Neighbour cultivating fox den

Totally agree about cats, murdering bastards.
My neighbour also feeds the foxes and I like it because i'm nature deprived (London)

All of the people on here saying foxes are awful because they kill other animals - rabbits, chickens, mice etc - well for one they are a predator species, that’s what they do and it’s the way that nature keeps a balance, and it’s why mice and rats reproduce so prolifically. Foxes eat a lot of mice and rats thereby keeping those populations under control (well they would if humans weren’t so crap at disposing of their own filth, and didn’t leave food and rubbish on the streets).

But secondly what about cats? They also kill other animals, often birds and frogs. They crap in the flower beds. Their poo carries toxoplasmosis. I have had much more trouble in my garden from cats than I ever have from the foxes that wander in. My kids saw a neighbour’s cat pouncing on the poor fledgling blue tits we’d had nesting in the garden.

So why are posters on here calling foxes ‘vermin’, advocating putting poison in food, but not saying the same about cats?

They are not vermin, we are. They live in territories, have natural population control, we willy nilly take up land wherever we can for him use. We don't give a rats arse about who is affected.

I love your neighbour for her thoughtfulness, @Sunnyday14558 but her actions are misplaced. She needs to work with the wildlife trust so it's properly managed and not impacyful on the foxes or any other animal including humans.

Ref the smell buy some fabulous artifical grass cleaner and use that to disinfect it all.

Oh come off it. We have no natural landscape left in the UK. Virtually everything you look at is man made, even our national parks are almost entirely manmade landscapes. Hardly any ancient woodland left, heathland down to the last few percent. Wetlands almost all gone.

Just going by the amount of land that has a building or road on it and pretending that everything else is suitable habitat for wildlife is grossly disingenuous. We are one of the most wildlife depleted countries in the world.

When I got hens all advice about deterring foxes was deploying male wee around the boundary.

I obviously couldn’t do it and men were surprisingly reticent so relied on my brother’s occasional visits.

if only foxes knew to be scared of women!!

Just get one of the gadgets from the garden centre that emits a high pitch sound that they don't like, they'll soon find a new home.

Urban fox hunting. On Lambrettas.
That's what we need!

We had a vixen raise a family of seven cubs under our shed, so they were around from February to late July, and you couldn’t smell anything in the garden at all.

When we took down the old shed two years later, the den was exposed, and that had no smell either.

What a load of neurotic nonsense🤣

I appreciate this isn't pleasant, but if the rats were not dead in the kids' play area, they'd be running around it alive, during the night, urinating and potentially leaving behind leptospirosis. Whatever is killing these rats is doing you a favour.

Also, half-chewed rats are more in the wheelhouse of cats than foxes. Foxes eat or bury their kills. Cats don't. Are you sure it's not a neighbourhood cat doing this?

Goodness knows how anyone can think they have foxes in their garden with no smell. Foxes scent mark everywhere and it stinks. We have foxes around, which is fine, they might get rid of some of the rabbits, but we can certainly smell them. And they don't often venture into the garden, because of the dogs.

Foxes aren't classed as vermin actually, and the they have a low risk of transmitting disease to humans.

@Crwysmam Badgers will decimate a lawn looking for bugs. Worse than just about anything else. Deer are destroying the beach woods here and they are far too numerous. 2 types and they just breed like rabbits. We have an issue with too many red kites - other birds hate them near their nests.

Foxes have colonized cities. They should not be there in such numbers. They really should not be encouraged and, like cats, you will never keep them out. Some London foxes are huge. There’s still plenty of room in the countryside for a healthy population of foxes.

Sorry, those saying foxes do not attack pets, they do. My own cat was cornered by two foxes, late night security guard chased them away, thankfully. And I've seen a fox twice on my evening walks try and get a cat off a fence.

Wildlife, I've seen them chase squirrels for dinner but the squirrel got away. I've also seen one try to get inot the hedgehog box we had in the garden where a little hedgehog ran to. I ended up having to stay up about 3hrs, chasing the persistent fox with a hose, before it finally gave up on the hope of an easy meal.

Anyone who thinks foxes do not attack are daft imo. They need to eat.

We have foxes living in our garden. They come and go as they please without me encouraging them. It is lovely when they bring their cubs out. And I have seen them eating rats too.

What is the neighbour doing to actively encourage them?

No they don't. Stop spreading lies.

It's your responsibility to keep your dog under control. Why was it able to leave YOUR garden?

No self respecting fox will enter the garden of a big dog

Then the foxes that are noisily shagging in our garden and making our 60kg dog go crazy must not be very self respecting!

I still love them though.

We have had foxes living nearby for decades, very rarely any bother at all.

Then a neighbour decided to start feeding them and it's become absolute hell the past couple of years.

They feed them raw chicken from their door, morning and evening which the foxes then take to neighbouring gardens to consume, discarding anything they don't want and burying the surplus. They hang around for hours, waiting to be fed and defecate, urinate and vomit everywhere, they frequently pull the bins out and bring rubbish into our gardens on a daily basis.

What concerns me most of all is that the vixen no longer has any fear of human beings and will enter our properties if we leave the door open. Two weeks ago, I was putting washing out and I saw the vixen coming out of my backdoor with my cats bowl of biscuits. Unfortunately my cat must have tried to defend himself because he had a puncture wound to his shoulder and I've ended up with a vets bill for over £200.

There is no speaking to this individual as they have convinced themselves that the foxes will die without them feeding them and won't hear any different.

The reality is, that it is they themselves, that are the biggest threat to these wild animals because they have broken down the animals natural defense, caution around humans and made them visible during daylight hours rather than after dusk.

I'm all for helping nature, put out a bowl of water and maybe offer some dog biscuits when it's very cold but to feed twice daily, despite knowing the distress it is causing your neighbours is another level of selfish.

I agree

Sorry but that’s not true

Foxes made a den under my shed about 8 years ago and they had six babies and it was wonderful to see them all running around. Some of the adults visit my garden daily, which I enjoy.

That said, they can be a total pain for all the reasons mentioned, so I’m not surprised you’re not happy.

Incidentally, ours dug a massive tunnel between mine and my neighbours garden 😫