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?

OP YABU to tell your neighbours to do anything. Foxes are highly unlikely to attack your child. If it comes to that, seagulls, squirrels and many other common animals have been known to attack people. Doesn't mean this is likely or that you can't enjoy them as wildlife.

Personally I think you are being rather mean, as I don't think having foxes around really needs to limit your use of the garden. I think that's pretty previous and you're going to deny two older people something they love to do.

But if you must say something, fgs don't be all passive aggressive about it. Just have the decency to say you know you have no right to dictate what they do in the garden, but you'd really appreciate it if....

I think any wild animal can be a thread to children, but foxes are so hugely unlikely to attack if unprovoked. So make a noise when you go in the garden and they will scarper.

All of my kids have slept in their pram/buggy in the garden fwiw.

No harm in asking your neighbours to not feed, but not a lot you can do if they chose to. I am not sure that the council would be interested?

Pacific yes that's what I meant :)

Where I grew up we had rabies - well, we didn't but it was around - and you just had to be careful as sometimes totally non-threatening animals would act strangely and you'd need to call the police to come out and shoot them. We still played out, though!

Yes, where I grew up too.
And fox tape worm - that used to really freak me out.

curious would you put your child on the deck if your neighbours had dogs?

What Revolting said. Your thread title is overly pompous and aggressive

Highly irresponsible and selfish of the neighbour.

Never mind whether or not they're a threat to children, if they're getting into bins and scattering rubbish around it's totally unfair of the neighbour to be deliberately attracting them to a residential area.

You are surely not going to leave a 7 month old and 3 year old in the garden alone so not sure what the issue is.

Feeding foxes makes no difference to whether they will come into your garden or not. Your garden is clearly their territory. If you get rid of one fox another will appear and take over the territory.

We have foxes in our garden (as do most of the urban population as we stole their areas). They have never stopped DD playing in the garden (they run away if she is out there) and they add to the diversity of our very urban area. I love having wildlife in my garden.

They are obsessed with the foxes

This. I completely agree with your view but the above means you are stuffed. You may as well ask someone to stop feeding their pet dog.

Wait for them to pop their clogs I'm afraid...

But the food isn't attracting them. They would come anyway?

Of course the food is attracting them! They've only made it their territory because it has food in it.

I'd rather have foxes in my garden than cats. If the foxes go away I bet there will still be cat shit in your garden.

Dogs don't tend to jump fences; foxes do. I love to see them, but would never feed them or encourage them. They do spread disease, and have fleas etc, and their droppings absolutely stink.

Get a big, fox-proof fence built.

Randy - it would depend on the dog. If it was a massive dangerous breed, then I probably would've thought twice about moving here in the first place.

Oh I know what you need to do. Orchestrate a conversation with the neighbours and mention in passing that "oh we had the RSPCA out the other day, we had a very sick fox in the garden! Poor thing was in a bad way, the RSPCA told us they see this all the time now as people are feeding them an unnatural diet, they mean well of course, but they are making the foxes ill. So sad..."

Well, I think you are being a little bit unreasonable. I can't see why the foxes would stop you being able to put your child out to sleep, or play in the garden. There has, I believe, never been a case of a baby or child being killed or seriously injured by a fox. And they are predominately nocturnal (or diurnal?) in urban areas, so not too likely to come into your garden at the times of day your children are likely to be out, anyway. Besides which - they are generally about the size of a cat (though look bigger because of the bushy coat), so not at all comparable to a "massive dangerous breed" of dog.

On the other hand, if they are pooing on your lawn, or scattering rubbish, I can see that makes your home environment significantly less pleasant. So I guess on those terms it would not be unreasonable to speak to your neighbours and let them know about your concerns. Is there any way you can lock your bins, so the foxes can't get at the rubbish in them?

Can you fox proof your garden? You could buy one of THESE motion activated water guns. These are really effective and will discourage the foxes from your garden.

I wouldn't like my nieghbours feeding foxes because the food might attract rats. I hate rats.

My FIL feeds foxes I would have considered it one of his endearing traits. However he lives is a community where it is mostly adults/retired folk. No kids to be concerned with except ours when the visit and they never let them out of eyeshot. I think YANBU when you have a young child.

please, won't anyone think of the children???!

ffs. Foxes are as dangerous as any other animal - ie. leave it alone and it'll leave you alone.
I love the fact that some people seem to know better than the RSPCA.

Oakmaiden I recall the fox incident and the twins in London who were attacked in their cots.

I'd talk to the neighbours curious but don't expect them to stop.

curious Would you really move house if your neighbours suddenly got a "massive and dangerous" dog?

The Fox website someone linked below says:
'do not feed too much. It will make the foxes dependent on you. Also, it will encourage the foxes to hang around rather than go off foraging and can lead to excessive damage and fouling in your neighbours' gardens.'

It also says, 'Avoid potential problems by being considerate to your neighbours.'

Surely filling plates several times a day counts as excessive, the foxes are indeed hanging around and becoming dependent, and the people feeding the foxes are absolutely NOT being considerate?

I have nothing against urban foxes, but I am surprised so many people think it is ok to deliberately attract them in large numbers even when it causes problems for neighbours. Truly, we are a nation of animal lovers....

Candy - I wouldn't move house, but it would have made me consider moving into one in the first place.