Kitchen Garden Forum

An interesting column in last Saturday's Telegraph

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthc ... ation.html

I hope the urban fox fanciers read and digest. But then, if they keep watching Springwatch and other similar programmes wildlife will remain cute and cuddly

Hi Alan,
Robin Page is to be congratulated for a very honest piece of journalism which in today's media is scant to say the least.
Magnificent as they are Foxes will never be the friend of man and the same goes for the Badger.
What I find so strange is that it is perfectly legal to shoot a Fox when it becomes a threat to human activities yet the Badger, whose only preditor is man, has protection to a degree beyond other UK mammals.
There are too many Foxes and certainly many more Badgers than nature can reasonably be expected cater for.
Sadly it is the Ahhhhh factor at work all the time.
It is those who put animal life above human life who get the say on the visual and audio media and they simply exploit the situation by committing emotional blackmail.
JB.

Hi Johnboy

And as if to prove us right, another fox attack...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/sussex/10363646.stm

But, as usual, the fox was innocent!
"Trevor Weeks, founder of the charity East Sussex Wildlife Rescue and Ambulance Service, called for a proportionate response to the Brighton incident.

"It has been known for years by the educational authorities that foxes live under such makeshift buildings at schools, so it should come as no surprise that there was a fox present," he said.

"The fox did not attack the child - it was defending itself. There is a significant difference.

"Any wild animal is going to turn round and bite if you grab its tail.""

Try explaining that load of nonsense to a three-year-old

An excellent article and he endorses what I have always maintained, Foxes are wild animals and should not be encouraged into ones garden by feeding them.

A lady I worked with, always referred to "her" foxes, which she fed regularly in her urban garden. She took umbrage when I pointed out that they were not "hers" but wild creatures which should be left to their own devices and definitely NOT be fed by her. She insisted that "her" vixen brought her cubs to show them to her. She wouldn't accept that the vixen brought the cubs for the food only. She has a very "romantic" vision of foxes.....and she keeps pet rabbits! I don't know how she will feel if "her" foxes kill her rabbits...probably think it was another "strange" fox!

I love wildlife and foxes are magnificent animals but I would not encourage them into my suburban garden by feeding them. I feed the birds and that's it.
Cheers.

One wonders what East Sussex Wildlife Rescue and Ambulance Service's take on rats is

Hi Alan,
Elaine hits the nail on the head with "my fox" because the woman would genuinely have thought what she had said as true. The prime instinct of any wild animal is to feed itself and especially its progeny. A Vixen will starve herself to provide for her young. Now this I admire but people seem to forget that anything that is there is theirs by right because they found it first irrespective of what it is. I suspect that the more Urban Foxes there are the more incidents will occur. The Rural Fox although the same animal acts in an entirely different way. They will observe your chickens for days on end and wait until the time is right and when they strike they will get into a poultry enclosure and slaughter the lot.
The East Sussex Trust spokesperson will have a very plausible excuse as to why your poultry have been attacked but if you asked them to pay for the replacements I wonder what the response would be!
JB.

Both Alan and Johnboy are correct regarding foxes.

Robin Page is a true countryman, that's why the BBC treated him so shabbily, since he does not fall in line with the bunnyhuggers that now dominate wildlife reporting.

There are no true countrymen on TV nowadays, I suppose the last one was Jack Hargreaves, it is a shame that our youngsters are fed a diet of Walt Disney instead of the true facts of nature.

Barney

Chaps, I fully agree, but do be fair to the Ambulance bloke, any wild animal whose tail is grabbed while it is dozing under shelter will automatically bit what has hold of its tail, rats included.

Imagine the damage if it had been a badger!

Do these feeders of foxes arrange for cover when they go on holiday? That is when a lot of hungry foxes will be congregated in a small space.

Peter

Don't forget the quote "It has been known for years by the educational authorities that foxes live under such makeshift buildings at schools, so it should come as no surprise that there was a fox present," he said. So why had nothing been done for years? Foxes have no more place in educational buildings than rats.

Had an interesting discussion around this sort of stuff at our committee meeting the other day, what it boils down to we decided is the infantilisation and disneyfication of the general population.

I'd take a hedgehog to the vets, because they are in decline and they are useful, but I would not take what was traditionally regarded as vermin. I have heard of people taking pigeons to the vet with damaged feet or wing and know some old ladies who would resent that as a waste of a good meal.

Equating the UK to Africa, has anyone heard of ordinary suburban Nigereans encouraging Leapords, Hyenas or Lions to come into their gardens in Lagos to dine?

peter wrote:I'd take a hedgehog to the vets, because they are in decline and they are useful, but I would not take what was traditionally regarded as vermin. I have heard of people taking pigeons to the vet with damaged feet or wing and know some old ladies who would resent that as a waste of a good meal.

I have never taken, and would never take any wild animal to the vet. Firstly because I can imagine the scorn of our country vets if presented with hedgehogs, rats or foxes. Secondly because the whole history of evolution is one of death and suffering. Thirdly because it would cost a bomb and your old ladies might appreciate the vet's fee as potentially more nutritional than a damaged pigeon.

What perturbs me is what is being taught to the present generation of school children. There was a programme last night on the BBC World Service with children who are so knowledgeable about wildlife and conservation but the facts about nature are that it is one bloody great food chain and everything eats everything else will totally pass these children by. They will all think the Magpie is a wonderful bird because they will never be taught that it is one of the most murderous birds alive.
They get shot here and go back into the food chain as soon as possible.
This way I have managed to increase the amount of songbirds on my plot over the years. Now that is conservation!
JB.

Spot on JB.

There seem to be a bit of a media circus surrounding this subject. OK the two girls being attacked is obviously not nice and a bit extraordinary but the media have managed to hook onto the story about the boy pulling the fox's tail, which is a non-event in terms of national news.

The urban fox is back in the spotlight'

A four-week-old baby boy is "recovering well" after being attacked by a fox in his south-east London home, hospital staff said.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-21406854

Wildlife presenter Chris Packham: 'Tolerance needed for foxes'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21407979