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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:
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5
HarrietKettle · 25/02/2018 17:32

Yeah. I remain sceptical. 'Killer' urban fox is a great scapegoat for 'slightly unpredictable family pet jack Russel gets pissed off when left unsupervised with toddler and lashes out'

retirednow · 25/02/2018 17:34

Why claim they Sneak in, the doors are left open.

FeedtheTree · 25/02/2018 17:43

@Sparklingbrook - oh I'm jealous of your badger sighting. DH has twice seen a badger in our garden. And I've heard them (weird mating songs) but never seen one alive, only at the side of the road.

Sparklingbrook · 25/02/2018 17:48

I couldn't believe how large it was Feed it was almost square! It had a very good look around the garden and a peer through the patio doors, and then off it went.

There has been a lot of roadkill around here lately. Every time I see a dead fox I hope it's not 'ours'.

TheFirstMrsDV · 25/02/2018 17:49

I remember one of the first 'foxes attacked my family' stories. It was years ago.
Sad faced family pointing at patio doors.

Hmmm. Woman had been ranting at me on the phone about a week before.
Demanding we (RSPCA) come and remove the foxes from her garden because she didn't like animals.
Obviously we refused.
So she made up a pack of lies in an attempt to get someone else to do it.

I got hammered on here once for suggesting that a family may be worried they will be blamed for a dog attack so say a fox did it instead. It wasn't a 'you lying bastards' suggestion. It was pretty sympathetic considering how hysterical people can be about dogs.
But no, no one would ever lie about a thing like that would they Hmm

smartiecake · 25/02/2018 17:55

I put food out for our fox. We have a little one sometimes in the back garden and a bigger one in the street every night. If we have leftovers i have been putting them out on the driveway for it and watching it come and eat. It has been a very cold winter and it is obviously hungry. It doesnt feel right putting food and meat in the bin to go to landfill when the fox will have it. I love watching it.

Martyngibson · 25/02/2018 18:41

Foxes are fine. I wouldn't feed the ones round here, but like to see them. The bloody badgers are a problem though.

SoupDragon · 25/02/2018 18:57

Ignore the negative fox views as they are generally based on bullshit they have read and no naf all about them from personal experience ie foxes attacking cats..i regularly see cats bullying the foxes.

I watched a fox chase my cat right up to the cat flap. That is not bullshit, that is fact.

Just leave the food as far from the house as you can so they don't scent mark too near you.

They will scent marks wherever they please, no matter where you leave the food. Both my patio and driveway regularly stink of fox.

Like I said earlier, I would never harm them but no way would I be feeding them or encouraging them into my garden.

(Hedgehogs, on the other hand...)

desertmum · 25/02/2018 19:04

No, don't feed the bloody fox. Feeding them in your garden makes them less fearful of humans and so become very bold about entering people's gardens and stealing their chickens in broad daylight. They are a menace. Don;t agree with fox hunting at all but also don't agree with feeding them, They can also take small lambs if they are big and bold enough. Beautiful bastards.

ihatetosay · 25/02/2018 19:04

DullandOld what an appropriate name bet you werent even joking

i wouldnt feed it

Statistically more kids killed by dogs than foxes so perhaps we should kill the dogs instead DullandOld

Sparklingbrook · 25/02/2018 19:06

Sparklingcat takes no nonsense from the visiting fox. Sometimes she will sit there not letting it through the gap in the hedge. Grin

I have never smelt any fox odour or seen any poo but there are fields behind the house and once it's eaten it doesn't hang about.

DullAndOld · 25/02/2018 19:08

ihatetosay, why are you attacking me based on my username? Hmm
it was a 'joke', you know?
Some people are so humourless, I bet you are way older and duller than I am..:)

strawberrypenguin · 25/02/2018 19:08

I’d feed him! I love seeing wildlife in the garden and happily feed our Hedgehogs all summer

JamPasty · 25/02/2018 20:07

Good on you HundredMilesAnHour! I hope that little one with mange recovered well

retirednow · 25/02/2018 20:11

At least they don't come running up barking, snarling or jump up trying to lick my face.

Thierryhenryneedisaymore · 25/02/2018 20:12

Ihatetosay

Really??? Hmm

HundredMilesAnHour · 25/02/2018 20:17

I hope that little one with mange recovered well

Yes, she's recovered and back home now JamPasty. She was quite a little character. The photo of her was taken where she actually fell asleep right next to my feet (I was standing cleaning one of the other cages out) on a 'used' vetbed (I'd dropped it on the floor next to me ready to put it in the wash). She sleep in that spot for a couple of hours so we just worked around her.

bertsdinner · 25/02/2018 20:46

I have a fox, he raids my bin if the lid isn't down fully.
Ive seem him a couple of times through the window very early, he is as bold as brass, stares at you. The cat hates him and growls through the window, but still goes out early morning and does not seem to fully fear the fox, mix of fear/indignation.
I dont feed him (looks pretty well covered), but I don't discourage him either.

Noloudnoises · 25/02/2018 20:49

I have no opinions on the safety but I promise you once they start mating and the subsequent cute little cubs start playing together at 3am you will seriously regret encouraging them...!

ohhereweareagain · 25/02/2018 21:12

i don't feed them anymore BUT it is PURE JOY to watch them 'playing together at 3am'. i don't like dogs, never have. i'm not fearful of them, they just irritate me although i get why people that love them love them. foxes are a completely different thing to me. i adore them. not because they are pretty as the haters always patronisingly remark but because of their personalities. they seem to love each other and like swans, have a partner. i watch them nurture their young. my real joy is watching what is clearly a loving bond between the male & females. i used to have to literally come between a local bulling cat & the fox that used to come to my house. neighbours must have thought i was mad but the bloody local cats would terrorize the foxes who in comparison were very timid. we have taken over their space mixed with yobs chucking out 'boxes of chicken takeaway' from car windows....all this has contributed to their coming into towns

ginch · 25/02/2018 21:13

I live in a London suburb, used to see scrawny, mangy foxes occasionally, but my goodness the ones I see now are huge. Our regular one looks like something from a fairy tale, large, glossy and fearless, a truly stunning creature. I'm still not feeding him though, he's in better nick than I am.

Champagneandthestars · 25/02/2018 21:20

What if it's a Crack Fox Shock? The Mighty Boosh Have proven that benevolence to urban foxes is misguided.

Nitrobetty1 · 25/02/2018 21:28

We feed the foxes in our garden. Any food left over goes out & I also look for reduced bargain food in the supermarket for them as a treat. Like lamb livers. 🤢 I have children & small dogs. Have had no issues with poo, screaming or attacks. It’s all a bit dramatic on here. And no I’m not naive or ignorant about urban foxes.

SoupDragon · 26/02/2018 07:11

We had one lot of screaming so bad it woke a teenage boy. Virtually nothing wakes a teenage boy.

creaturefeatures · 26/02/2018 07:23

Can someone who believes foxes are 'vermin' explain this to me?

They are British wildlife like hedgehogs, bats, badgers, stoats. How are they vermin?

I seriously cannot understand how someone thinks it's okay to just label any animal they don't like as vermin. Foxes were here before us. We (humans) act much more like vermin than any animal.