Experts divided over fox attacks
Steven Harris, professor of environmental sciences at Bristol University with over 40 years experience in urban fox research thinks the pets are much more likely to be victims of cars or a dog. He said: "Foxes often pick up cats dead and eat them, but I have never heard of one fox in one area killing cats.
He added: "Cubs don’t really learn hunting from parents as cubs do not tend to go out with their parents when foraging. If there was a problem in the area I wouldn’t feed foxes but normally feeding them is not a problem. The answer is if you have got a kitten don’t let it outside at night."
Simon Cowell, founder of Wildlife Aid Foundation in Leatherhead, is also sceptical and said he has never heard of someone seeing a fox definitively kill a cat, but admitted that is was possible.
He said: “Any animal will go for an easy source of food especially when they are feeding their young which is now. So if you have pets in the garden you have to be careful. The only reason foxes are becoming urbanised is that people feed them which we advice they shouldn’t do because the fox will lose its ability to hunt. There’s an awful lot of waste around. If there was no food in the area foxes wouldn’t be here. They are not naturally aggressive creatures. The message is to all people as much as people like to feed them it’s not fair on the fox. They are doing it for their good feeling not for the foxes benefit."
The huge specimen was bagged by Alan Hepworth near his home in Aberdeenshire and weighed 38lb 1oz.
Measuring 4ft 9in from head to tail it is almost three times the size of an average fox.
The animal is the latest in a series of extraordinarily large foxes killed recently in Britain, prompting fears over the threat they pose to livestock and humans.
Experts believe the explosion in the fox population in urban areas where food waste is abundant could explain the supersize creatures.
Mike Yardley, a spokesman for the Shooting Sports Trust, said: “The increase in the urban fox population means that some foxes now have the opportunity to eat much more than they have in the past. That could explain why we are seeing some of these larger examples.”
Blue,
Think there needs to be a differentiation between 'rural' and 'urban' fox populations.
Whilst there is still the Pro Hunting lobby about who's own views are well known re the control, killing, or whatever people wish to call it when dealing with the 'rural' fox population, there is also the 'urban' fox population - which some 'experts' have said is probably larger than the 'rural' one.
Whether this is true or not, there is certainly a sizeable 'urban' population.
The reasons which might be varied, though we'd suggest the primary move for the fox population is probably food based with certainly much easier pickings from the bins (both domestic and commercial), and general throw away culture seemingly more prevalent in urban areas, plus the occasional opportunity to prey upon other species outside their usual ones, e.g. domestic animals/pets.
Therefore there's the direct feeding of foxes that some people do, together with the indirect feeding that occurs as they scavenge within the urban areas will continue to support the 'urban' populatio of foxes.
Whilst Pro Hunting push for 'control' via horse and hound, and there is obviously some support for this, the fact is that this method is hardly likely to gain acceptance when dealing with the 'urban' fox population.
In Israel, a study published this year by Yoram and Shlomith Yom-Tov from Tel Aviv University found that red foxes there have grown larger, with the trend starting in the 1930s and stabilising in the 1980s. During this period human populations grew 16-fold in the country, the standard of living increased 10-fold and the area of worked land increased by 50%.
Today garbage in Israel includes at least 40% organic waste, say the authors, providing a steady source of available food to birds and mammals, including foxes.
The researchers have found a similar trend among foxes living in Denmark, while studies in Spain have shown that red foxes living in good habitats are on average 14-19% heavier than those living nearby in poorer habitats
On Tuesday 28th February the Evening Standard published a comment piece by Simon Jenkins, National Trust Chairman, which highlights the growing problem of urban foxes, and local authorities' squeamishness about dealing with them properly.
here you go blue
its seems they no longer fear humans :sad:
possibly, the reason for the upturn in urban foxes is because rural folk have stopped allowing them to scavenge so they have gone for an easy source of food. i.e moved into town because of the abundance of half eaten chinese, macs or what ever that we throw away. much the same as the ( don't laugh ) urban population of kites that are around.
if you go to our local kfc, there are three pairs that thrive on the chicken that people throw on the pavement. i am anti fox as they don't just kill to eat. they kill all they can in the hope of coming back for the rest later, but you can't blame them for gaining an easy meal.
May be we should take this one with a pinch of salt, but if true, interesting just the same
The local paper probably had the less sensational story of a stray dog getting knocked down by a car.
awwwww.
thankfully it wont be released into the wild to be hunted. :thumbup:
