dog fox shot

sally0703 · #1 (**permalink**) 01-04-2010, 01:24 AM

Hi
Can anybody give me some advice please. I had been watching a pair of foxes recently which had dug out a new earth in early February. Two weeks ago I went for a walk one morning and was upset and angry to see that the dog fox had been shot and thrown in the ditch near to where the Earth is.
My question is, will the vixen be able to rear her cubs (if there are any) on her own? I phoned a local wildlife rescue organisation and they told me to put food near the entrance to the earth every night to help the vixen. I have been doing this for two weeks now and there are signs that a fox (hopefully the vixen) is eating the food every night. Am I doing the right thing or could the vixen become too reliant on my food?
I hope some of you can give me some advice.
Many thanks, Sally

RKB · #2 (**permalink**) 01-04-2010, 01:42 AM

If they've shot the dog, the vixen and cubs wont be long as the shooter knows where the earth is. The cubs will be out playing and being noisy around the entrance before long, and they will be easy targets. Whoever has done it clearly doesn't want them there so will get rid of them (which will be legal, so long as they have permission to shoot on that land). You baiting up the entrance will arguably just be baiting up a shooting Gallery, but it will probably end the same no matter what you do.

It's possible that poisoned bait may be laid down at the earth to kill the vixen (illegal), so be careful if you walk your dog. A terrier may have also been put down the hole to kill the cubs (borderline illegal, I think).

sally0703 · #3 (**permalink**) 01-04-2010, 01:55 AM

Thanks RKB for your reply. Does it make any difference that they Earth is on a public footpath and not actually on the farmers fields? Surely it is dangerous for people like myself who often walk with my dogs (one which is a fox red labrador) along the footpaths? Are there any laws that you know of whereby you mustn't shoot across a public footpath?

RKB · #4 (**permalink**) 01-04-2010, 08:28 AM

Yes, it's illegal to shoot on or across a public footpath, but you have to prove that they did. They will probably be lamping them at night.

Gill Catton · #5 (**permalink**) 01-04-2010, 10:37 AM

yes I think its unlikely that they would be shooting foxes at typical dog walking times purely becaiuse fox is more likely to be holed up during these times.

salukiwhippet · #6 (**permalink**) 01-04-2010, 10:48 AM

If it's out in the country, she'll probably move the cubs when they start getting out and about anyway. They don't like disturbance.

A public footpath is exactly that, a path, and therefore no more than a vehicle width wide, so I'm not sure how the earth can be 'on' it.

Footpaths and shooting are a grey area. General consensus is that they're OK to shoot on or over provided you don't interrupt or endanger users of them. They are private land, the public just has the right to use them to get from A to B.

Whether it is safe or sensible to do so is a different question of course.

James

P.S. One bolting terrier can be used to ground to flush foxes for gamebird protection as long as certain criteria are met.

Jim Ford · #7 (**permalink**) 01-04-2010, 11:32 AM

Maybe it would be best to wait until the cubs are born, then create a disturbance around the sett to encourage the vixen to move with the cubs, hopefully out of reach of the shooter.

Jim

sally0703 · #8 (**permalink**) 01-04-2010, 11:37 AM

The fox's earth is next to a pond on a tiny bit of scrub land surrounded by trees and the public footpath goes right around the pond and then along the edge of the farmers fields. I usually go out with my dogs at 7pm and get back about 9pm. I take my night vision binoculars as I love walking at night and you get to see lots of wildlife. In particular I go out watching some of the foxes in the area. As I have problems sleeping I often go out again around 1am for an hour or two. I have never before seen anybody out lamping or shooting.

sally0703 · #9 (**permalink**) 01-04-2010, 11:46 AM

I feel like this vixen is like a 'sitting duck' as to move the cubs she would have to cross a large field to get to the nearest meadows/trees. Am I helping at all by leaving food nearby for her? At least she doesnt have to go out hunting and risk getting shot. Fair enough she may eventually get shot anyway but by leaving food for her am I helping her raise her cubs in relative safety? By the time she needs to go out hunting for the cubs hopefully they will be emerging from the Earth anyway and if she does get shot then a Wildlife Rescue org may be able to save them. I am leaving food after getting advice from a Wildlife Rescue org but like someone else said, am I just doing all this in vain if the farmer is going to come in and kill them all anyway, or am I giving them a better chance of survival?

posie · #10 (**permalink**) 01-04-2010, 12:33 PM

...Sally, IF there is a vixen there WITH cubs , if you stop the food and she has cubs of a certain young age, she could desert the cubs and starvation is a long nasty death. You are replacing the dog fox by supplying her with food while she doesn't want to leave her cubs. I can't tell you what to do, but if it was me, I would definitely continue the food for some time, and hope for the best., Nature cannot take it's natural course because of Human intervention with the shooting of the male fox, so you are replacing him , by supplying the food he would have brought in.Then hope that things can eventually return to being more natural for the vixen and cubs, but this won't be for some time, cos the vixen needs help providing food for the young right up until they can catch their own.....Posie..