Urban fox friend or foe?

HitPR · Post by **HitPR** » 12 Mar 2010 01:19

Am I the only one noticing the staggering increase in the foxs in sydenham?

Every night I hear em screechin like mad. but heres the dillemma!

Lately lot of cats have been going missing, personally i have lost a 1 and bit yr old white slender cat, we figured it may have been stolen! (white cats are rare to see)

But tonight to me and my mothers horror, we saw a BIG black fluffy cat get taken in front of our eyes! by a fox of all things at 7pm!

Now you got to remember theres 2 of us talkin loudly outside house about this big cat meowin like mad no more then 5 steps away from us, only for the fox leap off the garage roof and drag the poor cat over a wall into neighbours garden before i could even react! (didnt even see it hiding up there)

There willing to attack cats?
With humans standin right there makin plenty of noise?
Surely thats a huge problem now?

Do we put this down to nature and lock our pets away inside from now on?

The foxes are obviously losin there shyness of humans to do that so blatently!

Any one else had issues lately? or noticed the alarming amount of foxs at the moment?

phil/hit

sarahc · Post by **sarahc** » 12 Mar 2010 06:54

I am really shocked by your post. I have foxes that 'live' behind my garage at the end of my garden and also have 2 cats. They seem to live in harmony. I often see the foxes and my cats in the garden together.

This site may be of interest - http://www.thefoxwebsite.org/urbanfoxes ... et.html#q3

Will be keeping a closer eye on the foxes now.

Sarah

Ulysses · Post by **Ulysses** » 12 Mar 2010 10:26

One of our neighbours has a den at the bottom of their garden. You certainly know when the vixen is back in season! It's like an episode of Midsomer Murders [obligatory fox scream on every dusk/evening outdoor scene; look out for it].

Foxes are a menace and at the same time get an unfair press. I believe their numbers are always in stasis as there's not enough food/habitat for their numbers to grow. I'm not sure therefore if there're any more HitPR but there have always been loads here in Sydders and yes they are becoming braver.

Pros: They keep unwanted rodent numbers down. I'd certainly feel different if it was MY cat but it's quite rare for a cat to be taken as they put up a good fight and foxes can lose their sight as cats go for their eyes. Plus a cat's a bit big for it's stomach, which is tiny.

Cons: See cat issue. Rare but does happen. Blooming noisy. A few years back a Mother returned to her baby after putting washing out to find a fox locked around her babies head...it's only a matter of time I fear.

Not too many pros actually, thinking about it.

JRobinson · Post by **JRobinson** » 12 Mar 2010 15:10

we shouldn't have banned fox hunting

G-Man · Post by **G-Man** » 12 Mar 2010 15:31

Trouble...trouble...once a lovely country fox...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKF_9ZSCR3U

G-Man

HitPR · Post by **HitPR** » 13 Mar 2010 11:58

lol love the mighty boosh vid refrence there.

but yeah i can understand about food and keepin the rat problem in check *which in london or any other city can be a problem*
and i dont hate them, i think they look great and have a right to live like any other creature.

just i dunno every night i see them now, and i thought foxs were loners? i see groups of 5 goin about in a pack jumpin the garden fences, so there pack huntin now?
maybe its just where i am as im up not to far from cp park, so more about due to area.

either way i still think its a bit worryin for pet owners (had to warn next door neighbour incase the black cats remains are in there garden still, there kids dont need to see that)

still there was that report on tv about foxs up north chewin through brake cables to drink the brake fluid, there deffo not same animal i remember as a kid lol, there gettin smart and brave!

Trawlerman · Post by **Trawlerman** » 13 Mar 2010 16:59

Foxes really shouldn't be in towns...Easy to understand why they are here. They feel safe [!] and they have a ready supply of [junk...literally!!] food.
But they are really urban vermin.

I saw an old lady feeding foxes cat food not too long ago.
Looks like the cats themselves are now forming part of their diet!
Fox-huggers are barmy. Foxes need to be excluded from towns and controlled [not exterminated] in the countryside.
I also think that fox hunting for sport is a bit barmy [the unspeakable in pursuit of the inedible...]

sydenhamboy · Post by **sydenhamboy** » 15 Mar 2010 20:50

... I was in bed with my gilrfriend the other night ... and outside we heard the urban foxes screaming and howling. She said it sounded like a fight between a cat and a fox. I said don't be silly - all they do is eat local waste and the odd discarded KFC - they won't attack a cat!!!

But now, I realise she might be right.

And I can't tell her. She'll be pleased she's right and I'm wrong. And then get upset about the cat. Either way, I've got a bad evening ahead.

Horrific!

lambchops · Post by **lambchops** » 15 Mar 2010 22:50

[quote="Ulysses"] A few years back a Mother returned to her baby after putting washing out to find a fox locked around her babies head...it's only a matter of time I fear.

[quote]

heh.

a dingo stole my baby.

simon · Post by **simon** » 15 Mar 2010 23:09

One of my dogs had a fox a couple of years ago, in a particularlly gruesome manner. Came into our garden and one of my greyhounds killed it. I'll spare you the details, but amazingly they still come in. Local cats know better.

Search East · Post by **Search East** » 16 Mar 2010 14:26

My neighbor had the remains of what we could only be guessed at a cat, left in her back garden last year, but it was heavily decomposed and may have been lying around for ages before being moved and left there.

There are some old unused allotment areas behind a part council/privately owned block of flats next door to me, so the forest of sumac trees and brambles acts as a great shelter for the foxes. The screeching can be nightmarish during the late spring / summer at 3 am.

Link here to some pics of one that was chilling out in my back garden in late January:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bhall73/4298159926/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bhall73/4300757350/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bhall73/4300012701/

lbere · Post by **lbere** » 28 Mar 2010 10:14

Last night about 11.30pm a fox was standing in the middle of my garden howling for a mate, who we could hear replying, but seemed to be a distance away.

After a while the fox gave up and then lay in the bushes. Can anything be done to put a fox 'off' a garden?

bigbadwolf · Post by **bigbadwolf** » 28 Mar 2010 11:34

Can anything be done to put a fox 'off' a garden?

Yup. And their pals.

poulet · Post by **poulet** » 28 Mar 2010 16:55

male urine is supposed to put them off

On the garden, not your cat...

bigbadwolf · Post by **bigbadwolf** » 28 Mar 2010 21:18

You're taking the piss, surely, poulet?

jamlau · Post by **jamlau** » 29 Mar 2010 10:56

Stepped out of my front door recently straight into a pile of fox s*it on my 'Welcome' doormat.

poulet · Post by **poulet** » 29 Mar 2010 20:12

I'm sure BBW was joking, but in case not - urine does work. Has to be male though, apparently female is not powerful enough!

Newbie Syd · Post by **Newbie Syd** » 1 Apr 2010 21:31

I saw a fox the other morning close to the train station. It was brazenly trotting across the road. I was so surprised, I stopped to stare. Another passer by also stopped to stare. There we were, gawping at a fox at 8am in the morning.

bigbadwolf · Post by **bigbadwolf** » 1 Apr 2010 22:14

I've seen one walk along Dartmouth Rd during the afternoon without a care in the world. It came so close I could've easily grabbed it by the tail.

I was sitting in our buildings communal garden at my old place in Forest hill getting stoned, and a Vixen sauntered past with a cub in her mouth, put it down and started licking it in the shade. She didn't even seem to register my presence.

I'll probably wake up to one sleeping on the end of my bed inext year.

fishcox · Post by **fishcox** » 2 Apr 2010 02:47

Foxes have crap eyesight; cue jokes about opticians etc etc

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Urban fox friend or foe?

Urban fox friend or foe?