where foxes have been urinating and doing number 2 and want a way to get rid of them.

Anybody got suggestions.

Hmmm...fence...duck...trap...

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tinpis, have you been mixing your meds again?

What on earth was that all about?

Have you tried contacting the RSPCA? Pretty as they may be to watch, your point about having a young child is a valid one as foxes can carry Sarcoptic Mange, Leptospirosis and other nasties. :( You may find this website (http://foxolutions.co.uk/foxproblems.htm)useful.

Meanwhile, I am missing the fox who usually lives at the bottom of my garden and is no trouble at all.

Evicted by a badger, who many would welcome I suppose, but I find a nuisance due to the enthusiastic excavations, often in the lawn.

Can you really not cope with or even enjoy the fox and her cubs?

Okay. This is about the animal, isn't it.:(

DX is right, the RSPCA will trap and remove them and I THINK your local council will do the same.

The problem is, as far as foxy-woxy goes, these people are "humane" as far as removing foxes goes. They take urban foxes (I'm assuming you are in an urban area, of course) and release them into the wild. Since, generally, urban foxes are used to getting food from non-hunting sources, they lose their hunting instincts. That means that when they are released into the countryside they tend to starve because there isn't exactly a lot of bin-bags or McDonalds in the middle of the countryside. So "humane" when a shotgun would be better for the buggers.

Nothing wrong with foxes.

Thanks DX had found them and left a message.

Apparently RSPCA won't do anything unless its hurt but if you hurt it they will prosecute you.

Rich Lee if it was of the 2 legged kind it would be an unmarried mum with 3 kids who no doubt the council would already have been around to give a nice new house to.
The Mirror would be running a story on me having let an unmarried mum with 3 kids live at end of garden,
Socialist worker would be decrying capitalism for abandoning mum in the bushes,
The Sun would have been asking to see her T*Ts and
Loaded would be offering a tasteful photography session in the bushes for its readers.

Foxes as correctly pointed out carry lots of diseases and leave lots of crap around which is incompatible with 2 small kiddies who want to explore everywhere.

Nothing wrong with foxes.

A 2 legged Fox is a sight to behold.

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Nothing wrong with foxes.

Too true, my wife loves her full length red fox coat. :p

Incrementalism!


Perhaps you might just lay out an attractive carcass - Pigeon, small chicken, or squirrel-bits-from-Capt Stable - in snack-size portions every day or two. Each day move the bait a little further in the 'away' direction you prefer.

After a few dozen iterations with lengthening gaps, Foxie will tire of the commute and start looking for accommodations nearer to the site of dinner.

I'm for the local hunt method as foxes are vermin - bloody huggy flufflies leftie townies that have no idea about countryside living. A by product of the hunt ban is the surge in numbers of 'town foxes' which is NOT their natural habitat as has been pointed out in a previous post on this thread.

However, in this particular case, it sounds as though one of these (http://www.primrose-london.co.uk/pest-control-repellers-c-24_197.html?source=googleads&gclid=CL_1k_KHn5sCFUEA4wodOlNNBg) might be an option for you?

I really don't want to turn this thread into a hamster wheel of hunt anties and pros btw... :=

bloody huggy flufflies leftie townies that have no idea about countryside living

Because of the proximity to my comment, I will take that personally and reply sucinctly that your knee-jerk approach to exterminating creatures which annoy you suggests you may be indulging some deep psychological issues of a worrisome sort.

For reference, I have some 40 years of country-living of a wilder sort than most persons, possibly also yourself, likely often encounter. On nearly any morning I could easily lay to waste some 8 tonnes of annoying and destructive wild venison - on my own land - while sitting on the porch drinking the first coffee of the day. What a mess that would be!

I rather frequently, in the course of ordinary comings and goings, play cat and mouse with a set of large and worrisome four-footed neighbors who may be inclined at any time, without notice, to see me as the mouse.

Despite the opportunity and convenience and means available for destroying them and nearly every other beastie in the surroundings that may annoy me, I don't -- because it isn't likely to durably solve the problem of competition for space and resources with the rest of the natural world, and because it would displease me to do so.

(stronger language deleted -- use your imagination)

We have a very clever Jack Russell at home and used to keep digging his way out under a tall fence. He is so damned cunning he would have several "projects" on at once and could disappear at will.

As a last resort we went to the local agricultural supplies outlet and bought an electric fence unit (very small), wire and insulators etc. We set the wire about 6 to 8 in above the ground the length of the fence and keep tension with a bungee.

No more trouble with the dog getting out and no more trouble with the foxes coming in. Works a treat but needs to be kept on as the foxes know when it is switched off.

Cruel? Possibly but the alternative is having the dog impounded or run over.

I like having wildlife in the garden.

In Borneo some of it, like the King Cobra, was extremely lethal, but one wasn't about to interfere with their legitimate comings and goings. The macaques, not above attacking if you turned your back on them, weren't at all cute, and the silver leaf monkeys would crap all over the verandah if left undisturbed; so I'm not over fond of simians. Those who recall my tales of "Alice" will be aware that I'm not too bothered by having dangerous wildlife live under the sofa either.

Children need to learn about these things; its what life on earth is all about. Let the kids watch the fox and her pups; its educational and the kind of memory that will stay with them for a lifetime.

"Mummy, there's a monster under the bed"
"Don't worry, Alice will deal with it"

Children need to learn about these things; its what life on earth is all about. Let the kids watch the fox and her pups; its educational and the kind of memory that will stay with them for a lifetime.

Quite agree Blacksheep, also this mollycoddling of kids nowadays may well be partly, or possibly wholly, responsible for the huge increase in them being allergic to this and allergic to that.

As for diseases lets put this in perspective: Sarcoptic mange (or scabies) is an skin disease which can affect a variety of species including humans, dogs, goats, horses and ponies, pigs, rabbits, sheep, and less commonly cats.

In England and Wales, leptospirosis is very rare, with an average of 40 cases being reported each year catchable from cattle and rats as well.

racedo
I had the same problem when I lived at Bookham in Surrey a few years ago. They had their dens in the National Trust land at the back of the house. Caused a lot of damage to my veg patch, also a threat to our dog by leaving their droppings everywhere, they also had mange.

Problem solved during a visit to the zoo at Port Lympne and buying a bag of Zoo Poo (Lion Sh1t) and spreading a few lumps around the edge of the garden where they used to enter. Smells a bit at first but it solved the problem. As a bouus, it also got rid of next doors cat who used to crap in my garden. Win Win solution all round. :D:D:D

Most zoos sell this - make sure you get the big cat version and not elephant dung - it will not work.

Q. What's got a 100 balls and fcuks foxes.
A. A 12 bore shotgun

See if Airship fancies surrogating them. Hug?

Quote:
Children need to learn about these things; its what life on earth is all about. Let the kids watch the fox and her pups; its educational and the kind of memory that will stay with them for a lifetime.
Quite agree Blacksheep, also this mollycoddling of kids nowadays may well be partly, or possibly wholly, responsible for the huge increase in them being allergic to this and allergic to that.


I agree kids shouldn't be mollycoddled and these 2 aren't and have already stood and watched as fox played around in the garden late of an evening.

However on these occcasions I believe fox was transiting through so not bothered.

Unlike other poster I don't have huge garden with nature reserve at the bottom, its a standard sized garden in a 1930's house.

It is also useful to bear in mind the response of a mother to her pups being under threat, its what she percieves as a threat NOT what a 2 1/2 year old child percieves as a threat.

I don't really want or need to have to take a child to hospital after been attacked by a fox. It rarely happens BUT that is of small comfort if your are holding the exception in your arms in casualty.

I will chase the humane group who relocate foxes again BUT by early next week if they don't respond other methods start coming into play.

