Page 3 | fox attacks

wagtag · 2010-06-08T21:09:57+00:00

Does anybody else think there is something not quite right about the so called fox attack in London? I have always known foxes to be timid and certainly not likely to climb up two lots of stairs. There is more to this than meets the eye

Saggyoldclothcatpuss · 09/06/2010 00:35

Fox culling...
There are too many foxes in urban areas, food is short, disease and sickness is rife, they are thin scrawny and searching for food wherever they can get it. Hence the baby attack.
You don't cull all of them. You cull a percentage so that those left behind have a better quality of life.
These foxes are not in a natural situation, although they are reacting naturally. Culling is a natural remedy. The sickness and disease is natures 'cull'. Humans culling foxes is a quicker and more humane answer than letting them die slowly of disease.
Why would anyone rational object to this?

Saggyoldclothcatpuss · 09/06/2010 00:37

P.s I'd bet money that the op is a labour voter!

DuelingFanjo · 09/06/2010 08:07

I don't understand what the OP's voting preference has to do with anything.
Fist she's a journalist then she's (shock horror) a labour voter! what next, maybe she's a paedo fox lover?

People need to get a grip IMO.

I think it's wholly irrational to want a cull because of this one recent incident when most experts are suggesting that people need to modify their behaviour, stop feeding and encouraging foxes and that a cull in an uneccesary knee-jerk reaction.

southeastastra · 09/06/2010 08:34

just listening on the london news about this, wandsworth council do not have wheelie bins so rubbish is left out? of course you will get foxes if this is the case. surely?

expatinscotland · 09/06/2010 08:35

I think it's a crock myself.

Saggyoldclothcatpuss · 09/06/2010 09:37

Duellingfanjo, the voting comment was because of the Tory bashing conspiracy theory up at the top of the post.
Re a cull, if you check out the other thread about this story, there are many people who have posted about foxes invading their houses, eating their pets and getting to close to their kids. A paper I was looking at yesterday reported another person near where these babies live chasing a fox away from his baby. Although attacks are uncommon, they do happen. I don't want to kill anything, but these foxes are manky and hungry. They have no fear. And they need some kind of control.

Ryoko · 09/06/2010 10:26

The whole thing sounds wrong on so many points anyway.

point 1: who leaves a door open in london when they can not see it at all times?.

point 2: who leaves babies alone upstairs out of sight (especially after doing point 1).

point 3: why would a fox go upstairs instead of going to the kitchen, unless it did, unless the parents where so engrossed in watching TV they didn't see the fox wondering around the house for god knows how long.

I wouldn't leave a door open I can't see at all times, I wouldn't let my baby out of my sight for more then 2 mins to make a cup of coffee let alone sit around watching TV practically miles from him.

misdee · 09/06/2010 10:32

i leave my back door open in the evenings.

my kids sleep upstairs out of my view. often all night out of my view!

belgo · 09/06/2010 10:36

Ryoko - plenty of people leave their french doors open. And children asleep in rooms that they cannot see.

Foxes are fast and silent.

They had been having a BBQ so presumably the fox was attracted by the smell and searching for food, and found the babies, approximately the same size as their natural pray.

DastardlyandSmugly · 09/06/2010 10:42

I leave my patio doors open a lot. Our back garden is totally blocked off at the sides (mid-terrace) and we have a river at the end. (SW London)

I would also put my children upstairs to bed and be downstairs watching TV or whatever else.

Ryoko · 09/06/2010 10:50

Children fine but I wouldn't have a baby out of sight.

I've lived in london all my 31 years and would never leave a door open out of sight.

misdee · 09/06/2010 10:51

gasp, my kids were babies once!

i had a ferrat come into my house. had to chase that out.

and pigeons, random cats, and other wild creatures.

belgo · 09/06/2010 10:56

Not only do I let my babies sleep out of my sight, but I have no baby phone either. Not since it broke when dd1 was a baby.

DastardlyandSmugly · 09/06/2010 11:08

At 9 months old my DD had been sleeping in her own room out of my sight for 3 months.

And as I say I often leave my doors open at the back when I'm elsewhere. I've had a cat come in before but only as far as the playroom which is on the end of the kitchen.

