Urban foxes . . . feed or not?

PolarSkye

PolarSkye

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I'm watching Springwatch . . . they're following the story of a family of foxes living under a shed in a family garden in North London and the presenter has just said (and I'm paraphrasing) "if you have urban foxes, feel free to feed them . . . " . . . erm . . . ???

I love looking at foxes. They are very pretty. But they are still a wild animal and don't belong in an urban environment - feeding them will just habituate them to humans and make them bolder around us - probably not a good thing. They carry undesirable passengers we wouldn't want our household pets to bring into the house (fleas and lice - not to mention other things) and while they are cute and fluffy they are . . . I've said it already . . . wild . . . and therefore unpredictable.

Discuss.

P
 
No.

They shouldn't be in an urban environment. They kill people's harmless guinea pigs and rabbits. Where I used to live there were some that people had fed them and it became real problem as they had no fear of humans and started coming into houses looking for food if they left the back door open.
 
No you are asking for trouble they are wild animals and there is tonnes of food for them hence they live in back gardens.
 
i agree, there are too many of them living in towns because people feed them, i saw more foxes when i lived in a town compared to now when im in a small village. yes they are cute and pretty but are also wild animals who are killing machines, ask anyone who has lost their chickens....
 
No way! This will only increase the population and make foxes even tamer. Look at the story from a couple of years ago for example, when a fox entered a house and mauled a baby to death - feeding foxes and making them tamer would only make this sort of thing more common!
 
So it looks like I'm not alone . . . phew. I was horrified to hear the presenter encourage people to feed them . . . left shaking my head.

P
 
I was disturbed to see a vixen with 11 healthy cubs. Talk about population explosion - surely that must be down to the easy availability of food? Don't they realise if they all grow tats 11 more foxes on the streets of Potters Bar?
 
No! And people who do it a lot should be in trouble the same as people who feed pigeons which create a nuisance do.

All they are creating is a pool of too many foxes for the food supply which means either they have to get bolder to get food - resulting in unfortunate toddler/fix encounters of the type that have already been seen, or they get 'rescued' and dumped in the countryside where we DO NOT WANT THEM we have our own managed numbers of wild foxes.

Once they rely on humans for all their food, they are no longer wild in my mind and should lose the protections that wild animals have by virtue of their vulnerability as wild creatures/
 
I live in London. I once came home to find half a dozen sausages scattered on my doorstep which my dim witted housemate had decided to put out to feed the foxes!!! :eek: Needless to say I pointed out that a) our landlord was due round that evening to undertake some maintainence and wasn't going to be impressed if he had to step over last nights dinner to get into his premises and b) all she was likely to feed were the local rats and next doors cat.....So NO do not feed urban foxes! If nothing else you will be savaged by an angry housemate!
 
PolarSkye said:
I'm watching Springwatch . . . they're following the story of a family of foxes living under a shed in a family garden in North London and the presenter has just said (and I'm paraphrasing) "if you have urban foxes, feel free to feed them . . . " . . . erm . . . ???

I love looking at foxes. They are very pretty. But they are still a wild animal and don't belong in an urban environment - feeding them will just habituate them to humans and make them bolder around us - probably not a good thing. They carry undesirable passengers we wouldn't want our household pets to bring into the house (fleas and lice - not to mention other things) and while they are cute and fluffy they are . . . I've said it already . . . wild . . . and therefore unpredictable.

Discuss.

P
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Sorry but as they have historically moved into an urban environment,which humans created and moved into as a species over time,who are you to assert they don't belong.Do the birds and other wildlife living in our towns and gardens also "not belong".All reatures including humans are unpredictible by nature,humans more so than wildlife.A wild animal will behave as nature intended,unless there are other factors such as humans encrouching on their habitats,or people trying to capture and tame them.What is wrong by giving a helping hand to the mother of the 11 cubs,after all we assist other humans in similar ways,such as feeding the starving of the world.Animals have as much right to life as humans.
 
PolarSkye said:
So it looks like I'm not alone . . . phew. I was horrified to hear the presenter encourage people to feed them . . . left shaking my head.

P
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Let's face it, most of the presenters of those type of programmes are pillocks of the first degree and haven't a clue but as long as it looks fluffy it's lovely.

In answer to original question, absolutely not.
 
Maggie2009 said:
What is wrong by giving a helping hand to the mother of the 11 cubs,after all we assist other humans in similar ways,such as feeding the starving of the world.Animals have as much right to life as humans.
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No fox in the wild would ever have eleven cubs which just shows that urban foxes are almost a completely different species from our wild foxes. Nature is tough, let the fittest survive without human intervention.
 
Maggie2009 said:
Sorry but as they have historically moved into an urban environment,which humans created and moved into as a species over time,who are you to assert they don't belong.Do the birds and other wildlife living in our towns and gardens also "not belong".All reatures including humans are unpredictible by nature,humans more so than wildlife.A wild animal will behave as nature intended,unless there are other factors such as humans encrouching on their habitats,or people trying to capture and tame them.What is wrong by giving a helping hand to the mother of the 11 cubs,after all we assist other humans in similar ways,such as feeding the starving of the world.Animals have as much right to life as humans.
Click to expand...

For the most part though people just end up feeding the local rat and pidgeon population which I object to. There is a local woman who insists on feeding the birds, throws hunks of bread all over the footway, all of it eaten by pidgeons nothing else gets a look in. The left overs then have to be cleared by the Council street cleaners or said rats or get stuck on my stillettos. Not amused!
 
Maggie2009 said:
Sorry but as they have historically moved into an urban environment,which humans created and moved into as a species over time,who are you to assert they don't belong.Do the birds and other wildlife living in our towns and gardens also "not belong".All reatures including humans are unpredictible by nature,humans more so than wildlife.A wild animal will behave as nature intended,unless there are other factors such as humans encrouching on their habitats,or people trying to capture and tame them.What is wrong by giving a helping hand to the mother of the 11 cubs,after all we assist other humans in similar ways,such as feeding the starving of the world.Animals have as much right to life as humans.
Click to expand...

Living as nature intended does not include being fed by people who think they are "cute". 11 cubs is not what nature intended, she intended foxes to scavenge, not be hand fed by humans. As for "we assist other humans in similar ways", well I don't know how to answer that, other than to say that yes we may well do, but that doesn't mean we should help what is essentially a wild animal to survive out of its natural habitat. Feeding wild animals could be seen as "taming" them. As stated in previous posts, urban foxes are becoming pretty fearless, bit like polar bears in Alaska, only difference is that they shoot the bears. Or notices to visitors to national parks in the States, telling people to keep food away from the bears, as it encourages them to approach humans.
 
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Wow 11 cubs! No I agree they should not be encouraged to come any closer, although I'd rather they ate a kebab outof a bin than eating my poor bunny rabbit! Said bunny would give foxes a run for their money though he has no fear!
 
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