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Meet the Foxes - Channel 4

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Just starting on Channel 4 - all about a family of urban/suburban foxes. Not much use to me but maybe useful for others to watch to get an idea how foxes behave - forewarned is forearmed and all that :wink:

 

It seems that some of the residents love and encourage them whilst predicatably others dislike them - I think it was on last night too. Not sure how many I've missed :? Just waiting for the disgruntled henkeeper :wink:

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Sorry, red just a knee-jerk reaction! I know it can happen to any of us in a moment but it just seemed like the man in question wasn't making sure his chooks were safe. Our girls free-range whenever possible but we couldn't sleep unless we knew they were safely loked away in the Eglu at night.

 

Foxes are not cute.

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I have to agree - not least because he was foolish enough not to have an eglu !! :wink::wink:

 

His hen house looked very ramshackle - those hens were sitting ducks for a fox :?:roll:

 

I thought the marksman was brilliant - it was so quick! And I thought it was rather lovely that they both got shot ... in a sort of tragic love story kind of way :anxious:

 

Isn't it funny how some people seem to think that chicken wire is for keeping foxes out when really it only serves to keep your hens in!

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Anybody else think it was a setup? One minute he's seen going out and bringing home 8 new chickens, lo and behold (and while there just happens to be a film crew around!), they're all killed in their flimsy run during the night.

Mmmm....sorry, very contrived!

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Just watched it. :roll: I can't believe that foolish man whose chickens were being killed. Presumably, living in a house like his, he must be fairly affluent and reasonably intelligent. How shameful that he hadn't done even the most basic research into hen keeping. The henhouse house was ramshackle to say the least, and.....chicken wire for god's sake. :roll: As Jools said...he might just as well have strangled them all with his bare hands. He should be banned from keeping hens for life.

 

As for Colin and Reg....they were like the undead. Well intentioned but misguided. Slobbering all over a wild animal and calling it "Darling"...Shudder.

 

I wanted to slap the two elderly genteel folk who enticed foxes into their garden to film them so that they so that they had something to watch whilst eating their breakfast......Idiots.

 

The only normal people in the programme were the marksman and the allotment keeper who swore like a trooper and spoke sense.

 

The programme confirmed my view that foxes are vermin and not pets.

 

There were a couple of mentions of using poison. Surely that is illegal?

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You have to kill urban foxes for two reasons.

 

(1) Most urban foxes are horribly diseased and they take these diseases to their healthy country cousins. (The foxes shown last night must have Equity cards and keep themselves glossy in the hope of a good TV part: the ones I see in my garden aren't like that. One of them was yellow and had no fur whatsoever: its tail was like a thin bone.)

 

(2) Urban foxes are much tamer than country foxes and come out during the day, which would mean the end of free-range farms. Country foxes are afraid of man; town foxes eat out of his hand.

 

I did not like the programme at all: it was very unbalanced, and definitely on the side of the foxes. It was also contrived, and different foxes were playing the starring roles at different times.

 

And yes, it is illegal to poison them. See Defra's leaflet on urban foxes. (But that dates from 2001: is it possible that it has been made legal since hunting was banned: does anyone know?)

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I refused to watch it Dan, read the write up in the times and it suggested the programme was suggesting that urban dwellers want a bit of the good life and do so without thought for the hens, untrue as that's why people buy Eglu's!

 

I hope it didn't encourage feeding of foxes again...they aren't pets and as already said they should be afraid of humans, it's in their best intgerests.

 

Well intentioned people but sadly ignorant by the sounds of it...Sorry off soap box now :oops:

 

Interested in anyone elses thoughts :?

 

BBx

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I read recently that when they leave a headless corpse, they have actually filled their stomachs with the hens blood to regurgitate for their cubs. Whilst I'm absolutely not leaping to the defence of the fox, it makes some sense of why they do this.

 

Have been looking up the poison question....it is most definitely illegal to poison foxes....I'm sure that daft bloke said he had tried everything including poison. I hope someone spots that and prosecutes him. Will have to play it back and listen carefully.

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There are two families in my street who actively encourage foxes: they feed them and allow them to breed under their sheds.

 

We have had large number of foxes in Oxford for many years: the fox-hunting ban is irrelevant to the question of urban foxes. The real question is whether it is fair either on humans or the foxes themselves to encourage them to breed in cities. There are some wild animals, such as deer, that would be removed immediately if they were found in the city, but foxes are tolerated.

 

I have found a more up-to-date DEFRA leaflet about urban foxes which confirms that it is still illegal to poison them.

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I think I am going to contact that company who sold fox/badger food again and find out why they make food if defra ask us not too.

 

Well spotted Gallina and I wouldn't want them to be poisoned, the people need to have a bit more sense :roll:

 

Just called Defra and a wildlife expert is going to call me back. I really want to find out what they think and if it's a no to feeding then why is it ok to sell food

 

BBx :?

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No definate line on badgers but Dr Katherine Murray said she advised not to feed as these animals can cause problems in the garden, raiding bins, disease etc. She said problems occur when they are fed and they create a disturbance and she gets calls to ask for their removal, they cannot be removed easily. The food sold encouraged the feeding too.

 

Can you believe their is also an independant study being carried out as people buy curries, take aways etc for badgers and they have obesity problems and diabetes :shock::twisted:

 

 

:shock:

 

BBx

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Being a expectant eglu and chicken owner, not long now to wait 27th April!!!! :D I wanted to watch the show to see what I'm up against. Not sure if it was a good idea or not. I agree the posh guy with the chickens was a plonker :evil: what a flimsy run!! But I didn't agree with them showing them being shot at the end, that was just too much in my opinion. Yes foxes kill our lovely girls, yes they are vermin and they shouldn't be encouraged but as a veggie and a huge animal lover I didn't want to see them dying. I know it was quick but just shouldn't have been shown, we would have got the gist by the gunshot and the bodies. I'm in no way sympathic to the foxes but just upset by what I saw. Glad I watched it but didn't like that bit :cry:

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But I didn't agree with them showing them being shot at the end, that was just too much in my opinion.
I respect your point of view Sarah71, but I think it was useful to show it.

 

It demonstrated clearly how quick and humane shooting is.

 

Anyone in a dilemma about what to do will have been reassured that it really is quick and not at all brutal.

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I agree egluntine just because something may be distasteful doesn't mean it shouldn't be part of the programme :?

 

If we ignore them they will increase in numbers and disease amongst them will spread and ultimately it is the animal that suffers in that situation is it more fair to allow an animal to die of mange in pain for months than to shoot it :cry:

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This is such a coincidence but I have just been chatting on the phone to a colleague....her dog was attacked in her own garden by a fox! He was bitten on the face and leg and had to be stitched. The facial wound is infected and his cheek is so swollen that his eye is closed.She has to bathe it several times a day....In addition to all this, the vet thinks he has picked up Sarcoptic Mange...almost certainly from the fox.

 

She now has a trap in her garden, and a marksman waiting for her call.

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By the way tell your friend to be careful handling the dog as humans can catch that too 'scabies' it is self limiting in humans as it can't complete its life cycle but you don't want to catch it as it can be very itchy :wink:

Thanks Louise....the vet has already warned her.

 

The vets bills by the way are over £400 to date! That is not a criticism of vets, but it is another factor to consider when deciding whether foxes are cute or not!

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