Urban fox attacks two babies while they sleep!

[vole-woman]

And here are some foxes playing with, oops, I meant "viciously attacking" domestic dogs.

YouTube - Quick brown fox jumps over lazy dog

YouTube - Dog vs Fox Cub

YouTube - A fox chasing a fox look-alike dog, CRAZY fox noises at end

YouTube - Dog Vs Fox Cub 2

[vole-woman]

And either you need to panic a heck of a lot more about leptospirosis:

"Nearly all mammals are capable of carrying the bacteria and may therefore spread the disease among others of their own kind, and to other species, including man."

HPA - General Information on Leptospirosis

or a heck of a lot less:

"In England and Wales, leptospirosis is very rare, with an average of 40 cases being reported each year. Since 1996, there have been three deaths from leptospirosis."

Leptospirosis - Introduction

So shall we just cull everything, or shall we have a nice cup and tea and take a few calming breaths?

[muldonach]

There are plenty of ways you could make a case for culling foxes but preventing attacks on humans would not be one that I at least would like to advance.

As others have said above leaving doors and windows open is not the cleverest thing to do in an urban environment.

cheers
mac

[captivebolt]

OK. Hands up. A lot of these risks are potential. Naytheless I stand by my main point. Feeding urban foxes is doing them a disfavour. Let them exist as scavengers on the fringe of urban life and get along as best they can but if you try to make them part of urban life you will get a lot of opposition and a lot more dead foxes.

CB

[Back]

Originally Posted by vole-woman

And here are some foxes playing with, oops, I meant "viciously attacking" domestic dogs.

YouTube - Quick brown fox jumps over lazy dog

YouTube - Dog vs Fox Cub

YouTube - A fox chasing a fox look-alike dog, CRAZY fox noises at end

YouTube - Dog Vs Fox Cub 2

Interesting clips. The first in particular highlights two concerns I have. The fox does not look healthy. My limited observations have suggested to me that urban foxes do not look as healthy as those that survive in the countryside. I don't know why this seems to be, and I'm not sure if this always holds true.

Secondly, that they can be extremely confident in an urban setting. Having read a report about the fox that attacked the twins, I was surprised to hear how little fear it showed when confronted by the two parents. They are definitely opportunists it seems.

[vole-woman]

I've got a robin that comes into my kitchen, but that doesn't mean it's likely to attack me. An animal simply being bold doesn't mean it's vicious.

[vole-woman]

Originally Posted by captivebolt

if you try to make them part of urban life you will get a lot of opposition and a lot more dead foxes.

a) They're already part of urban life, and b) they're already controlled in cities and towns by trapping and killing.

But I agree, with the utterly ridiculous hysteria that's circulating in the press, it's not a good time to be encouraging foxes into places where they're visible and might cause some nit-wit to have a major panic. I read today some stupid comment by a woman who said she wouldn't let her grandchild play out any more in case a fox "dragged him off". Even more reasons to keep our kids locked in the house 24/7, eh?

[muldonach]

Originally Posted by Cutty Dyer

So it's all the way to the bottom...

If "all the way to the bottom" refers to the argument that parents are solely responsible for the safety of their children whilst in the family home then I for one am down there as well!


cheers
mac

[shenk1]

Originally Posted by vole-woman

I've got a robin that comes into my kitchen, but that doesn't mean it's likely to attack me. An animal simply being bold doesn't mean it's vicious.

Didn't you once see a toy robin attacked by a real one on a Bill Oddie show?They are mean nasty creatures so make sure you don't wear any red tops whilst in its vicinity or you may need help typing your next reply.

They are vicious killers,be aware!!



(There is probably more chance of getting attacked in your own home by a robin than a fox,but leaving the back door wide open and unwatched with children in the house I think I'd be more worried about other 2 legged vermin.)

[RobinP]

Just to add my twopenneth on the subject, most urban foxes seem to suffer from mange, which can lead to some strange behaviour patterns and daytime sightings. We had one round here that could be seen regularly running around in the road during the day.

Having said that, I can hardly believe this attack is the result of a fox, however deranged from any diesease, and the expert fox controller's quote in the Time - 'instances like these' - (erm, once in 40 years?) does beggar belief.

Foxes are sadistic, opportunist killers, at least in the wild and need to be controlled but some of the knee-jerk reactions on here and in the media are unnecessary imo.

Robin