Arcniz - Yes, my post followed yours, but egoistically you assumed that I would only reply to you rather than the several other posts preceeding yours. I was, in fact, responding to Hellsbrink's statement about urban foxes being released into the wild.

And, I happened to have signed off with this: I really don't want to turn this thread into a hamster wheel of hunt anties and pros btw... :=To clarify further, this was for two points, the first being that I agreed with Hellsbrink, ie that I don't PERSONALLY believe that releasing urban foxes into the wild is at all humane either, and secondly, that meant that I wanted to be constructive to the original poster's problem - ie, the proximity of feral animals to his young children on the CHILDREN'S territory, rather than turning this thread into an unconstructive tirade of pro and anti country sports. This is, of course, based on the assumption that Racedo doesn't happen to live in either the middle of a deer park or in the Delaware wilderness.... :hmm:

Unlike other poster I don't have huge garden with nature reserve at the bottom, its a standard sized garden in a 1930's house.


Likewise, except my garden is a nature reserve!

It's quite true about urban foxes being unable to adapt to the wild.

Urban foxes eat such crap that they tend to die at around two years old anyway. Look at the coat of an urban fox and compare it with that of a rural fox and you'll see what I mean. For the scatologists amongst you, the poo also tells a story.

The foxes around me (urban) are getting really bold. Around a year ago, a kid nearby was attacked as he slept in his cot by a fox that had got in through a cat flap. And I also saw a fox trotting -- bold as brass -- up Charlton Church Lane, quite a busy road, in full daylight.

I see foxes every day, quite literally.

All that said, I'm still not sure how racedo solves his problem!

frostbite - If you don't want the brock killed, monkey nuts will save your lawn. Just sprinkle them around and he'll have them away. The problem is, he may tell his friends.....

Its getting the bloody monkeys to sit still though...

If you want to not mind the foxes, then don't mind them.

But if you want them gone, then be honest about it, and shoot them.

I mean foxes don't just go away, and live somewhere else, in fox paradise, just because you get someone else to get rid of them for you, any more than the meat in the blister packs in the supermarket didn't come from some animal which was born and bred and raised and killed and cut up expressly so you could eat it and enjoy doing so.

Don't be squeamish or morally weak. You want them gone, kill them yourself.

I say this as a hunter and as a carnivore.

Nice one Gainsey!

Gainesy!! Bloody hell.....

Bluewolf - It's alright for you, living where you do, but I think you'll find (and I stand to be corrected) that racedo lives in an urban environment where a misplaced shot could do a fair bit of damage! :ok:

One should make a point of never misplacing one's shots, angels ;)

What ever happened to a 12 gauge with No. 4 shot?

Mr Wolf, point taken and I must confess to not being bad shot myself, but could I guarantee not to send one hurtling through next door's kitchen?.....

Probably, but.....:}

:ok:

Bluewolf - It's alright for you, living where you do, but I think you'll find (and I stand to be corrected) that racedo lives in an urban environment where a misplaced shot could do a fair bit of damage!

So true as local Constabulary would be there quicker than they would be if an old lady was getting mugged, followed up by Heli telly overhead and an appearance on Sky News being led away.

If shooting them was possible I'd meander over to the Military Aircrew sit and call in a strike or meander over to the Local Council Website who would just go on strike.

See a fox regularly trotting round of an evening.
It's a really skinny, mangey object.
Perhaps I should just shoot it to put it out of it's
misery.
"Gotta be cruel to be kind" sort of thing.
As long as it stays away from my "Chuks" it's safe.

I have the feeling that it "Knows" that already.

Spoke with the Humane bunch as detail by DX and they suggested something called Scoot and laying it over a couple of weeks.

Will try this first as otherwise its Release the Hounds.

I suppose Four Fox is definitely better than a Fox 4.

One of the dangers of 'euthanising' a vixen at this time of year is that her cubs might subsequently starve to death . . .

