Fox Attack On Twin Girls

[saggyhairyarse]

I just read this on the 'Latest News' on BBC News but when I clicked on the headline there was no info.

I am shocked and hoping they are not seriously hurt.

I know its not the same, but we have had to stop feeding the birds, and try to encourage neighbours not to, as there is a rat problem round here, also , despite our eco friendly views, we cannot compost kitchen waste for the same reason.
rats too are brazen blighters, I can hammer on the window and they don't flinch! they will happily run right past an open back door - how long till ones comes in??

I would not feed a fox in my garden, though they are welcome to come and catch some blooming rats!

Morloth - you are being rather odd about the foxes. They are vermin and scavengers. If they didn't get fed in cities the population would decline. They do not add anything positive to urban life at all!

And where were you when we were talking about feeding the birds to help them through the winter? OK to feed the birds but not the foxes? Don't the same arguments apply? Plenty of avian diseases are transmittable to humans.

You are OK with subsistence farmers baiting and killing the tigers (an endangered species) I assume? And you think we shouldn't be trying to raise their numbers?

This is very interesting, the double standards people apply because they don't like an animal, if foxes were not native to Britain I would agree with you, but they are, so deserve a leg up IMO.

If a fox did indeed get into the house looking for food then it would, by instinct, go for both targets. That is normal fox behaviour - doesn't make the claim suspicious.

If a rural fox gets into a chicken coop it will kill ALL the chickens quickly and in a frenzy. It will then remove the dead chickens one by one and bury them for consumption later, if undisturbed. The noise this creates usually results in the raid being curtailed and the fox will be lucky to get away with one or two of his/her kill.

Foxes are VERY active at this time of year and will be braver and hungrier than normal because they have just had their cubs and will be less timid and more desperate for food.

Urban foxes are less scared of humans and will see a cot with babies in it as potential food. Just as its rural counterpart will see a coop full of chickens.

Foxes will attack and eat lambs - similar size to young babies.

Do not feed foxes in your garden, the less timid they become the more likelihood there is that they cross the boundary.

They are flea and tick-ridden, they stink, they are predators - top of the food chain in UK wildlife and they want to eat flesh. They are not cute and fluffy - they are vermin. If it was rats you'd exterminate them.

Can anyone give me a bit of advice?

I have foxes living in my garden- It's a HA property, and the garden was completely derelict when we moved in; it was untouched for years, so you can see why they made a home there. I have an 18mo DD, and was always worried about them being there; after hearing this news, I just want them gone. They do not run away when shooed.

However, the RSPCA won't touch them unless they are injured, the council's pest control unit 'doesn't deal with foxes' , and the HA say it's not their responsibility...

So, can anyone tell me

a) Who is responsible?
b) How I could get rid of them?

Oh, and I live in east London. Not far from Homerton.

"You are OK with subsistence farmers baiting and killing the tigers (an endangered species) I assume? And you think we shouldn't be trying to raise their numbers?"

Don't be ridiculous!

Not being odd, just chatting and I disagree they add nothing. My neighbour for instance has some gorgeous video of the roof foxes' cubs tumbling on the lawn last year.

If they are vermin it is because we make them so. If any animal could be accused of being vermin, humans would have to be at the very top of the list.

Don't get me wrong, I like being an apex predator, but it is a bit rich to call them vermin when we are the ones who have changed the environment to cause that and then we complain about the animals who adapt.

What is the difference bibbity?

Because they adapt Avril. Like I said I can respect a survivor type species.

Sorry, am going to leave you to it Morloth.

This is awful and has shocked me. I hope those babies are ok.

Off topic here but can I ask in a nice, non confrontational way why it is ok to speculate about this though when I was completely flamed and subsequently had a thread deleted a few weeks ago. I was writing about the mum who had been charged with setting fire to the house that killed two of her children and people were saying I should not have been writing about it and that I was speculating on something I knew nothing about. Fair enough I thought but why is it ok now? As I said I am interested and not ranting before people flame me again. Please be nice

Birds are a valuable park of the ecosystem. They help pollinate, and many seeds won't germinate unless they have been through the gut of a bird. A subsistence farmer who kills a tiger, is not killing them for smuggling. He is safeguarding his life, and therefore, although it is sad, is only doing his job. A smuggler shooting a tiger to sell it's teeth and bones is wrong. Foxes also have a place in our ecosystem, but if one was threatening my livelihood or family I would kill it.

Tethersend
You can buy humane fox deterents - either lights that look like eyes (foxes don't like to be watched), or noise-emitters at a frequency only canines can hear - but if you have neighbours with dogs that is not an option.

