Talkback: Urban foxes

i have a family of foxes that daily come into my garden,mum fox has had baby-cubs [3],realy lovely and sweet...sadly though for 10 days now i havent seen dad fox i hope he is ok.... with all the news at the moment about the fox attack,,,im now wondering should i stop them coming into my garden,,will be difficult as i back onto woods and there are many foxes in our area,also many of my neighbours on a daily basic feed the foxes either in there back gardens or they leave food out the front of there gardens,i know lots of people will dissagree but its lovely to watch and also to monitor there behaviour and patterns of movement.the only thing i really dont like is the screaming they do,are they fighting?? is it aggression,or playing,as at moment the screaming is very loud and it sounds like someone is getting hurt,is this why dad fox has dissappeared.?.?.?.

I have foxes that visit regularly and have never been a problem. The parents had 4 fox cubs last year but then they all seemed to disperse and left only two. These two seem to have paired up and are now regular visitors. I feed them regularly each evening and they patiently wait for me to go out and feed them. I certainly won't stop feeding them due to the recent attack which was most unfortunate but obviously very rare. It's strange that an attack on two small babies by a fox calls for a cull of all urban foxes yet attacks by parents on small children doesn't call for a cull of all parents!!

here here foxie lady ...couldnt say it better myself...

I love Foxes i watch them every year and put my bones out for them i have a family with 3 cubs my other neighbour trys feeding them tinned cat food and i just laugh every time the Foxes leave it for some fresh chicken bones might be better if the neighbour didnt put the cat food in a dogs bowl for them people feed birds i see no reason not to feed Foxes they have a hard life

although fox's are lovely to look at, I am glad that I haven't got one in my garden, after one chewed the legs off my friends goose to immoblize it before the kill,I cannot bring myself to love them, my friend installed electric fence to protect the two geese but both were mutilated then killed, leaving my friend traumatised.

The fox is a true survivor. Over the years they have survived many encounters with man. I understand kaycurtis being so unwilling to love foxes. i know them well and yes they are ruthless killers but no worse than cats(have you never seen a cat play with a mouse before killing it)i have a few tricks for keeping them away and am happy to share them if you would like. in the mean time please cut the fox some slack he is what he is because of us.

I have fed foxes for years and love watching them - what proof is there that the attack was by a fox? I hope the bites have been investigated and swabbed for evidence that these were fox bites. If legal matters were decided in the way the papers have gone to town on the issue of the fox attack there would be many more miscarriages of justice. I am still skeptical that it was a fox attack and keep an open mind. muddyboots: the screaming is sexual activity, the vixen calls in this way to attract a mate. foxielady: well said, re: the culling of parents and maybe some domestic dogs, there are many attacks on children by those.

Bushman, I have a friend who would love some tips on keeping foxes out of her garden. They do a lot of damage there and she doesn't want them. She doesn't want to harm them; she just wants them to go away. I'm plagued by rabbits so foxes are welcome here!

hear hear foxie lady - I'm sure that there are dogs out there which are as wild where they aren't trained properly, too- yet a wild fox which is used to its own wild life existance should be left alone. As for the Fathers - and Mothers come to that perhaps they should also consider training them more!! or as you say - a cull wouldn't go amiss. Save us tax payers some of the prison space where they have it made so simple and free.

we have many rats wandering from garden to garden, I WELCOME the fox and the cubs because they at least try to keep the plague of rats at bay. I have on occasions had the dear old dog fox asleep at the top end of the garden, whilst i am gardening in the bottom plot, he is always very wary of me and is off at the first hint of meg etting anywhere near to his area. With regards those poor children who were mutilated by the SO CALLED fox, may i say that even if a fox is cornered it will still try to get away from humans, it will climb walls, curtains just about anything rather than be in contact with the human population. I will leave my rant there. Leave the fox alone and it will get on with its own affairs, it is wildlife like the BADGER, and magpie, starlings, wood pigeon and collared dove, now those last two could do with some culling.

