Neighbour cultivating fox den

[Sunnyday14558]

Our neighbour has actively been getting foxes to nest in her garden. We live on the outskirts of a city so I’m not entirely sure why she’s luring them into a semi detached property from woodland half a mile away. Anyhow, we now have a family living in her garden and the noise at night is keeping us awake. We have two children under 4 and have found a dead rat in their play area and fox poo all over the lawn. The patio also stinks from fox wee so we can’t open our windows downstairs. I literally have no idea what to do as we’ve tried fox deterrents before and nothing seems to work. I want to confront her about it but I’m pretty sure she’ll accuse me of being mean to the foxes. A someone please give me some thoughts on how to approach this? Is encouraging foxes to live in an urban garden really kind for them? I ask because it sounds like they’re ripping each other apart at night with the fighting.

Foxes are classed as vermin, actually. They also kill for pleasure, as any farmer could tell you. They have been known to attack humans, especially babies and the mess, smell and noise they create is horrendous. They are not cute pets, they are wild animals and should not be fed and encouraged into gardens.

No, they are not. They have never been classed as vermin. Nor do they routinely attack humans, babies, or otherwise. Cats are usually also avoided.

foxproject.org.uk/pages/foxes-and-the-law

Its true that there would be a lot more rats around if it weren't for the foxes and they definitely dont need to be persecuted. However a fox will kill anything it can, its in their nature, regardless of whether or not they can eat it - ask people who keep hens. So if the neighbour is feeding them they don't need to eat the rats. I had this with my mother's next door neighbours and though the kits grow up they also just move into the nearest available space and they dig very extensively under the gardens. Its also true that urban foxes have lost a lot of their shyness as far as humans are concerned and the young foxes in particular can come into houses and pee everywhere. And yes, it is very pungent! There are reports that they are dangerous to babies but I havent got experience of that. With my mother's neighbour I had the discussion about the dangers to the children, the digging in the garden and the population explosion, but it was the danger to the children who had moved into the house the other side that swayed things. . Otherwise, clear out undergrowth, trim back hedges, block off spaces eg under sheds and tear up decking - foxes like to hide. Collapse any tunnels and block off holes into their dens. Collect up any fruit lying on the ground from trees. If they have a run across the top of the garden, no harm. If they are fed you will get a much larger population than you would if they were left alone. Good luck.

No it isn't. It's stupid and irresponsible and runs the very real risk of harming other wildlife (including a neighbour's dog)!

I like that they kill rats.

We live in a row of old joined terraced houses, one of which was housing an older gentleman with pets and a bit of a hoarding problem. We had mice and the occasional rat and however much we treated and tried to fill holes it wasn't going away completely. I was disgusted seeing mice in my kitchen. We didn't encourage the foxes but they made a den in our garden one year and the pest problem suddenly went away and didn't return. It was like magic!
The digging and the poo was only a small annoyance in comparison- we have worse poo left in our garden from neighbours cats. I didn't find them noisy often, maybe a week or two of the year in mating season. Anyway they never returned to the den- I think they only use them for a year and move on- so I think you just wait it out. Foxes get a bad reputation but they can do a lot of good. We saw a big decrease in slugs too, which they eat, and apparently they also eat spiders.
It never occured to me my neighbours might have been upset at me for not shooing them away.

We have the same problem, live in East London (East Ham) and are terrorised by foxes and their cubs (even though they're cute). They dig up our turf, poo and wee everywhere, vomit up clumps of worms, bring in dirty nappies and food containers, and come into the house when we have the doors open on hot nights - they've even come up to the first floor and pooed in the bathroom, and 2nd floor loft to poo and wee on the bed (had to chuck).

Next door neighbour on one side doesn't look after garden so we think there's a den there, same with other side 2 garden's down. We have been told that the best way to keep them away is to put netting up around the perimeter of our garden above all the fences but haven't tried it yet. Dare I say there are also other ways to get rid of them that are a little less "acceptable" but successful. The council can also organise trapping but I know last time I checked with Newham, it started at £750+!!!

Hmmm, you're obviously into your sci-fi novels.

How does that help the op with her immediate problem?

By taking the long view.
Next door are the protodogs of the future.

