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I confess to be struggling with this.
And I'm not posting this to be deliberately provocative.
But what is your reasoning behind encouraging a creature which is urban, destructive / vermin?
Convince me of what useful / desirable contribution foxes make to an urban environment.
We (humans) undoubtably are contributory to encouraging their presence with discarded KFC (etc) on the streets.
And I'm not trying to start an animal rights war here.
Nor am I trying to encourage the reinstatement of The Dulwich Hunt.
But personally, I'd prefer to not be having to deal with, and clear up their stinking shit from my back garden.
JurekB-
Disgusted, Tunbridge Wells
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Dunno, I don’t think animals have to offer something to an urban environment.
I’m not an animal rights advocate but I know nature is above all and is not difficult to understand that urban environments are basically an ostacle to wildlife, so only thing left for us to do is to deal with it by making our houses more secure and ready to keep our property safe.
For example most houses here are so badly and cheaply constructed that to animals could easily get in. Just fucking seal the damn thing!
I grew up in the countryside so I miss these encounters but generally I feel stupidly blessed when an animal decide to spend time and interact with me.
Put it like that, all the hours the fox spend in our garden means he’s not wrecking someone else’s flower pots. -
How much do you know about foxes to describe them as destructive vermin? It sounds like you have formed an opinion from the media rather than actual contact and study.
Fortunately our urban and suburban environments are not sealed against other creatures sharing the space we have taken from the "natural" environment.
Whilst we generally find it perfectly acceptable to encourage birds to our feeders, you think it is wrong to encourage (or even tolerate) foxes. On what do you base your argument?
Have a read of Running with the Fox by David MacDonaldYou might be surprised at how useful foxes are in practical and existential ways.
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Not just saying this because of my username I promise but I really don't think it's fair to describe foxes as vermin.
They're part of an ecosystem, so the wider question is: do you want nature in your city at all?
Think of them as nature's pest controllers. They kill rats, feral pigeons and other animals which I'd argue are genuine vermin.
As this thread shows a lot of people find watching them very rewarding - a piece of real, visible nature in the city.
Practically I sympathise on the stinking shit but I have to clear up cat poo from our garden all the time and cats seem a lot more pointless to me. Also, I'm not saying this is true in your case, but foxes often get the blame for what's actually cat shit - fox scat has twisted ends.
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Urban - agree
Destructive - any animal can be destructive, I'd fuck shit up all day long if I could
Vermin - disagree, its an animal, part of an eco system. At one point a dog/cat was probably vermin until we found a use for it.I am biased, I love a fox.
elswick
Breso
adroit
Fox
Pompetamine
We laid an old chair pillow for him and now it’s his favourite spot.
And I confirm, they love chewing into leather belts, shoes (only expensive ones apparently) and headphones chords.