To be so upset to be told a near neighbour has just tried to poison our fox?

[tinalane]

We have a local fox & one of the things that makes DP happy is to spot the fox out the window, walking about at night.

A neighbour has JUST THIS MINUTE been walking about unannounced in the back garden & told me that something just got his chickens, so he put some meat down with poison & was looking to see if he's killed it.

(weep)

Why didn't he put better fences up???

Why did he have to poison what makes DP & me happy?

I said he'd better put better fences up then & closed the door before I cried or said something I'd regret.

I don't want his chickens hurt either but he seemed so sadistic it was horrible.

(shaking)

What if poor DP find out? How horrible!

Erm, YABU. It is a fox. How old is your DP?

I quite like to see rats popping in and out of the compost heap, although if they threatened my chooks I'd think about poison too

all creatures are beautiful, even vermin

live in hope of repeal of hunting act anyway

Over 40, its just that so many things depress DP, so things that help are precious to me.

Oh yes, and I like foxes too.

Did you know their hearing is many times better than dogs? They are amazing.

Yabu. Foxes are vermin.

YABU

ALL animals are amazing

that doesn't mean their populations and activity don't have to be managed in very un Beatrix Potter ways

YABU- try having chickens that are eaten by foxes.
Stop reading so many Baatrix Potter books as well.

YANBU Poisoning is a horrible way for an animal to die. He should take more care with his chickens

You can't expect the guy to do nothing about his chickens..fences rarely work btw. However having said that I would be fuming that he had not let me know prior, maybe the rspca would have moved it somewhere else, poisons can be slow working and it could be dying in agony, someones pet may have eaten the meat any number of things!

I must point out the Beatrix Potter used to have animals chloroformed so she could draw them

OK OK, nobody else is on the fox's side I get it.

Your fox?
Bring it in and give it its' own bedroom.
Maybe encourage it to start a modelling career for a bingo website.
Buy a hound - film them together and sell it to Disney.

YANBU If you choose to keep chickens (as I do) it is your responsibility to ensure they are in a fox proof enclosure, or suffer the consequences. It is illegal to poison foxes.

www.rspca.org.uk/allaboutanimals/wildlife/inthewild/foxes/-/article/WLD_Foxes

There are better ways to kill foxes if someone really feels it is necessary such as trapping and shooting. Also, poison placed in meat could be eaten by dogs, cats, hedgehogs, badgers, birds etc etc.

YANBU. I hate the idea of people poisoning an animal that is just doing what comes naturally. Should try to keep his chickens safer IMO

tinalane, YANBU - my friend's neighbour puts poison down for the rats, and it killed someone's cat.

He should have asked for advice from the pest control people or RSPCA, I can see he wants to protect his chickens, but this is not the answer.

how on earth does it differ from using rat poison or some of the truly horrible things people (on here) laugh about having done to spiders - like burning them or trying to drown them

traps are horrible, gun shot wounds can maim and lead to slow death from gangrene - what was wrong with hunting?

hate the hypocrisy about animal welfare on here

Your neighbour is a fuckwit for the reasons chunky, somewhat and others have given. He's breaking the law and putting other animals at risk of dying horrible deaths. Stupid stupid man should have done some research before putting poisons down.

Call the RSPCA and let them deal with him.

Mitch, I agree, poisons are not a quick, painless death for any animal. When I said trap i mean a humane trap, not a snare and if using a pest control company then a fox should be shot outright not maimed for a slow death. It's all a bit irrelevant anyway because there is never only one fox around! Its just coming into fox breeding season so there are hungry vixens and cubs around! Lock up your chickens people!

Have you ever witnessed what a fox will do to chickens??
Personally I'd have shot it to ensure I'd caught the blighter.

Poison bait was not a good choice, it's too indisriminate.

YANBU he shold take better care of the chickens, foxes arnt like rats or mice where they breed uncontrolably and come into houses and poop on the floor. I cant stand it when people get so precious about their damn chickens.

ahh, but getting precious about foxes is just fine. Love the double standards there.

YANBU! What if he had poisoned someone's cat or dog instead?

Urban foxes are vermin.

YABU. Whilst I agree that the neighbour is an idiot for trying to poison the fox cause it could have poisoned other animals, the fox has got to be killed. Now it has a taste for the hens it will be back and in my considerable (having had chickens for ever!) experience it is very difficult to stop a fox for too long. Personally I hate what people do to spiders etc and cant see any difference between that and killing a larger animal. Having spent time in slaughter houses, on shoots, on hunts and on farms, it is all hideous but shooting and hunting seem to be the least cruel. Definately far less cruel than the slaughter house, or trapping. Thats why to my mind it is stupid that people go on about shooting and hunting bans - hypocritical while they wear their leather shoes and buy their pork chop!