Other options are blocking up holes (at this time of year dens may have cubs in so wait until they are grown a bit and block the holes when they are out.)

Borrow a big (intact male) dog to pee on your garden lots and bark.

Get your DH/DP to pee all over the holes, on the boundary line (might work - I'm guessing here!)

Out here in the country my aunt traps the foxes in a cage (using one of the chickens it killed the previous night as bait) and then gets a chap to come round and kill it with a clean shot to the head.

we did in fact put some fat balls out during the heavy snow periods, and did not see any rats at all then, but when people nearby are putting out all sorts of (unsuitable in some cases) food for the birds and we are overrun with rats, then yes i will choose NOT to feed the birds in the hope the rats stay away

the same people who think they are being nice to the birds never bother putting rat poison or calling pest control out. they dont have small kids who want to play out and a sandpit we can no longer use for fear of diseases! and its cost us a blooming fortune in rat poison to try to deal with it

but thats a whole other topic and i didnot mean to detract from the awfully sad story we are faced with here

For those of you making jokey comments on here or assuming there is something fishy going on perhaps you should think about the comments you have made and how you would feel if these were your babies. I know the twins that were attacked and it makes me sick to read this thread.

I really hope the family does not read this thread - you should be ashamed of yourselves.

Saggyoldclothcatpuss "...but if one was threatening my livelihood or family I would kill it."

Of course, but their existence in urban areas is no more a threat than living in the urban area itself.

I shoot things, I am not a cuddly animal lover (well excepting my cat), we keep the rabbits and the wild pigs down at home because they are in direct competition with us for food (i.e. they kill the sheep/eat the feed), foxes as well because they don't belong there. However, I am unimpressed when people shoot the roos for any reason other than meat, because they have more of a claim than we do. I feel the same way about foxes here. Same goes for dingos.

pumpkin, I totally agree with you regarding some of the comments on here. Very sad.
hope the girls (and their poor parents) are doing well. Please let them know that some of us send love and best wishes for speedy recovery xx

Poor babies, hope they recover quickly.

I have seen what foxes did to our neighbours 12 geese they wanted to fatten up for christmas. it wasn*t pretty. and geese are quite big and can put up a lot of fight! so the fox attacking the babies is plausible to me. plus babies are much more exposed i.e. empty cots, no blankets, maybe only sleepsuits in the warm weather. the 4 year old probably had the bed full of cuddly toys.

pumpkin - people should not be ashamed because they are suspicious over something they heard on a radio or read in a paper. I haven't read any jokey comments on here, just people voicing their opinions - which of course they are all entitled to do, because people will have opinions on anything and everything - it doesn't make them right or wrong. Though of course I may have missed any jokey comments?

I am sure that anyone who is suspicious over the story they have heard (as I admit I was a bit hmmm - what I HEARD did sound suspicious but already pointed out we can only go off what we hear) certaily would not mean harm or anything bad to come to those children or glad they suffered - AT ALL

You can be doubtful over something without being a horrible person - I thought it was unusual, but know other thoughts entered my head over it being the parents or anything at all....if that makes sense?

I meant NO other thoughts entered my head by the way

What a sad story, and completely believable IMO. A couple of years ago I fell alseep in the lounge, with the back door open in the kitchen. I woke up to find a fox curled up on the mat in front of me fast asleep, and I am in London. They are getting bolder and bolder. Surely in this heat people don't generally shut and lock everything up until they actually go up to bed?

Iused to work for the RSPCA. We had a lot of calls about foxes. People wanted them removed from their gardens because they didnt like them

When I would explain we didnt do pest control they would often say 'well if you dont I will do something about it'

I once saw one of these people claiming their child had been attacked by a fox. It was on the news then it sort of disappeared.

I dont know what happened in the case of those poor little girls (I really hope they recover soon), but in that case the woman was lying. She wanted the foxes out of her garden.

I am NOT saying this has happened here. Those girls have been hurt and I do not belive their parents did it.

Do they have a dog? Are they perhaps frightened they will be judged or the children removed if it was a dog attack?

I am sorry if that sounds mean. I really dont mean it to. I am thinking more that the parents may be desperate.

But much as I am sceptical about fox attacks on humans, we dont know everything about fox behaviour and they are certainly getting bolder and less frightened of humans (round here anyway).

I feel for the parents whatever happened, its terrible to have your child in hosptial.

chegirl I think that is very unfair speculation, and no evidence for it.