To say no to trying to catch the fox?

[Me20176]

This morning we woke to find two little fox cubs caught up in the net of my son’s football goal. We managed to free them but one ran off with some of the net still around its neck. We are obviously worried and feel
awful about this. My neighbour believes the netting will get tighter as the fox grows, and choke it to death eventually. She has suggested putting out a (humane, obviously) fox trap alongside some dog food to try to entice it back so we can remove the netting (she is experienced with animals).

I’m a bit concerned though. Will we be attracting all sorts of vermin into the garden on the off chance that the cub returns? Could we be encouraging a problem with foxes digging, pooing etc as well as screaming all night? But equally, I feel responsible…

Would it be unreasonable of me to say no, I’m not doing this and live with the guilt (and potential big falling out with my neighbour)? She believes we’d need to put dog food out very late at night every night for the coming fortnight at least, and then release any captured animals early every morning. I’m really not sure about this…

Ask your local wildlife rescue

I suggest that you get advice/help from the RSPCA. They will have experience of this kind of thing.

Your neighbour is correct. The netting will quite likely kill the cub as it grows. Of course both cubs may already be orphans in which case their chances aren’t good anyway. Your best bet is to ring your nearest wildlife charity/rescue and ask for their help. If you don’t know who to call, ring The Fox Project and if you give your location, they will suggest the nearest wildlife rescue who deals with foxes.

your neighbour is right A humane trap for one or two nights won’t attract vermin and will save the fox.

Another that agrees to a human trap even if for a few days.

Bit of luck any vermin that may appear will be food for said fox's.

Of course you need to get the netting off. Did you just cut a hole in the net and let it go still entangled in a chunk of the net? You should have scruffed it and snipped it off.

What else do you think you’ll catch, besides perhaps a neighbourhood cat? I’m guessing you’re not in the States where you might bring in raccoons and opossums and whatever else. It sounds like your neighbour is willing to help anyway so get to it.

I know you feel bad, and I don’t want to make you feel worse, but you really should have put the netting away in the first place

Now that it’s round the cub’s neck, you really should try everything you can to remove it - regardless of your worries about vermin (please don’t worry about this too much - it’s not like you’re leaving huge bags of rubbish, just a bit of pet food)

...and they would have a humane trap and the expertise to deal with it OP

Wow - have a heart and do the responsible thing!

If it did attract vermin that would also attract the cub. Worth a try.

The fact that you have a fox family in your garden means you already have vermin or at least the food that vermin eat. Foxes are vermin but eat other smaller animals, human rubbish and insects.

Do you feed the birds. That's more of an attraction. Do the right thing and stop this animal suffering a slow and painful death...haven't you watched happy feet?

I would contact your local wildlife rescue or RSPCA for advice.

You feel responsible as you are responsible. This whole thing could have been avoided, and now you are quibbling about doing the right thing? Come on OP.

Thanks for your advice, everyone. We’ll go ahead with the trap, then. My neighbour wants to put the food out for three weeks. My main concern is fox droppings as online it says they can cause toxocariasis, especially in children, but I think we will have to try to be vigilant in cleaning any droppings we find.

I’ve hardly slept all night for worrying about the fox. I’m not callous in any way, just anxious hence why I wanted to gather other opinions as I can veer towards the extreme at times.

We didn’t realise the goal could be a danger to foxes, otherwise we’d have put it away each night. Obviously in hindsight a fox getting trapped was possible but given that there’s a goal in every other garden up and down the road and this has never happened (to our knowledge) previously, it simply hadn’t occurred to us.

we have had a fox living in a burrow at the bottom of our garden since we moved in during the early 2000s. Occasional fox poo in the garden and I have 2 DCs now in their late teens. They never caught any disease from fox poo, so don’t worry about that. Just save the poor fox cub. It’ll have a tortuous death if you don’t

A human trap? That escalated quickly!

Use the trap. Sort the cub and discourage them after.

@Me20176
Good for you for doing the right thing despite your anxiety.
We have foxes in NDN very overgrown garden, I'm actually frightened of them, an irrational fear as I know they're no danger to me.
We've just gone through the mating season, the screaming from the females is horrendous, sounds like someone is being tortured 😬
I walk around muttering "fucking foxes" during the mating season as I can't bear the noise.
They come in my garden and even come up to the patio doors, one I've seen this year is huge.
BUT I wouldn't allow one to suffer.
Update us if you catch it but I would ring the nearest wildlife rescue and get some advice now.

Food and trap straight away. You don’t need to wait for three weeks. Cubs are naturally curious