My boyfriend lives on a neighbourhood close to several large parks. There are plenty of cats that roam freely here, I know foxes don't attack children/cats/dogs and luckily most of the people here have that sense too. One day however I was watching a familiar pair of foxes roam the back gardens when my boyfriends next door neighbour emerged from his house and set his German shepard on them. I immediately freaked out, I'm completely against fox hunting and I was terrified that I was about to see a fox be mauled right before my eyes. It escaped luckily but I just KNOW that this guy wants to see his dog kill the foxes. He was watching the scene, bemused, hand on hip. I hear barking out there often now but I don't go to look. I know what's happening. My boyfriend informed me that his last German shepard had killed foxes before too.
I don't think my boyfriend quite understands how utterly disgusted I was by the situation. This is their home too. We build on their habitats, all they're doing is trying to survive. And it's illegal to set pets on wildlife. He doesn't get it because his parents don't like foxes either but I was raised watching foxes raise their cubs in my grandparents garden.
I don't want to confront his neighbour because I get the sense that that would thrill him even more, but I can't stand it. I just hate people who are cruel to animals, and his dog could get hurt from this too.
Can I do anything about this? Report it to the RSPCA? Ask the nearby neighbours to stop leaving them scraps so they don't come here anymore? Try to lure them elsewhere with regular food? It just makes me so upset and I feel helpless.
Yesterday one of the foxes had a limp front paw, I'm scared she'll get caught if she goes in that garden again.