Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5

Original poster

to think we DO live in a world where we can leave the bavk door open

113 replies

TraineeBabyCatcher · 10/02/2013 23:31

There's been an article in (forgive me) the dailyfail about a baby who's finger was ripped of my a fox that got in the house. I shall not link you to it- long story short, back door got left open, fox came in and attacked baby.

Whilst I.can understand that if you live in an area where there are a lot of foxes/fox attacks then you do need to be careful but many people have commented on saying that anything could have happened, baby could have been snatched etc.

Please tell me I am not living a deluded life thinking its okay to leave your back door open whilst your in the house?!

OP posts:

purplepenguin86 · 10/02/2013 23:33

YANBU and we have been known to leave ours open when not in the house

WorraLiberty · 10/02/2013 23:35

It's totally area dependent I think.

DizzyZebra · 10/02/2013 23:35

I left my door open while i was in and someone walked in and stole my laptops. I didn't even hear them. So i wouldn't do it again.

TBF though, that same house was burgled while i was out despite being locked up.

I think its unreasonable to say we live in a world... Maybe you live in an area that you can. Nothing about the area i live in now worries me, but my past experience had an effect. There are definitely areas that you can't.

PandaOnAPushBike · 10/02/2013 23:35

My parents left their backdoor unlocked while they were upstairs. Some lowlife sneaked in and stole the few Christmas presents they had managed to buy their grandchildren out of their pension money. My mum was devastated all for a few Rupert annuals and tubes of Jellytots.

squeakytoy · 10/02/2013 23:37

Depends on the area you live in.

I wouldnt do this at night time. We have a lot of wildlife in our area and it would not surprise me that they would be brave enough to come into the house at night.

My MIL regularly gets foxes in her conservatory. However, they run a mile at high speed the moment anyone sees them.

There are also plenty of areas where burglary is rife and leaving your back door open under cover of darkness is tantamount to inviting an opportune thief to enter.

Original poster

TraineeBabyCatcher · 10/02/2013 23:37

Good point Dizzy.

OP posts:

Original poster

TraineeBabyCatcher · 10/02/2013 23:38

I wouldn't at night, but during the day when awake and milling about.

OP posts:

PurpleStorm · 10/02/2013 23:38

Depends where you live I suppose.

Our back garden is secured with fences and gates, so we don't generally worry too much about the back door being open when we're wandering about the house (weather permitting). I've never seen any foxes near us either, although of course this doesn't mean that there aren't any!

But there's plenty of houses where the back door opens onto the driveway, or into an unsecured back garden, so if we lived in a house like that, I wouldn't leave the back door wide open. My parent's neighbours had a purse stolen from their kitchen after doing this (their back door opens onto their driveway), and they live in a pretty safe neighbourhood.

FreshLeticia · 10/02/2013 23:38

We leave the back door open and so does my MIL who lives next door.
The real foxes in the country are a wild animal and are too wary of humans to come near. We leave them be unless they are after our hens and they stay away from us.
Unfortunately because urban people feed and pet these wild animals, because they think they are cute and cuddly, they become very bold and not shy of humans. Hence the problem.
They are wild. They will always hunt prey and if that means your baby if it is easy to get to then that is what they will do.
I'd like to bet that someone in the area where that baby was hurt is feeding and trying to 'tame' foxes. They are the culprit, not the fox.

lisad123everybodydancenow · 10/02/2013 23:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

purplepenguin86 · 10/02/2013 23:42

Lisa, I'm so glad I'm not the only one!

CalpolInMyEar · 10/02/2013 23:43

Depends where you live, in this house I regularly forget to lock the garage or front door while we're home or overnight, but in the last one we locked the front and back door even when we were sitting in the living room with the curtains open, facing the drive.

DizzyZebra · 10/02/2013 23:44

The laptop incident was in the morning at some point.
My daughter was asleep with me it really scared me.
The car keys were on the side so we were lucky. They didn't take the laptop power cables though, i think my dog must have come down to see what was happening and they just scarpered with what was in their arms. She is harmless but if i didn't know her i wouldn't take my chances.

