cullin urban foxes

[okgo]

The foxes that seem to live right outside my window are becoming a joke, they scream and make horrid noises all night long, thus keeping me up.

I am led to believe the council do not have any measure of stopping them... Is there anything I can do? Am I allowed to kill them?

[Mazda Baiter]

Do it quietly, hide the evidence and who's going to find out.

Disgusting creatures.

[Laurel Green]

'Dunno but, think you must be my neighbour. Bl**dy things are doing a lot of damage to my plants. Trouble being, there are cubs running amok and soon will be breeding their own to create further damage/noise.

[okgo]

Got no problem with them as animals. In the country where I'm from they're very timid and wouldn't be seen near human settlement.

However these ones don't give a st, and they're doing my head in. I'm unsure of how to do it though.

ETA Chris, I'm near Kingston-upon-Thames.

Edited by okgo on Monday 12th July 23:29

[Pothole]

http://www.trapman.co.uk/fox-traps.htm

Why are you 'led to believe' the council will not help? Have you asked?

[okgo]

"What does Kingston Council do about Foxes?
In common with other Local Authorities, Kingston does not provide a service to control foxes. In the interests of hygiene we will collect and dispose of dead foxes (and other larger animals) from the public highway and public places. Foxes are not a statutory pest (this only applies to rats) and there is not a duty for councils to control them. Furthermore, The Wild Mammal (Protection) Act 1996 restricts measures that could be taken to control them. Poisoning is prohibited and trapping and releasing elsewhere would be both ineffective, as the vacated territory would be quickly reoccupied, and cruel, as a fox released elsewhere would probably result in its death or injury in territorial fighting"

I'm going to have to do this job myself.

[Laurel Green]

okgo said:

ETA Chris, I'm near Kingston-upon-Thames.

North London me. Know what you mean with the noise as, had two of them going at it like, er, foxes and the bl**dy noise they were making must have kept the whole road awake. 'Tother night they were at it in the middle of the street, no shame!

Oh and, have they put the fire out in that block of flats over your way?

[Pothole]

get a dog to maul them first and you're ok:

http://wildlife1.wildlifeinformation.org/S/00Ref/l...

[okgo]

hmmm.

Not really sure what to do at this point, I need to stun one somehow so I can get up close and do it in silently.

Yeh, it was the Cambridge Estate (orrible rough as aholes part of town) a tower block caught light, they have put it out now. Shame really.

[Flanders.]

Brilliant. Something annoys you. Kill it.

[Halb]

Flanders. said:

Brilliant. Something annoys you. Kill it.

Ahh the Raol Moat way.

[okgo]

Flanders. said:

Brilliant. Something annoys you. Kill it.

Why the hell not?

What other way of stopping it is there? I can promise you nobody else 'likes' the foxes, but is not willing to do anything about it (probably because its illegal, not that I care about that as I wouldn't be caught) so yes, I will be thinking of ways to kill them. All 5.

[Laurel Green]

okgo said:

Yeh, it was the Cambridge Estate (orrible rough as aholes part of town) a tower block caught light, they have put it out now. Shame really.

Probably having a barbecue and got out-of-hand.

Think I might get one of my carp-rods out with a big hook baited with a sausage. Could be the start of a new sport.

[Mobile Chicane]

Trapping / culling is ineffective since the population density of urban foxes is so great that another fox will move in as soon as a territory is vacated.

I'd imagine that food (other than that provided by humans) is scarce in this heat, hence the foxes may be fighting more than normal over territory, or that the 'dispersal season' may have started earlier.

The only thing you can do is discourage foxes from visiting the garden. Secure all fencing and cut back any surrounding scrub. Ask your neighbours to secure bins, fence any ponds and not leave food out. Foxes will soon get the 'nothing to see here' message.

[okgo]

Yes!!

I could strike into it, get a nice big barbed hook on there, I could reel it through my bedroom window and then do the work in my flat.

[okgo]

Mobile Chicane said:

Trapping / culling is ineffective since the population density of urban foxes is so great that another fox will move in as soon as a territory is vacated.

I'd imagine that food (other than that provided by humans) is scarce in this heat, hence the foxes may be fighting more than normal over territory, or that the 'dispersal season' may have started earlier.

The only thing you can do is discourage foxes from visiting the garden. Secure all fencing and cut back any surrounding scrub. Ask your neighbours to secure bins, fence any ponds and not leave food out. Foxes will soon get the 'nothing to see here' message.

They have been doing it ever since I moved here two years ago, it never changes, its just annoying me much much more now.

Its not a garden you can close, its open, and is common ground around the outside of our flatblock. http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&a...
342,46.450195&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Surbiton,+Surrey+KT64EB,+United+Kingdom&ll=51.394095,-0.311914&spn=0.0011,0.002835&t=h&z=19

So not really something we can fence off.

[Laurel Green]

Fences won't stop a fox as they can scale a six-footer with ease.

[okgo]

Yup my old house in Kingston town center had a walled garden that was a good 7 foot and once I trapped a fox back there thinking it wouldn't be able to get out. It just ran up the wall.

[Mobile Chicane]

okgo said:

Mobile Chicane said:

Trapping / culling is ineffective since the population density of urban foxes is so great that another fox will move in as soon as a territory is vacated.

I'd imagine that food (other than that provided by humans) is scarce in this heat, hence the foxes may be fighting more than normal over territory, or that the 'dispersal season' may have started earlier.

The only thing you can do is discourage foxes from visiting the garden. Secure all fencing and cut back any surrounding scrub. Ask your neighbours to secure bins, fence any ponds and not leave food out. Foxes will soon get the 'nothing to see here' message.

They have been doing it ever since I moved here two years ago, it never changes, its just annoying me much much more now.

Its not a garden you can close, its open, and is common ground around the outside of our flatblock. http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&a...
342,46.450195&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Surbiton,+Surrey+KT64EB,+United+Kingdom&ll=51.394095,-0.311914&spn=0.0011,0.002835&t=h&z=19

So not really something we can fence off.

I lived in a mansion block in central Epsom for a while - like you with unfenced communal gardens - however once we'd worked out where they were getting through the boundary fence at the back and blocked it, there were far fewer foxes in the garden.

[busta]

Mobile Chicane said:

Trapping / culling is ineffective since the population density of urban foxes is so great that another fox will move in as soon as a territory is vacated.

...which you then also trap/cull. Repeat until the population of foxes is at a tolerable level. It's worked for hundreds of years in the countryside so why wouldn't it work in the city? The only reason the population of city foxes is high now is because it hasn't been managed like it needs to be.

OP- fox cubs can easily be chased down and despatched of with whatever garden/workshop tools you have to hand (Catch them in a sack first if you don't want to be seen bashing them about in public). Bigger foxes are harder to deal with but buying/making a trap could be effective. A firm blow with a hammer between the eyes will kill them quickly and painlessly. Fox Traps