A south London couple driven to despair by urban foxes roaming their garden have spent nearly £1,000 trying to keep them out. Michael and Susan Sidwell, of Croydon, said they have faced many a sleepless night as foxes fought, howled and screeched in their suburban garden. Chicken wire and costly ultra-sonic devices were installed but to no avail. The RSPCA said the garden's low fencing, shade and overgrown foliage made it an ideal habitat for foxes. Mr Sidwell said: "I am tired. I have had months of inadequate sleep." He also added that he feared the presence of foxes may deter house buyers and affect property prices. RSPCA inspector Clare Ponsford said the best way to keep them out was to ensure composts and dustbins were secure and no food was put out. She said the animal charity would not advocate culling as it was a short term measure and other foxes would only replace them. "They are opportunists and if there's an opportunity for them to come back and fill up the space, they will do." Your emails The urban fox problem is merely a sympton of a far wider catastrophe. Government and the conservation establishment refuse to confront the explosion of pest and predator species in this country. This has helped to devastate our biodiversity - most noticeable in the collapse of our songbird population. Sadly there are no votes for pest control from an electorate brainwashed from childhood by Walt Disney.
Nick Forde I used to live in London & now I live in Chelmsford (both places being home to many foxes). Foxes are opportunistic and therefore naturally gravitate towards where there is a food source; peoples rubbish. People must realise that the only way that the eco-community will work successively is if people stop persecuting animals which are not a threat. Foxes are not dangerous, nor are they a vector of diseases (such as rats). They make noises at certain times of the year (such as starlings) and they sometimes pull rubbish out of bins (such as crows & magpies). I love seeing wildlife, and I believe that most people would agree that just because they can be noisy, should not be a greenlight to those who want to persecute anything that they find remotely annoying.
Tim
Chelmsford The Hackney council own a property/woodmill near London Fields which has now closed down and is being left to degenerate. On top of this they are using the land around the property as a rubbish dump because it is cheaper to leave repeated small van loads of rubbish on their own land rather than regularly disposing of it in a dump (or so we were told when approaching the worker dumping the rubbish). Since this land has degenerated it has encouraged foxes to take up home. We are often woken during the night due to their awful screeching and howling. This can be especially annoying when you've finally managed to get your baby to sleep, only for her to be woken a short time later. It's hard enough to cope with the lack of sleep when you have a young baby, but contending with the foxes aswell can be unbearable.
The problem with foxes across London is increasing and I think that the money the council are saving on taking short cuts should be put to good use in solving the fox problem. A tired mother from Hackney So glad to see the problem of urban foxes highlighted on the news. Far too many people are encouraging them with unnecessary food :
our dogs regularly find chicken portions in the garden and this is a major problem.
Bexleyheath resident I have been waiting for someone to describe foxes as vermin and pests for a very long time. My family and I are currently plagued by them. I do not have any food sources available to them I have cleared away undergrowth replaced fences and they still appear in our garden at night , also they are undeterred by motion sensor lighting.
They currently use our garden as their local toilet. Only last week I had to clear away 6 areas of fox faeces from our lawn. This has stopped our children ( 4yr old twins and 1.5 yr old twins) from playing in our garden making it a no go area. I am very worried about the disease and infections which these animals carry.
I would like to see foxes culled. Obviously this is a cost issue which is why our councils would oppose. As for the RSPCA saying that culling is not a long term measure. But what is? Any animal which outgrows it’s welcome and natural sustainablilty and does not have a natural predator is classed as a pest/vermin and should be treated as such. Melanie Iqbal
New Malden I have seen foxes come into my house in Stratford, East London. One morning, a fox came in through the open back door and took shelter under the bed whilst I was waking up in the bed above. Foxes are regularly seen in the street at night, and are becoming more bold and brave as they become more numerous. Paul Foster
London E15 We had a miserable Spring whilst foxes set up home in our small London garden. Constant mess; faeces, rubbish and the remains of our neighbours pet rabbit! We were told by the local council there was nothing we could do. We felt unhappy about our children playing in the garden. Surely that's not right?
Kriss After spending many, many years fighting to get hunting banned here we go again!! I would just love the local foxes to come into my garden but I have two dogs and they certainly won't want to take those on. There is only one breeding pair for each area, start a cull and other foxes will move in and start the process all over again. They are self-regulating when it comes to breeding and it would be better to find a way to live with them, not mass slaughter. I'm soon moving back to the country after several years in the London area because I miss the wildlife and I just hope I can have a fox or two visit me. Rose H. Hall
Northolt My husband and I have been putting out food for foxes every night for years and enjoy watching them come in to the garden. They have never done any damage to our fences or plants. Foxes eat slugs and snails that most people do not want in their gardens, although we don't mind them. By discouraging foxes, there will be more slugs and snails, which means people will put out more slug pellets and other chemicals, thus killing the few remaining hedgeogs that have managed to survive these deadly substances that are harming nature and the environment. Pam
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