My god you couldn't write it - I pushed 'post, ' heard rattling and a fox had silently jumped onto the kitchen table and stolen a whole bag of cat biscuits... Chased him into the garden but he didn't drop them... I know we've encroached into their territory but they're a absolute menace around here.

You're not really addressing the problem. As far as foxes go, we're NOT encroaching on their environment. Quite the opposite, we're creating new and unhealthy/unnatural urban environments for them ... particularly people like op's batshit neighbour

They arent fighting... 😉

There are some incredibly batshit answers on this thread but this takes the biscuit.

I live in a large northern city with easy access to the Peak District, the Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District. And don't even get me started on Scottish Lowlands, Highlands and Islands.
Let me assure you there is no shortage of natural landscape in the UK 🙄🙄🙄

If you think any of those are natural landscapes you are deluded. They are all completely manmade landscapes and very much the poorer ecologically for it.

Foxes are definitely NOT classed as vermin by DEFRA.
We have destroyed much of their natural habitat.
They are the most timid creatures I know and are terrified of my cat.
They keep our rat population under control.
And for those reasons I will continue to feed them.

We’ve bought a house recently with a largish garden. First day we had foxes staring at us across the lawn and as we have a cat we’ve cleared areas of hiding places.
Turns out that the previous owners regularly fed and encouraged them. I don’t agree with this so we’ve been trying to discourage with scents and sorting our fencing gaps. Encouraging them back into the woods behind ideally.

Dogs have been known to attack babies, as have some humans!!
Unless you're leaving babies out for the foxes at night I don't think you've got anything to worry about.
For what it's worth, the foxes visiting our garden used to be terrified of our previous foster cat (never the other way round).

If, by "something to make sure they don't come back" you are referring to poison, that would be cruel, ineffective and ILLEGAL.

Ineffective because if you remove one or more foxes from their territory others will claim it.

Illegal according to the Animal Welfare Act 2006 as it causes unnecessary suffering.

protectthewild.org.uk/protectors-of-the-wild/foxes-and-the-law/

The most commonly used mange medication is homeopathic and will do no harm to other animals or wildlife.

I have my doubts as to the effectiveness of this, however it IS kind to treat foxes for mange becuase it causes them to suffer terribly.

It's also possible, though unlikely, that a dog could catch mange, so may be helpful for them too.

If a non homeopathic medication is used it should be in a situation where you can be sure that it will get to the right animal.

I'm not sure why the neighbour should be expected to predict that a dog might snaffle the food. Surely the dog should be supervised unless their own garden is secure?

The solution in my opinion is to get very extensive video evidence and take this to the council and ask them to seek an ASBO or equivalent.

With respect to collapsing tunnels (or blocking dens) this should only be done if you are sure that the den is not in use. It's illegal to block or destroy an active den (Animal Welfare Act 2006).

I think instances of foxes attacking humans are so vanishingly rare that it's not worth worrying about.

Well if humans take over all natural inhabitants land, then we share more and more space with our wildlife counterparts.

Foxes are beautiful and should be seen as so. You don't want them then use a natural deterrent as advertised on here, please don't hurt them. They have a hard life as it is.

Our home backs onto a nature reserve, so foxes are common. I only leave a bowl of water out for them at night, when it's extremely hot (which isn't usually very often). Others in our area feed them, so we often find the lawn or flower beds dug up because they're burying the food.

Try a fox rehabilitation charity to see if they have any advice. Have you blocked up any access into your garden, although foxes can dig, and if they're determined enough, they'll come in.

Feeding foxes encourages them into urban areas. They are able to survive within their own natural habitat. It also makes them reliant on humans, they start to have no fear of them either.

Gosh people like you make me sick
we take over their habitat and leave them with no where to live and they get ill hungry and look for somehwhwre to live their natural lives.
they have as much right to live as we do , you do get that right ?
foxes will actually help keep the rat population down by the way
you could always use male pee around your borders they don’t like that
but how about live and let live , your neighbour is a lovely person trying to help wildlife actually have a life
I mean I’m sure you’re happy to make noise and let your kids make noises as you should be , just like they should be allowed too aswell
I would suggest leaving a bowl of water out for wildlife during the heatwave but I can see you’re not that emphatic type of person