LynetteScavo · 09/06/2010 12:14

Ryoko, you seriously wouldn't leave 9 months old babies to sleep in their room while you watched TV or tidied up?

How on earth did you manage?

Leaving a door open on to the back garden would depend on the acceptability to the rear of the house....what would be difficult for a human to climb over would be nothing to a fox.

Remotew · 09/06/2010 12:28

I don't have an opinion and know nothing about foxes but met someone yesterday that knows a lot about them and he said there was something not right about the story.

toccatanfudge · 09/06/2010 12:30

point 1: who leaves a door open in london when they can not see it at all times?.

Well if you have a "secure" garden that prevents humans easily getting in or out you probably would - foxes can get places humans can't

point 2: who leaves babies alone upstairs out of sight (especially after doing point 1).

ermm - me.

point 3: why would a fox go upstairs instead of going to the kitchen, unless it did, unless the parents where so engrossed in watching TV they didn't see the fox wondering around the house for god knows how long.

Even the "experts" who have said that they've never heard of a fox doing such a thing have also said that they have heard of foxes being curled up asleep on beds.........

DuelingFanjo · 10/06/2010 08:53

this non-story demonstrates exactly why this whole thing has got out of hand. People need to seriously get a grip.

"It is not certain whether the officer's photograph is of the fox thought to have mauled the twins"

so basically, a picture of a random fox?

They really are the new Paedos, eh?

MilkNoSugarPlease · 10/06/2010 23:50

Live in N.london

We leave back door open when we can't see it...not for more then 5 mins though, is shut if we'll be away from it for more
but thats due to the local cat bringing us gifts more then anything

We would leave a baby alone...due to the fact that I wouldnt go to bed when they do and why would I sit in the bedroom with them awake for hours until im tired?

Ive woken up to find a cat asleep on my bed on more then one occasion, its come in through the window, im pretty sure a fox could sneak in no problem, and wouldnt be seen depending on the layout of the house

Foxes in London are cocky bastards, bold as brass and will do what they want!
I think this is an entirely true story, nothing about it makes me ot question it

TwoIfBySea · 11/06/2010 01:04

In a city I would have always thought rats would be the bigger concern and as for leaving doors open. I'd be more worried a fox was going to come in a do a sh*t than anything else, hence the fact that as my windows open then they are the better option. If I lived in London I'd be worried about human vermin coming in an open door - still I am a big fearty so there you go.

CantSupinate · 11/06/2010 05:01

So, as a result of this attack, is the thinking to rescind the ban and start hunting foxes with hounds again... in urban areas? Like right thru Regent's Park and down the middle of Tottemham Court Road? Because otherwise, I'm really not too sure what the ban on hunting foxes with hounds has to do with URBAN fox control.

Grumblestiltskin · 12/06/2010 08:26

bibbitybobbityhat - I think you are being quite rude and unwelcoming.

Wagtag I agree with you. Something very strange about the story indeed. The police do get things wrong occasionally, so maybe they are wrong about this.

Who leaves a door open? Anyone could have come through that door.

When your two of your children start crying, you go and find out what's wrong.

The Mother's reaction was rather strange as well. I know if my children had been hurt I wouldn't say "it was like a horror movie.

Either way it sounds like the parents were neglectful.

magicOC · 12/06/2010 10:23

There but for the grace of god.......

Some comments on here are so nasty.

For you lot that don't leave doors open in this hot weather, do you all have air con?

Do you sit and watch your child 24/7, never sleeping yourselves?

You may be interested to know that one of the babies has now been released from hospital to go home and recover.

If there was any suspicion of neglect on the part of the parents then she woul never have been released back to them.

Northernlurker · 12/06/2010 10:30

There's a picture on the daily mail website of the house. The garden backs on to other gardens so you wouldn't necessarily expect intruders to leap a ton of fences to get to yours. The doors in question lead on to what looks like a huge extended kitchen. That then links to the rest of the house and it may well be that you can see in to it from wherever they were watching tv. Therefore they would notice an intruder - but not a small fox slipping in.
If I found my babies covered in blood I would think it was like a horror movie too - especially as the fox had to be chased away and wasn't scared of them.
It's absurd to accuse them of neglect - and very hurtful.

tethersend · 12/06/2010 11:06

Vile thread.