Foxes

[LatteLady]

Just before I went out to supper tonight, found my next door neighbour in tears coming up her front path... her cat had been savaged by foxes. From the sounds of it, Ralph a sleek cream cat with a ginger tinge will need to be put down as the fox has ripped open his under belly.

This is the third incident in our area over the last week, another lady was walking her dog and had to get between the fox and her dog and then got attacked too.

Am I unreasonable to think that there should be a method of culling this urban menace?

Punk to be honest, I cant remember the article that well as it was some years ago (was around the time the fox savaged the baby in the cot) but I'm pretty sure they were in some way official-contracted by the council or similar because I remember being quite surprised. I think the council have the power to control vermin, so why not foxes- perhaps there is an official definition of vermin and foxes are included?

However, as I say, it was some time ago.

Councils don't have the right...actually they are opting out of many pest control services - giving it to private contractors...

Yes but presumably they're still paying the private contractor so they're still effectively ordering the code red on rattus rattus. Could be the same with foxes.

Oh goody, a poor likkle persecuted foxy thread. My favourite.
In towns they are a parasite. They are becoming more and more troublesome, and just because people love them, doesnt mean that they dont attack dogs, cats and humans. Ive seen one worrying my foal. Its mother soon saw it off!
As for hunt sabs, they are no more than obnoxious paid rent a crowds, who are happy to injure people and horses in order to protect a fox. How is that moral?

Oh goody!..a stuipid idiot fox feeder thread! We even buy them free range eggs..love wildlife..missing the badboy Hyenas!

Rats chew babies at night,not foxes!!

More anthropology. "Vermin" is a term like "weeds", which just means plants somewhere they're not wanted. "Vermin" means a species in a place they're not wanted, by the person who's speaking. Some species are more generally agreed to be "vermin" than others, like rats. Foxes, however, are not regarded as "vermin" by many people, as this thread demonstrates, and there is little point in the "foxes are vermin" brigade trying to persuade these other people of the validity of their point of view. Or vice versa.

Councils don't pay private contractors. We the public pay them - it's a private agreement. Councils are washing their hands of the whole business.

*1. Various small animals or insects, such as rats or cockroaches, that are destructive, annoying, or injurious to health.

1. Animals that prey on game, such as foxes or weasels.*

^Wild mammals and birds that are believed to be harmful to crops, farm animals, or game, or that carry disease, e.g., foxes, rodents, and...
Parasitic worms or insects.
Synonyms
pest^

wild animals which are believed to be harmful to crops, farm animals, or game, or which carry disease, e.g. rodents:

1 a : small common harmful or objectionable animals (as lice or fleas) that are difficult to control b : birds and mammals that prey on game c : animals that at a particular time and place compete (as for food) with humans or domestic animals.

That was the definition of "vermin" btw. One of which was taken from the Oxford English Dictionary.

Mankind is harmful to crops (genetically modified crops, bad farming methods. They are also harmful to farm animals - battery hens, pigs that cannot turn around in their own pens, cameras catching inhumane slaughter methods. As for game - well you have lots of poachers killing hares. So man is technically vermin? As for carrying disease - man is ripe with that too...

This is not a stupid fox feeder thread gotthe...there has been a discussion here encompassing anthropology - namely the emotive response and historical/mythical context of our wildlife, proportional response and media hysteria.

Dogs attack people but no one calls for a ban or cull on all dogs. Cows kill people in farm situations - no one takes up a gun and strides around killing cows.

Personally I don't feed foxes as I feel animal populations, unless there are certain circumstances - need to grow to their natural size. But that is one small issue. More importantly we are talking about hating creatures who are deemed evil, sly etc. They are animals, trying to breed, eat and live in the world.

Saggy

your preferred definition of the word "vermin" encompasses hawks, squirrels and eagles, as well as field mice.

Where do you stand on the extermination of all wildlife?

I never said mankind wasn't vermin, and I never said vermin should be eradicated. Controlled when they get out of control and become dangerous is more my line.
Those were also the top 4 definitions of vermin when I entered it I to my search engine not MY preferred anything.
Just because you have a sentimental about an animal doesn't mean you can excuse its behaviour or make it something it isn't.
Fox are a pest when they are outside their natural environment, aka towns, and a nuisance when it is in its own environment. People who sentimentalise them make it worse. Mankind is a parasite on this planet, most animals are a parasite on some other species to some extent.

so what did you intend to convey by pasting in a definition of "vermin?"

It was in answer to BlueStocking definition.

Bluestocking said:

"there is little point in the "foxes are vermin" brigade trying to persuade these other people of the validity of their point of view. Or vice versa."

which I think is true.

So basically you is saying 'I am right and I dont care what you say'?

'I am right and I dont care what you say'

That statement works for me

that's a very strange, and inaccurate, interpretation.

Is that they way you feel?

Not at all.

Councils and pest control - apparently they only have a statutory duty to control rats on their own land.

They have powers to control other 'pests' but more and more are not providing these services or are asking for contributions or are signposting residents to private contractors.

punk
ill join your fanclub.

Did you know that foxes are actually related to cats and not to dogs? I've never heard of foxes going for cats before.

related to cats and not to dogs

Repeating David Bellamy and Chris Packham's plea,

cat owners PLEASE don't let your cat out from dusk onwards. They are crepescular hunters (ie at night) and if every owner in Britain did this we could live with cats and birds in our gardens .