To poison these bloody foxes??

[curiousgeorgie]

Everyday I wake up to rubbish all over my garden and driveway... Foxes shit on my decking and today my doormat!!!

The whole place stinks and it's getting ridiculous. They live in the bit behind my garden because our back neighbours have fenced off the weeds at the back of theirs...

My next door neighbours feed them. 3 times a day from a plate on their decking. Whole loaves of bread and pieces of meat and blocks of cheese...

I just want to get rid of them. Day one when we saw four baby foxes running around our garden we thought it was lovely, but now it's totally ridiculous. I have a 1 year old and a 3 year old and every morning I have to go out and clean and hose before my daughter can go out.

It must be okay to poison them or something right??

Strawberry - do they make a huge mess of your garden and driveway? Do you wake up everyday to fox mess everywhere? Do you get your pram out the door to walk your eldest to school and put the pram wheels straight into foxes shit? Do foxes piss all over your decking and make the place stink? (Does your dog then roll in it, needing an almost daily bath??) are they so tame that they would approach your infant when she's trying to play outside? Do they chew up and ruin your children's outdoor toys and your dogs line in the garden? Do you have to hugely prohibit the time you can spend outside? Are they the bane of your fucking life??

If yes, and you still like them, you must be a saint.

Based on your last post, give thought to moving as the foxes aren't going to go anywhere and your description of the way they're impacting on your life sounds hard.

I'd move if it's that bad.

They pull rubbish out and spread it all over the garden and driveway if I've not secured the rubbish properly, and they pull the cover off the kids sandpit (so the cats can use it as a litter tray) and pull the kids toys out and shit everywhere, yes. They also attack all the pet cats that live in the street and have very (very, very) noisy sex in my garden.

And rolling in fox shit is one of my dogs favourite pastimes.

"

I've lived alongside urban foxes and now I have un-urban foxes. The list of suggestions above is excellent advice. Take it.

They come into my garden and shit in it and it gets walked in by humans if it's not spotted. My dogs roll in it. The foxes scream outside my window in mating season. Sometimes they wake me with a start but I don't want to kill them. That's just not normal.

Whoever said of the decking and potential rat problem is spot on. If you haven't got rats you have the foxes to thank.

So you have to clear up a bit before going into your garden? Big deal. So do I. It's life, something to which the fox has an equal right, accept it or move.

It is illegal to poison foxes.

What I would suggest is contacting your local council and asking them for a marksman or a trapper (or just contact details) to come out and sort the problem for you.

Are you urban or rural (apologies if you've already answered this, I couldn't see it in the posts).

I would absolutely poison them if it wasn't illegal (which I didn't know, I thought they were vermin.)

Yes, whenever the foxes annoy me, I throw down poison and kill all the wildlife and pet cats near my house indiscriminately. That'll teach those willfully inconsiderate little bastards a lesson.

I can sympathise with you OP but i cant imagine knowingly ever hurting a fox or any creature myself. I feel so guilty if i tread on a snail!

But I just wanted to add that the RSPCA are only interested in sick or injured animals. They don't do pest control or anything like that. I had a very sick looking fox in my garden a while ago and they came and took it away. It was the vixen and said that if she was gone then the rest of the pack (or whatever you call a family of foxes) would likely move on. Although they did say that if they could save it and get it fit for release then they would bring it back here to its home.

Although we haven't seen so many foxes since then so im guessing the ones whose den is a few doors down have in fact gone.

Urban... We're in Surrey but quite a built up area.

Oh ffs, only humans decided land boundaries, animals never had any part in it so no, if your garden has cats / foxes / birds / butterflies / any aspect of nature in it you can't kill it. Spend the effort on getting a grip.

OP I don't think you deserve the flaming you're getting, my nephew caught and nearly died from an infection that was linked to fox poo in my sisters garden.

I do think you should threaten your neighbours as they are being anti social by feeding and encouraging the foxes.

Good point is, how do you deal with urban foxes? If someone had said rats, everyone would be in favour of poisoning or setting traps. But because its "cuddly" foxes, the irrational responses come pouring out.

Apart from the clearing up of your communal bins area, which being communal, is going to be hard, some good suggestions. Poison might actually be effective and less cruel than trapping, but you aren't allowed to do it and you don't want to poison people's pet cats, dogs, etc..

