Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To leave some food out for the fox in our garden.

407 replies

MrsMotherHen · 25/02/2018 15:23

We have a fox that frequents our garden last few occasions hes been out in the day and DH has just seen him sunbathing on the patio. We are not rural but live about 50m away from the beach front along a promenade with a park quite close.

To leave some food out for the fox in our garden.
OP posts:
Thread gallery
5
WickedLazy · 01/03/2018 19:46

So many entitled humans that hate foxes. We're bigger vermin than they are, we've destroyed their habitats and food chains, on a huge scale, for our own wants and needs. Humans are so selfish, where are they supposed to go? Or should we just shoot them all? Angry

Sparklingbrook · 01/03/2018 19:48

My fox has just returned. It has had leftover lasagne, some bread and butter and some cat food that Sparklingcat wouldn't eat because it had been on her plate for more than 5 minutes. Hmm

Tralalee · 01/03/2018 19:53

we've destroyed their habitats and food chains, on a huge scale, for our own wants and needs

No we haven't. There's thousands of foxes in the countryside. They have moved into cities because they can get doughnuts there Hmm

HarrietKettle · 01/03/2018 19:56

That's an incredibly simplistic way of looking at it, Tralalee.

frankchickens · 01/03/2018 20:00

So many entitled humans that hate foxes

What a load of twaddle - the question was about whether we should feed urban foxes. We really shouldn’t - and not just for reasons of “entitlement” - it is inappropriate to be trying to maintain or encourage urban foxes. Apart from anything else, it’s not fair to the foxes.

eloisesparkle · 01/03/2018 20:01

Some of our neighbours' dogs got the mange from foxes in their gardens with the very expensive vet bills that go with it.
I wouldn't.
A few children have been attacked in their homes in UK by foxes. Google the reports.

HarrietKettle · 01/03/2018 20:03

Why were the vet bills expensive? Mange is incredibly easy and quick to treat in dogs. It's a tablet in their food or a drop on the back of the neck. Did they leave it until the dog's skin got weepy and sore? That's not the foxes fault....

Tralalee · 01/03/2018 20:06

It was flippant but again, if you Google it, one of the main reasons foxes are becoming more numerous in cities is because food is readily available. It must be nice to see wildlife if you live in cities but please stop feeding them cakes and doughnuts. There's really no need and it's certainly not good for them.

HarrietKettle · 01/03/2018 20:08

Foxes have been setting up home in Surburia since the housing boom of the 1930's, I believe.

Mumsnut · 01/03/2018 20:27

So, if I want to keep my cats alive, would I be better feeding the local fox family ...?

For: foxes not hungry 'cos full of winalot
Against: foxes hang around house and therefore cats more. Mind you, they live under the shed at the bottom of the garden so never far away.

ohhereweareagain · 01/03/2018 22:23

foxes are less likely to go through ones bins if they are not so hungry hence some people feeding them to keep their bins ignored. i am not aware of anyone having had their cat attacked around here by a fox & there are MANY cats as well as many foxes. i have witness first hand many/only instances of cats bullying foxes. the foxes that i have observed are clearly timid/scared of the cats even when the cat is small in comparison Confused Grin

HarrietKettle · 01/03/2018 22:31

To be honest those with cats- if you are worried about their safety outside, I'd be far more concerned about them getting run over/dog attacks/fights with other cats/humans hurting or poisoning them before I worry about foxes! Far more things out there dangerous to cats than a fox.

mydogisthebest · 02/03/2018 09:21

Foxes like peanut butter sandwiches. I would think in this cold weather peanut butter would be great for them.

They can have raw or cooked meat but please no cooked chicken bones. They can splinter and cause harm.

No foxes where I live but I am feeding the birds. Went a bought a big bucket of fat balls, seed, meal worms from Wilko and putting them and water out. The food is being eaten so quickly they must all be starving

Tralalee · 02/03/2018 11:07

I've put a jar of opened peanut butter outside and the birds are loving it

ohhereweareagain · 02/03/2018 11:30

mydog weird but aside from an early .morning rush yesterday morning No One is coming to mine 😔 I went to Waitrose this morning and bought a fruit cake and put that out on an additional tray but nout. I've been keeping the cat in too despite her liking the snow. Perhaps our garden is marked fown as being a cat garden..?

eloisesparkle · 02/03/2018 13:02

I'd love to leave food out for the birds but it might attract rodents.

Sparklingbrook · 02/03/2018 13:49

I have one like this eloisesparkle keeps it all off the floor away from the rodents.

Greyponcho · 02/03/2018 15:04

we've destroyed their habitats and food chains, on a huge scale, for our own wants and needs

True

No we haven't. There's thousands of foxes in the countryside. They have moved into cities because they can get doughnuts there hmm

Err... what do you think was there before the houses? Fields (i.e. countryside)

They were here before us, why should we be so selfish?

Google the number of attacks on children by foxes

By that logic, should we stop feeding dogs too..?

eloisesparkle · 02/03/2018 17:06

Sparkling
Apparently the rodents love the bits that fall onto the ground.

Sparklingbrook · 02/03/2018 17:46

Those bits would be tiny and generally eaten by other birds. Never seen any rodents but then I have a cat and a fox. Grin

exLtEveDallas · 03/03/2018 08:20

DH put loads of food out for the birds yesterday. Our back garden was like Hitchcock's The Birds all afternoon.

Then, in the evening, we watched as a rat came and took the leftovers...shudder.

And this morning, just after 6 am, our fox walked across the garden...with a rat in its mouth!

Talk about the food chain!

Confusedbeetle · 07/03/2018 13:54

Mumsnut, you are missing something. Foxes kill from instinct not hunger. Just like a hunter cat will still kill even if well fed. If you have foxes under the shed., do not feed them. If some other sucker does. the hunting ground will move to their garden. Do not let you cat out from dusk till past dawn, the main killing times

Confusedbeetle · 07/03/2018 13:58

Grey poncho we havent. They move in to town because food it lying around all over the place, same as the rats. For the most part they are far less healthy than country foxes and much more likely to have mange and disease because their population is too crowded. Urban foxes are NOT HEALTHY. They are far better off in the country. Except for idiots who decide to trap them and dump them in the country where they cannot cope because they no longer know how to live that way

Greyponcho · 07/03/2018 20:26

Countryside with fields. Foxes live here.

Fields get built on, and is called a town.

Foxes go... where..? Oh, they belong in the countryside , not the town. Hmm

ForewarnedisForearmed · 17/02/2019 20:01

Lucky you, OP. My next door neighbour and I feed the foxes and love to watch them, especially when there are cubs! Sometimes I have 4 foxes in my garden at one time at night. Yes there is poo to scoop up, but I have to scoop the dog and cat poo anyway. I have 2 children 5 and under, the foxes are naturally wary and stay away when my kids are out there.

Swipe left for the next trending thread