to try and get rid of the fuckity fuck fucking foxes? HELP!

[Graze22]

Live on a slightly scabby street where people don't care much about their bins, overload them and don't have lids on etc. There is also a Chinese restaurant over the road so there is a huge industrial bin full of food on our road. A few nights a week the foxes come and have a party. They screech that hideous bloody screech around midnight and onwards fighting each other I assume. Last night there were about six of them. This morning the pavements were strewn with rubbish, next doors nappies everywhere and old food.

They are totally unafraid of me when I go out and shout pathetically to try and scare them off. One followed me home after an evening out the other day, sauntering along like he was bloody cock of the walk. He was clearly saying 'look lady, I own this town and you better get bloody used to it cos I aint going anywhere'. They are all over the streets at night and don't seem to give a flying fuck about people. Don't cower or hide in the shadows or anything like that.

I HATE them and think they are disgusting horrible vermin and am desperate for them to stop waking me up at night. And the screeches terrify my toddler who thinks they are monsters coming to get him.

What can I do other than write to the council to beg them to do something about the bins? Should I buy a rifle?

Phone the Environmental Health dept at the council about the bins.

Also there is stuff called 'Scoot' (I think) that you can buy and water round the area in a watering can - may take 2 goes - but it really puts foxes off. It's non toxic.
(I had a problem with foxes in my garden bothering my cat so I watered it all over the garden and driveway on two occasions and it really worked).

Start pestering the Council and your local councillor - with pictures of foxes, rubbish etc. They need to do something about the rubbish because as long as there's a food source around, getting rid of the foxes you do have (which they won't do in any case) will just create a desirable vacancy to others who are within loping distance.

We have a few urban foxes here (we have hens), but they're really quite timid and run away, very quickly, if they hear you approach.

One yesterday ran past me at a million miles an hour, and trampled my camomile plants in its haste.

PS - and foxes eat rats among other things. That's another reason to get on top of the rubbish on your street. If you didn't have foxes around, you'd likely have a serious rodent problem.

Does the Scoot really work?

I feel like these are superhuman foxes. They are so bloody brazen. They just look at me if I try and scare them off.

What can the council do about the bins? The issue seems to be that the neighbours have an excessive amount of rubbish that they can't fit/can't be bothered to fit in the bins. Can the council really do anything about that other than send some pointless leaflet through their door?

God I am embarrassed about where I live now! RATS! That is so grim.

YANBU to complain about the rubbish.
YABU to complain about the foxes - and there is no point in moving them on because another lot will just move into their territory.

Nothing to be embarrassed about. Most urban areas have rats - and foxes. It's just a question of keeping them under control, usually, and good housekeeping/denying them food sources is the main meaure.

Yes, I would contact environmental health. And I know you were joking about the rifle, but it would make little difference, plus I don't think you can just shoot 'em as you please! I may be wrong but I don't think that's how pest control of foxes works.

Is it unreasonable to want to sleep through the night! I realise foxes live in London. I've lived here all my life. But it is disgusting and they keep me up all night with their screeching. If a neighbour was screaming like that I'd complain about it too! I don't care about street noise, cars etc but this is ridiculous.

I think the screeching is shagging, not fighting

Throw a bucket of water over them when they do it? Maybe then you'll stem the tide of baby foxes

Practice your sad face and phone the daily mail! You know they love a good mutant fox story.

Sorry couldn't resist.

The rubbish needs to be dealt with by the council and the carry out might have to buck up their act if environmental health is phoned. You could have a serious rat problem if the foxes go.

I am so going to ring the Daily Mail. Maybe I'll bite one of my children and say it was a fox for more of a story.

Or we could all dress as foxes?

I am so going to ring the Daily Mail. Maybe I'll bite one of my children and say it was a fox for more of a story.

Hahaha. Brilliant.

do foxes get benefits? Because that would really help my case with the Mail I think.

Apparently if a man pees in their territory it drives them off. Has to be a man, not a woman this may or may not be true, I heard it from someone who heard it from someone who heard it from etc etc

But PLEASE do bite your child and ring the Daily Mail about it.

If you could prove the fox was of Eastern European descent the Mail would be round photographing your sad face within minutes .

You have my sympathies OP. I live opposite a park and the noise some nights is horrendous. It's like no other noise.

Poor DS was traumatised when I provided scientific evidence to "What does the fox say?"

we live in the countryside. its a constant battle between us and "he who cannot be named". we have chickens. a couple of practical things. mens wee does work. get men/boys to pee in a bucket. soak rags in it then tie them around your fences. they need "refreshing" every couple of weeks to carry on working. if you have a local zoo/petting zoo nearby then some of the larger animal dungs spread as fertiliser across your lawns/flowerbeds also works but it stinks to high heaven and attracts flies. however, the best way to deter them is the old country method. I will be flamed but here goes... dead fox hang it up a few feet off the ground and leave it there til it rots then replace. works every time but will make you look like you are a witch or something.

The council can definitely do something about the rubbish. They can enforce fly tipping fines if you can get them on board. They don't want the costs of extermination any more than you do and if it's that bad there's a good chance your street has other infestations.

Thanks for all the advice on here guys. Does anyone have much experience with a positive outcome from writing to the council. I am concerned I cam across as a bit of a braying idiot 'I say, this is just appalling I feel as though I am living in squalor what what do hurry up and fix the problem of a crisp packet being left on the pavement'.

I live in a city and I love the foxes!! Round here (in a city) they never touch the bins (though the magpies do on bin day). Its quite leafy here and they just feed on small vermin and anything else really. I love seeing them in the garden and running around. We also have a regular rat problem but they tend to leave the bins too, apart from one rat that managed to climb up a privet hedge and gnaw into the top of a wheelie bin to get to the rubbish.

I agree that the screaming/crying is them shagging so that should pass now as its now time for the cubs/cute fur balls.

The only thing I don't like is the fact that we end up with the occasional poop in the garden and if I don't find it first one of my dogs will roll in it. This happened twice last week! (probably same poo as I couldn't find it).

Definitely get the council to sort out the rubbish problem as that would concern me a lot more than a bit of 'nature' in the city!

Watch springwatch!!

nostress - hmm watch springwatch? that wont make me like foxes any better. perhaps next time one of them rips the head off of 20 or 30 of my chickens, or digs out a pet rabbit from the cage I ought to get BBC to come and film that. sorry, there is nothing that is ever going to make me like them. they are nasty, flea ridden, vermin.

Concur that they are horrid vermin. Also I always thought that noise was a shagging noise but I was looking right at them last night and they were not shagging but screaming at each other to back off territory etc. Also isn't the mating season over? (knows nothing about foxes)

I used to agree with you nostress when I lived in another part of London (same centrality) and saw them occassionally. I'd gasp and wonder at the magic of nature and think serene thoughts about the beauty of man and animal living harmoniously, the foxes by night, the people by day, ah what a wonderful city I live in that I can experience wildlife and go to The Box to watch people pulling razor blades out of their vaginas all in one night!

And then I moved here and the fox mafia made it clear that they ran the show.

This sums it up for me!

Disclaimer: The first part I mean re 'god has given us a gift'

In case anyone thinks I am an aspiring fox murderer and reports me to the police.