We have communal bins where I live, and while they stink a bit in hot weather (nowhere near as bad as the smell of fox poo though!) we certainly don't have a fox problem, so I think what you are living with sounds pretty bad.

As an aside, I came across an animal trap when I was out running once. Fortunately there was nothing in it, but it was horrific and designed to trap an animal's leg by breaking it in its jaws. These are also illegal but people still use them, how anyone could live with causing such an agonising death is beyond me.

I totally sympathise with the OP and I can't believe people are suggesting she move house because of these pests. I also can't believe the stupid neighbours are feeding the foxes. They are wild animals not pets. I would definitely be calling the council until I got somewhere.

"But because its "cuddly" foxes, the irrational responses come pouring out."

No, I think you'll find that the irrational response came from the OP when she suggested illegally (and slowly and painfully) poisoning the foxes. It's just not normal. If you think it a good alternative to snaring (which is what you're talking about, trapping is different) that's not normal either.

Trapping and relocating is a legal, humane way of dealing with urban foxes who don't understand human-made boundaries or why the human has built in the fox's back yard. Poisoning, snaring or shooting is for the irrational and the not normal.

Home made pepper spray works a treat to keep cats away , loads of recipes on line , only drawback is having to reapply after crap weather, might work for mr fox too, if that fails wolf pooh!

The normal person's response to fox control

You'reNotCutOut No, I think you'll find that the irrational response came from the OP when she suggested illegally (and slowly and painfully) poisoning the foxes. It's just not normal. If you think it a good alternative to snaring (which is what you're talking about, trapping is different) that's not normal either

Gosh, the preachers are out today, aren't they?

No, I don't think poisoning foxes is "normal" - do many people? I said it was illegal. Did you miss the word illegal?

I get the impression the OP's thread title was facetitious, and she didn't seriously intend to poison foxes but was using the thread as place to vent her frustration. That is a pretty normal person's response to fox infestation I would say. Different from actually doing it.

YWBU to poison them yes. Some good advice on this thread in regards to deterrents OP, Suggest you use megashopbot.com to search for the cheapest of the best deterrents and try the DH pissing on the boundaries. Just remember to get him to do it again when it rains though.

What about a small fence? Just bang in some posts and put up wire cheapy one. The foxes will be more inclined to stick to your neighbours side and if they don't like it then they can stop feeding them or put up a nicer one.

Another option is if you have friends with a dog, ask them to bring it over and get it to piss on the boundries to put the foxes off.

ChelsyHandy that was the impression i got, until i read the OPs updates where she continually iterates that yes she would like to poison them and would do it if it wasn't illegal. So not facetitious, no.

I think you got the wrong impression then, ChelsyHandy.

See here, "I'm not joking. It's been a year of rubbish and foxes shit everywhere. It's ridiculous."

"I'm really not joking. I didn't know it was illegal"

"It's not a wind up"

The OP only said she wouldn't do it when she was offered links and assurances to prove that poisoning foxes is illegal.

And gosh yes, I might be a "preacher" but I practice what I preach and I'm at peace with that.

See the link I've offered as an example of an organisation which will control the OP's 'problem' legally, humanely and normally.

I missed this flood of compassion from the OP, ChelsyHandy. "I would absolutely poison them if it wasn't illegal"

I'll wait now.

Poisoning is a horrible, agonisingly painful and slow death. Illegalities aside, I think you'd be very unreasonable. There are ways around the problem without hurting the animals.

I haven't had a fox issue myself, but my parents have had. They made some measures to prevent them causing mess and chaos (including adjustments to the compost heap/bins) and resolution was achieved. Good luck, and don't hurt them-they're not causing you a problem on purpose.

YoureNotCutOut

Calm down! Good luck with the normalising, but I think you will find in this country we don't condemn people as being guilty until for thoughtspeak yet. At least not unless they are planning a massive heist or similar! Most normal people realise the difference between saying and doing, surely?

I can understand you are very pissed off annoyed, I would be too but I would never resort to killing them even if it were legal. You need to try and get your neighbours to stop feeding them if possible that might improve the shit problem

Chelsey: "I get the impression the OP's thread title was facetitious, and she didn't seriously intend to poison foxes"

I repeat the OP:-

OP: "I would absolutely poison them if it wasn't illegal".

I repeat myself, this is not normal.

"Calm down"?

I'm perfectly calm thank you. That's an interesting way of apologising for having misread the OP , btw Chelsey.