Hi could'nt agree more with all your comments I have a hard time beliving that a fox could manage to jump from one cot to another attacking the two babies, let alone going upstairs unnoticed. I have the pleasure of the occasional vistor that uses my garden as a short cut to where ever that may be going not that my dog would think so!!! We live near the sea in hampshire and I've seen a neighbour putting out scraps from Sunday lunch and if by magic the foxes start climbing up the cliff and running to this person's house it's a lovely sight. The poor fox has had to put up with alot over the years same as the badger so it's about time we all left them alone they are doing no harm. Ok the bin men in our area may disagree when they have to clear up after them but hey!!!

hi there,all your comments are so right,i find it very very odd about this attack on theses poor babies, did the police manage to take photos???? surely when mum or dad found theses children in a horrid state surely they must of been a lot of noise,screaming,crying,shouting etc,surely the fox would of done a runner not just sit there in a corner waiting for the police to turn up....all very weird. maybe just maybe if there back door was open perhaps a dog came in and mauled them...form another neighbours garden,have pictures of this fox in the bedroom been published?? so weird really weird,,,,,...... whatever the outcome its still awful for parents,and my thoughts are with them,but an attack like this is rare. culling them is not going to work,,more dogs do more damaged to children/adults cull some dog breeds....and ban owners who allow there dogs to attack and be aggressive.

So you believe everything you read in the papers then? It's the silly season. Newspapers are looking for a bit of sensationalism. Foxes will be attracted to the smell of blood and are perfectly able to jump up to first floor garage roofs, let alone climb stairs. Perhaps the smell of blood was already there for whatever reason? Consider that before blaming a wild animal.

I agree with Midge's comments entirely. I live in rural Buckinghamshire so therefore we live side by side with many of our lovely animals, and have many visits to our garden which is sited beside woods from foxes, badgers,owls, hedgehogs and a family of deer. The female walks around our garden then always takes a chunk off my latest flower head! or nibbles many of the plants - do I care - no, I would rather watch that wonderful, priviledged monment during a summer evening, than other sights which I could go out and find. Historically foxes are timid of humans, I am well aware that urban foxes behave differently to our rural ones, due to the very nature of finding food, living areas etc, I have seen many in urban areas during the day, whereas only a couple during the day back home, which is totally out of character and usually has a reason behind it - not well or injured; and recently one which seemed almost dazed,as it was staggering slightly which could have been from maybe being knocked by a car, or poison. Not pleasant to see in any case. I agree with the comments made regarding the situation at the home where this attack apparently happened. I do hope that all investigations have been made and the appropriate pathology tests have been carried out, not only because of the obvious health risks from the accused animal bites, but because this relates to children and in this case two at the same time. So therefore a very detailed investigation should have been carried out. Also along with Midge's comments, as Whitevan woman commented, foxes are attracted to the smell of blood, and for a fox to go inside someone's home, then walk all the way upstairs with the obvious smell of a human domain, then carry out an attack is quite bewildering to me. And then to apparently sit in the corner is beyond comprehension and more than questionable. Simon King, presenter of BBC Springwatch, commented this week that during all of his professional career and dealings with animals and foxes he has never heard of such an occurance. Again with comments posted on this site - dogs attack children, and unfortunately we have reports of this quite frequently, though how many families with children still have dogs? This apparent situation has given those people who dislike foxes the very moment they have waited for, and now of course I hear that in urban areas it is open season now for culling foxes as man as usual becomes judge and jury and as always to the suffering of animals.

