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

[MrsMotherHen]

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.

If you do put food out for them, please try to do it consistently - if you start doing it and then stop, that's what will push them to bin raiding etc, especially during this horrible cold weather. Also, it's best if they don't associate humans with food, so just drop the food and run, let them keep whatever fear of us they have.

If I had a bigger garden and didn't have cats, I'd definitely pop a feeding station (and a trail camera) at the bottom of the garden. As it is, it's not really sustainable in my current garden.

It's a beautiful fox! I'd probably leave a little food out now because its cold but I do realise a lot of people don't like wild animals.

Idiots
Ignorant
Ill informed

Why all the hate? Foxes might not kill for fun but they will kill an entire flock of chickens. Its perfectly reasonable not to want foxes hanging around if you keep chickens. I'm not sure about the babies thing but most wild animals like badgers and foxes will bite if they feel threatened

It's not hate, it's more despair. It wouldn't take a lot to do some research. You might learn something and be better informed. Winner winner.

I'm informed in that I live with foxes day to day (in the countryside, small holding). Its remarkable how patronising thinking you know better about wild animals makes people!

Its perfectly reasonable not to want foxes hanging around if you keep chickens.

I wouldn't argue with that.

What is infuriating is posters including you stating as if they were fact things that are not true.

You're not particularly informed- living in the countryside doesn't automatically make you so. You have a lot of misconceptions. If a predator has the opportunity to kill multiple prey in one go, why do you think they wouldn't take advantage of that?

I have said that foxes kill entire flocks of chickens. I haven't made a value judgement on why they do it, it doesn't really matter one way or another. They do it.

What is infuriating is posters including you stating as if they were fact things that are not true like what?

Dull,Soup

Actually as an animal lover no animal is ugly to me. No animal is a vermin either.

Know plenty of people I would call vermin though

Don't encourage it.
They're fine. They don't need to worry about being hunted now and they're cunning fuckers who do very well all by themselves.

Agreed, no animal is 'ugly' to me either. I respect all the animals I share my environment with. Yes, even the pigeons and rats.

I don’t like foxes as I keep chickens. I was also worried about my cat getting hurt by them after hearing about a cat being half eaten by a fox a few doors away.
Also their noise makes the dog shout and I can’t sleep. I like the sound of owls and other birds in my garden and I don’t mind neighbours cats coming in to catch mice but not the fox.
And foxes are vermin to many people just like pigeons.

Harriet

You are my kind of person pigeons always make me smile and there’s a resident rat at my local train station. I tell my grandson he’s the rat guard for the baby mice who scurry onto the train to go to mouse school.

I know I know

Ha ha Joey that's so cool about the train-guard rat! It's the kind of thing I would do.

I have been known to make up little ditties about the Tube mice who live in the London Underground

I tell my grandson he’s the rat guard for the baby mice who scurry onto the train to go to mouse school

cute

Foxes, rats, mice, pigeons... At the end of the day they are all just animals trying to get a bit of food, and I love them all

harriet and Fairies all in Victorian costumes too I expect.

Ray, more than one poster here has claimed foxes kill for fun.

Posted too soon...

Senior, Chaos and Frilly have posted exactly that, at a quick glance.

You yourself said 'You can't back up that they DON'T kill for fun', but you can.

How beautiful, I love wildlife , and life can be really tough for them at times . We feed hedgehogs, birds and a beautiful fox family . They sit at the bottom of the drive at about 9 pm . Other neighbours feed them too . All animals are precious not just "pets".

I see owls, buzzards, bats badgers deer snakes bees foxes squirrels hedgehogs regularly plus have pigs horses sheep dogs, ducks chickens and cats. No human neighbours! I don't hate any of them. Some always make me smile, some make me anxious - the foxes will kill the ducks and chickens, the badgers will dig underneath buildings, the deer eat my vegetables! But you live in synergy with all creatures if you live the way I do. I don't have to love and anthromorphosise everything to live comfortably along side it.

I don't have to love and anthromorphosise everything to live comfortably along side it.

I don't love or anthromorphosise foxes. My first post said I don't feed the ones I see. I just know the simple and easily searchable/back-upable fact that they don't kill for fun.

And I've said again and again whether they kill for fun is irrelevant. They don't leave anything alive.

Well no, they wouldn't, given the opportunity- just like many predators. What's your point?

harriet and Fairies all in Victorian costumes too I expect.

When you said about the rat, that's how I envisioned him - bit like wind in the willows meets the fat controller