To tell my neighbour to stop doing this?

[curiousgeorgie]

My neighbours are both quite elderly, and I only really see them from my window when they're in the garden.

They are obsessed with the foxes.

They have ceramic plates on their decking and they fill them a few times a day with meat, bread & cheese for the foxes to eat.

There are bloody loads of them!! They are in my garden everyday so I worry about DD playing out there, and they also go in our bins and mess with the rubbish almost every night... Every morning I pick up all sorts of rubbish from my front lawn and driveway and am sick of it.

I want to knock on the door and ask them to stop feeding them which is bringing more and more of them here...

AIBU?

YANBU, foxes are vermin, aren't they? I used to work with a guy who fed their foxes, because he thought they were cute

YANBU. Why would anyone want to encourage vermin into their garden

urgh I hate foxes. Good luck with getting your neighbours to stop feeding them though.

I think it's illegal to feed any kind of vermin - be it rats, foxes or pidgeons. YANBU (even if I have a sneaking sympathy for your neighbours and the foxes)

what the RSPCA say

A far as I know foxes are not classes as vermin in the uk.

Oh, I love to see foxes in our garden but do NOT bloody feed them. They look nice and healthy and well-fed without that.

Recently I got up, opened the curtains and there were 4 foxes on the garage roof opposite . They looked great.
Thankfully they are not usually around during the day.

YANBU to ask your neighbours to stop feeding them unless you felt that would destroy what is otherwise a nice relationship?
I have never seen a fox staying when we even moved in the house - they scarper quickly.

yanbu to speak to them and tell them what you've told us - that the foxes are lovely to look at etc etc but they are making it impossible for you and your child to enjoy your garden. Your neighbours aren't psychic and unless you tell them they have no idea that their actions are affecting you in this way.

Vermin is just a relative thing isn't it. If we can eat it, milk it or make a toy of it then it's a 'good' animal.

I don't think you have a case for telling them to stop or even asking them. Feeding birds is actively encouraged isn't it, I've never been sure why, but this is no different.

Having said that I wouldn't feed them. This is like the cat thing isn't it. Neighbour buys a cat and everyone else has to live with it.

Is there a way to discourage them from your garden? Is it currently easier for them to come that way? After all the food is next door so there's no real reason for them to be in yours.

In your situation I would go and speak to them but instead of confronting them about it I would approach it from a different angle.

I would say that I was very concerned about the amount of the foxes in the area - mention your dd - then talk about how you were going to contact the council/RSPCA or whatever association would come out to deal with them, as they were really becoming a big problem - mention the other problems with bins etc. Then ask them if they have noticed an increase in the amount of foxes and have they been having problems with them too? Smile and then wait to see what they say...

I like cece's idea.

Totally irrelevant to the thread but my Gran hates chickens and my aunt (they live beside each other) bought some and the coop was getting nearer and nearer my gran's house. They would even walk in to her house - it drove her mad and the aunt total pita wouldn't listen to reason from anyone. The chickens kept getting eaten by foxes and after 4 lots she has given up. She still hasn't twigged that my gran had been leaving food out for the foxes to tempt them. My sneaky gran is 88

They are no threat whatsoever to a playing child. You dislike them. Your neighbours like them. You are both entitled to your own attitudes. You are not entitled to tell them to change theirs.

I think cece's idea is too subtle but think a polite 'would you mind not feeding them anymore as we cannot enjoy are garden as much as we would like?' is perfectly reasonable.

And yes, they are no danger. But they do poo and their poo stinks to high heavens and is very tenacious , so much as I don't dislike them I'd not want to see them encouraged to come to my garden.

Leaving food out could also attract rats.

Report them to the council.

Foxes eat rats and mice. So their presence should mean less of those, not more.

Surely you can get onto someone like the council to send them a letter? I'd hate it, fox's are dangerous around children you'd never be able to relax while they're playing in the garden

How are they no danger? I have a 7 month old and a tiny 3 year old who is not very strong and I've heard of foxes attacking children... Have you not?

There will always be cases where an animal attacks. Some dogs attack, it doesn't stop us from having them. Doesn't mean they're all dangerous.

Our neighbour across the square fed the pigeons who then flew across to sit on our roof, poo bombing our windows and garden on the way, not to mention gutters and roof. I went over one day when he was doing it ( not easy to catch as we normally only see him from upstairs) and told him how it affected us especially the getting poo on our windows bit. He got incredibly defensive started saying it was not illegal etc etc. I said that I know that but that I as his neighbour just wanted to ask him very kindly if he could stop as it bothered us. He kind of went away in a huff, however, we have not seen him feed the pigeons once since then!

Maybe your neighbours don't realise how uncomfortable you are with this and how it affects you. Keep it as non confrontative as you can. Good luck.

I am terrified of foxes and wouldn't go out in the garden if one was there but even I know they aren't really a threat to children.

I disagree... I absolutely think they're a threat to children.

Would you advocate parking my 7mo DD's pram on the decking or putting her outside on a blanket (during summer) when I'm in and out knowing the place is overrun with foxes?!