Foxes

[bilko]

I'm doing late shifts at work at the moment so i generally get to bed round 2am. For the last few nights i have heard rustling outside my window. At first i thought it was intruders in the garden and grabbed my holly shilleighly ( that i cut the other day ). I turned off my bedroom light and grabbed a torch and in one fould swoop opened my curtains and scanned the garden with my torch light.

What should be staring at me but a fox well 2 actually. I think they were infants. How old would the cubs be now from the last lot? Also i think i'm right in saying they were bitches as they had the clean white breast as opposed to a far more dirty brown appearance of dogs.

I watched them playing and looking for food in the garden by following them with my torch. I don't know if they were tameish because they didn't seem to mind the torch . After a while i wanted to growl at them so i opened the window and growled them off. They came back when i was in bed but i was confident that i had done the right thing. I don't think it's a good idea for us to befriend each other too much although i would happily ( gradually ) befriend a deer, wolf, bear etc. Am i being hypocritical? i don't know.

I was talking to a chap at work tonight who said they have one that his missus lets in the kitchen to feed!, Surely this can only work out badly in the end?

Anyway, i found watching them interesting so i thought i'd let you know and discuss the influx of foxes into rural areas etc

 

[R-J]

they can then loose thier fear of man and expect food! never a good thing, lol. the fox in the kitchen sounds like a disaster waiting to happen...

but hey, its nice to see them out and about. i enjoy watching all animals, if i'm gonna be honest, i would just as much like to watch a fox for 1/2 hour as a deer, but thats just me (i think i'm just easily pleased )

dunno if this will generate quite the response of your last thread dude (some good points made and interesting views), but it will be interesting to see what folks say.

ps, i think the white chest is an age thing. white = joung as they havent been rolling in to much, er, stuff...

 

[pumbaa]

While walking the dog a couple of days ago , i got talking to one of the old boys from the village . He was telling me that he saves his chicken carcas (legs and all) for a vixen and her cubs that live in the hippy field . Apparently they will come right up to him to take the carcas ! He reckons he will be able to stroke them soon
Personaly i think this is wrong and they could do with a healthy fear of man as they are likely to end up in a dodgy situation this close to a village . He takes his dog with him and that doesn't bother them either .
Pumbaa

 

[bloodline]

BEWARE FOX MANGE Ive known someones dog die from this after rolling in fox poo even after a couple of grands worth of vets bills. I bath the terriers if they get any on them so keep the foxes away from the garden if you have dogs.

 

[pumbaa]

I always cover the dog in tomato ketchup if it rolls in fox mess . It does 2 things , it covers that awfull stench and puts a healthy dose of panic into your dog (i think they think they are about to be eaten) . Although it doesnt do anything for mange .
Pumbaa

 

[gregorach]

Mange can also infect humans - it's really quite unpleasant.

I really don't think it's a good idea for people to treat foxes like pets. One, they're wild animals and shuold stay that way. Two, they are scavangers and predators - how long before someone's child is injured by a fox that's been desensitized to man? Three, they are in many ways vermin, whose numbers need to be controlled. While I'm not a big fan of hunting with hounds, if people start seeing foxes as cute and cuddly we'll end up with the ridiculous idea that they shouldn't be controlled at all.

I think Disney's got a lot to answer for - too many people seem to think of wild animals as just cute, furry little people, rather than, well, wild animals.

Feeding foxes is just not a good idea, for lots and lots of reasons. It's not like they're endangered or anything...

 

[bambodoggy]

they are scavangers and predators - how long before someone's child is injured by a fox that's been desensitized to man?

Already happened my friend....

http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=586&id=713602002

http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/news/s/11/11813_dad_kills_fox_with_five_legs.html

And it seems the old aren't safe too:

http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=586&id=1016862004

Not to mention pets:

http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/03/12/nfox12.xml

http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/03/24/nfox24.xml

http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/02/06/nfox06.xml

I'm not sure I beileve all the above stories but it certainly seems to happen

Personally I've not had a problem with them, I like to watch the cubs playing out by their set but I never get too close and my GSD certainly won't let them in my garden lol

Feeding them can imo only be a bad thing.

Bam.

 

[bloodline]

I always cover the dog in tomato ketchup if it rolls in fox mess . It does 2 things , it covers that awfull stench and puts a healthy dose of panic into your dog (i think they think they are about to be eaten) . Although it doesnt do anything for mange .
Pumbaa

You made I laugh the pup already hates the bath whats it gonna do to him if he thinks hes about to get eaten

 

[Ronin]

Had to reply to this one if only to echo some of the comments made already.

Having wild reared three litters of cubs and feeding an average of 5 foxes per night, we never attempt to befriend, stroke or hand feed them in any way. Encouraging the fox like that is a nightmare waiting to happen. Close contact with humans causes non-stereotypical behaviour which leads to aggression. Foxes are natural scavengers and dont distinguish between a chicken or a baby!

As for mange, it is totally treatable and is no longer a terminal condition. I have treated and recovered 2 vixens and a dog fox from near fatal (60% hair loss) mange. The vixen produced 3 cubs this year (some of the guys on here may remember me raving about them in an earlier thread. ). So if you see a fox with mange, dont shake your head and say shame, try to do something. The National Fox Welfare Society (http://www.nfws.org.uk/) provide a remedy that I have used to great success and it is free. Follow their guidelines for treating and feeding and you cant go far wrong.

Mange will be on the rise now as we have had a warm summer. Without a cold snap, a lot more foxes (and dogs) will pick it up. If you do put any food out for foxes, dont forget the water too.

Sorry for waffling on a bit, it is a subject close to my heart (and no I am not anti hunt or animal rights...I just like to help where I can (like most of us here)). It is not usually the animal that is the problem, it is usually us!.

 

[bilko]

They do seem to have their uses though..
This is one from a few years ago in my back garden near my bedroom window. That is a rat btw minus one head
I never found the rest of it.

 

[JoshG]

Great pics.

 

[Abbe Osram]

Bilko that are very nice pictures you should try to sell them to a animal magazine.
cheers
Abbe

 

[gaz_miggy]

hi
i was out last weekend on my own in the local wood, just got my tarp set up and sorting my bed out when i noticed a fox run tru the clearing just in front of were i was setting up, i thort wow im lucky 2 come so close, then he came back and just sat about 2-3 foot away from my just looking at me, then wondered off again, so i carryed on setting up got some fire wood and put a some whater on for a cupa. when i heard scraching behind me i looked around and the little bugga was scraching up my peg out and eating my guy rope.so i had 2 shout at him which i felt mean about but its still something i wont forget im shour he would of let me pet him but even thow he looks cute a fox is a wild animal so i would most likely of ended up with no fingers.