Foxes aren't a concern for me. My dog that i have now would scare them off if they came close enough.

Fresh - I agree with you. I have known people put milk down for them. WHY? They don't drink milk. The last time this sort of thing was in the news i wondered if some wanker had been doing that and that was why it was sniffing around the baby.

GrimmaTheNome · 10/02/2013 23:44

I used to leave our back door open if the dog was outside - stopped that last year when we had rats in the garden. So now its closed (but not locked) while he's out.

So YANBU.

HarrietSchulenberg · 10/02/2013 23:46

Definitely area dependent. When I lived in London I had every door and window locked at night, out of awareness of burglars rather than fear of wildlife. My car got broken into regularly when parked right outside the house so I knew there were burglars about.

Where I live now (far, far away from London) I can go out and leave the back door open. Mainly because I have an enclosed garden and to get in it a burglar would have to climb over several fences to get in and out, and TBH I doubt anyone would bother to do that on the offchance that a door might be open. Too likely to be seen. BUT, I don't do it just in case someone does take that chance.

We have virtually no crime here but every now and again opportunist thieves arrive and catch unwary people all off guard. The only wildlife to come through my backdoor is the half-dead rodent kind that Tailless Cat brings in with him from time to time.

lazybastard · 10/02/2013 23:49

Leave a door open? Not a chance! You obviously haven't met our neighbours.

HollyBerryBush · 10/02/2013 23:49

I live in London, not that far from the area in the article. I never lock doors.

thesnootyfox · 10/02/2013 23:52

We often leave our back door wide open. We live in a small house and if we have been cooking it needs to be open to get rid of the cooking smells.

In the summer the doors are open all day. I have been known to forget they are open and go out without closing them. Not very sensible.

Illgetmegoat · 10/02/2013 23:55

I agree with pps that say it's area dependent.

When we were in town there was a spate of burglaries and they were hopping the garden fences and trying the french windows - didn't matter if people were in or not, broad daylight too. Rurally we had more of the whole house being stripped due to seclusion and fewer concerns over being caught - rather than nicking anything you can from the rooms you can get to without being heard and then legging it, it was taking everything because no one was there to interrupt you. Less opportunistic, more premeditated. IME only.
Thing is there have always been thieves but we haven't always had an abundance of high value, very portable items etc - this is usually my answer to my GPs 'in my day we could leave our doors open' 'yes, but you had FA to steal Nan'.

When we were rural the wildlife were quite happy to stay wild, apart from an easy chicken here or there. I did once have to manhandle a peacock out of the kitchen.
YY to FreshLeticia though - town foxes and the twits that try and entice them are a real problem. They don't seem to realise what harm they are doing to the foxes in the long run.

TheSecondComing · 10/02/2013 23:56

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

expatinscotland · 10/02/2013 23:57

It's two degrees here and snowing in some parts. No, I can't say I'd be leaving the door open.

And yes, in some areas, it's more likely you'd be burgled.

thesnootyfox · 10/02/2013 23:59

In the summer it's the norm to leave the doors open until you go to bed isn't it? Dh and ds1 spent most of the school holidays sleeping in the garden.

Birdsgottafly · 11/02/2013 00:05

Where i live, you cannot have anything in sheds, or the backgarden.

People have been burgled whilst they are in the back/front and windows are open.

It depends on what you have in your house/where you live etc.

So, yes you are deluded if you think that you are safe in your house with the doors unlocked in every area of the UK.

ComposHat · 11/02/2013 00:07

I bet they claimed that it was an asylum seeking, long haired lefty, black disabled fox claiming benefits and was in a same sex relationship BECAUSE THAT. IS WHAT. THEY ALL DO. pound to a penny the baby's mother was described as having enviable curves and her house described as her 'spacious 200k home'

NoelHeadbands · 11/02/2013 00:08

I've had the back door open all afternoon. The kitchen was bloody boiling as the oven was on all day, but the heating was on for the rest o the house.

To be fair though, the back garden is only accessible from the front of the house, e garden is built into the hillside and completely closed off. To humans that is, wildlife would have access

Flip

1 2 3 4 5

Swipe left for the next trending thread