I too am finding it extremely difficult to even consider that an urban fox attacked these babies who are not exactly tiny at 9mths and in separate cots !!!. How come this 'supposed' fox was managing to jump in and out of the cots attacking both babies without the parents hearing, surely, the first obviously distressed cries from the babies till it had done its attacking is beyond me, and, for the fox to still be sitting there whist the parents 'supposedly' tried to get the fox out of the bedroom !!! NO WAY . . . I am sorry that these babies were attacked by something but i'm sure it wasn't a fox . . . . A complete investigation of the whole incidence should definitely be carried out. It is quite possible these people are lying and covering up for something else that did this. The whole report is a complete load of you know what. I fear that it will now allow our new Tory government along with our Tory Mayor to reintroduce the barbaric blood sport of fox hunting and mass culling. The fox hunting brigade weren't at all happy when it was banned and still tried to get around the law to continue with their sick weekends by whatever means . . watch this space !!! Foxes are lovely creatures and need all the support we can give them. I feed them and have never had any problems with them at all. Admittedly i have no chickens but there are valid reasons why they sometimes mass kill, as with all wild animals they do this and bury what they can't eat to keep for times of not being able to get food. I am, happily, able to enjoy the cubs antics of chasing each other and watch their rough and tumbles. I too have a recurring family of foxes living in my garden. Last year the vixen had 5 cubs, they all stayed quite happily till it was time for them to leave. She came back again this year and had 4. Mum and 3 of the cubs recently abandoned the garden after the next door neighbour terrorised them in the early hours of the morning when we had all gone to bed, for over a week, with bricks and large stones thrown at my far sided fence. I couldn't understand where all the half bricks and large stones were coming from which i found in my garden each morning till one night i couldn't get to sleep and at 1.30am i heard a loud clunk hit the fence. I got up to see what it was and there was the neighbour throwing stones at the fence followed by her using the hose pipe aimed at the entrance of the den till someone in my house got up to use the bathroom, she saw the light come on and very quickly she put the hose away and scurried back indoors. Now whose the sly one !! As for Hackney council setting up traps in the said garden and killing a caught fox, "supposedly the one who attacked" yeah right, + 4 more - why didn't they just take the 5 foxes they're meant to have caught up to Epping Forest which is not that far away from Hackney ?? but far enough for them to start a new life . . . . The whole affair stinks and makes you wonder as it all just does not add up . . . .

gosh you have a odd neighbour,did you confront them over their behaviour ????? how dare they!! what is the update with regards to this fox attack on theses babies,does anyone know????? im another who finds it all very very odd and things dont add up... maybe a dog got in and went upstairs,attack the babys,left,and then the fox came in cause it could smell blood and now is getting the blame..... all odd odd odd.

Yes mother and babies are lovely to watch but when the decide to make your garden their home they are a nuisance. A mother and her 3 cubs destroyed my garden and I had to clean up their infested droppings daily to make it safe for my grandaughter to play. Thankfully the have now moved on however the mother regularly visits as a neighbour who feeds her. Following this she then visits my daughters front door and defecates. The vixen also terrorises family pets which i have witnessed. She even killed our pet rabbit and left the carcass. She is not afraid of humans in fact very brazen probably because of the neighbour feeding her. Last year one did enter the house and bedroom and caused absolute chaos and destruction. So i can believe it when it is reported they entered this poor families home and attacked these poor babies. Although i don't agree on a cull ( leave this to nature) I would I respectfully ask people not to encourage them by feeding them.

I have read all comments with an open mind but have to say foxes do not belong in towns, if all creatures took up residence in towns it would be chaos. yes a lot of dog breeds are dangerous and the law is too slack on controlling them but many dogs are well trained and controlled. I am now frightened of leaving my french windows open on a hot day as my old yorkshire terrier could not defend itself in an attack and there are foxes in neighbours gardens. foxes are not to blame but should not be encouraged to stay in towns, like all rural animals thats were they belong.

My dog was attacked by a fox; one rainy night when I returned home from work I let my Akita (pup, only 9months old then) out into the garden, only a few moments later she screamed in pain...I ran out and she came towards me with her face covered in blood, the fox had bitten her on her face and neck. I took her inside and wrapped a towel around her head. I then went outside and felt so upset, it was strange to find the fox still in my garden just standing they’re staring at me. This was a frightening experience. I picked up the closest thing to me – a watering can and throw it toward the fox, it then ran away. Then next evening it was back again. I feel they torment my dog, as well as dig up my garden and soil everywhere including the area by my back door. I can relate to all these affections towards the urban fox, it’s quite distressing.

sorry I meant to say 'I cannot relate'