I'm no huggy-fluff and supported fox-hunting when I was young. Don't know what I think nowadays as hunting is, ostensibly, outlawed and I've become detached from the agricultural scene.

It's good for youngsters (of the human kind) to see 'wildlife' in as natural a surrounding as possible, but I'm not certain that the life of an urban fox is what nature intended.

Not when you've seen one eat a cat.
I prefer cats as companions.

Not when you've seen one eat a cat.

Or running through a hen-house biting the hens' heads off in a killing frenzy, the last time I saw the results of that there were about 30 dead hens scattered about.

I've never seen one eat a cat.

I did hope 'my' vixen would but she just seemed to keep clear of next door's cat.

My niece's cat attacked a perfectly innocent "just passing through" fox, apparently by leaping on it's back and sticking all those claws in. According to niece you never heard such a shriek, followed by fox accelerating rapidly towards hole in hedge. As the hole was not large enough for fox plus pax it was at that point that the SLF unloaded itself.

One has two of these things (http://www.foxtrap.co.uk/ourshop/prod_79213-GALVANISED-51quot-FOX-TRAP-WITH-9quot-BAIT-COMPARTMENT.html) on 17 acres.

One uses quarter-chickens, unthawed frozen jobs, as bait, liberally smeared with cheap stinky tinned dog-food.

Caught 14 of the buggahs so far this calendar year. Oddly, that's exactly how many of my hens the foxes pinched in the whole of last year.

They receive a .22 in the bonce and a viking funeral.

I'd put my money on a cat against a fox anyday.

:E

http://i.thisislondon.co.uk/i/pix/2009/02/kate-jamie-500x647.jpg

Nice one. :)

Well, Radar66, no hard feelings. Perhaps I´m just a bit soft in the head for foxes.

Where I live, there are a few small families of red fox spread over the sq miles nearby. I sympathise with them because the ones that can be occasionally glimpsed are delicate and beautiful compared to the other killers in our woods. They are greatly outnumbered by larger and meaner species, which - when combined with local small rodents - actively carry just about every inexorably deadly communicable disease that humanity has fretted about since year zero. Tough neighbourhood, in that regard.

After much thought and experiment, I have settled on suasion as the main control for troublesome critters, including the neighbors. When they are out of line I do not instinctively mow them down, but simply insert some worrisome element in the process loop, so they may have cause to reconsider and relocate the activity out of my range. Something as simple as a small radio, playing a local station, or a light triggered by motion, will usually do it.

The concept of due- process comes to mind. Animals understand even less of our world than do we. They cannot comprehend or plan for instant death, winging in out of clear air for no comprehensible reason. If given some warning they can understand, however, most will demur and choose to go on living rather than to risk all just to pee one more time on your petunias. Simple things - a radio set playing a strong local station, or a motion-triggered light, may save them from early demise and you, or me, from some millennia in 4-leg purgatory.

The problem with a motion-sensor light is that they will realise it does nothing UNLESS there is something that happens when the light coming on. Even then it can't be a "regular" occurrence as they'l learn to ignore that.

Now, a motion sensor rigged up to a sprinkler system set in the area they like to frequent would have a nice effect; for starters.........

The council will only 're-house' foxes. I think that they should be destroyed, so call Rentokil or another commercial pest controller who are less constrained by liberal sentiment. You are quite right that the foxes are very attractive, but incompatable with your children, and their life style.

Radar: :ok: You know my views on this ;)

Firestorm

Pest controllers are restricted to what they can do with foxy-woxy too. They also take him/her back to the "natural habitat" where he/she slowly dies of starvation as he/she has lost the instnct to hunt. That's unless a true wild fox gets them first, then they die painfully from wounds and/or infections before they die of starvation.

There's no option for the pest controllers, I think it's actually a law brought in by the fluffies who took control in 197 that MUST be complied with.

Yup, if you did that to a dog you would be jailed for animal cruelty. But if it's a fox it's legal. Yet they tried to ban hunting with hounds for being "inhumane"......