Do Anybody Feed Wild Foxes In Their Gardens?

[HoneyKats]

Is it right to feed foxes in gardens? Has anybody have neighbours who feed foxes in their gardens upsetting other neighbours and leaving disgusting messes also encouraging Vermin!!!

[gness]

The world needs more Zeuhls.......x

[rockyracoon]

I don't feed them in my garden as I don't want to encourage them in, my dog would have no hesitation in killing them if he could.

Zeuhl, that's a lovely picture.

[Mamyalynne]

I have foxes nearby, but as there is plenty of natural resources for all the wild life I don't feed them.

[paddywak]

My niece, who lives just up the road from us but on the opposite side, has a garden that backs onto a railway embankment that has been the home of a family of foxes for some years. She neither encourages them or tries to get rid off them and they've never caused any problems, even the dog has stopped barking at them and now co-exists with them in a state of shall we say armed neutrality.

[tamborine]

Foxes go for easy prey, not for them a rat or rabbit when theres stressed poultry tryng to incubate eggs.

No and they dont eat spilled horse feed as t'others do.

[Baldric]

Zeuhl, it's really not worth getting into a dialogue with you, you belong to the 'oh they're so cute' brigade, while I'm a realist that's seen the damage they can do first hand, I suspect the two opinions will never meet.

[FredPuli43]

It's not the foxes that attract rats, it's the putting out of too much food that attracts the rats! It would be a very foolish rat that came in when a fox was about but at least its genes wouldn't pass on much. The rat will certainly come in to eat food when it knows any fox is dormant.

[Zeuhl]

gness

thank you so much - i've done my best LOL

baldric

you are no more a realist than i am

i suspect the difference between us is that you have been in the business of exploiting animals to make money and that has put you in conflict with foxes

I would also hazard a guess that the /damage they can do/ you refer to is the result of livestock being put into dangerous and unnatural situations by people like you who then fail to safeguard them from their natural predators

e.g. hundreds of birds whose ancestors would have sat in thick undergrowth being bred so they can hardly fly then trapped in a coop with nowhere to hide

So thanks for confirming what i posted earlier:

I : value wildlife because it is beautiful and admirable

You : are threatened by some of it because it competes with you when you are trying to make a few quid and its natural behaviour requires you to take extra measures to protect your investment

I can appreciate why that would bias your view, but don't delude yourself it makes you more 'realistic' or belittle other views that don't share your bias

[Zeuhl]

and thank you rocky

[Baldric]

zeuhl, factual statement on my part,

egotistical point scoring on yours.

[Zeuhl]

baldric

nothing factual about your statement so far - just a vague anecdotal remark

but thanks for conceding i'd scored points against you (though i'm not sure what was egotistical about it - but you're probably not either!)

Probably the reason i scored those points against you is that i have a sincere reasoned argument that i have given some thought to

If you can muster a 'factual' response to my argument - try it

[Baldric]

You have scored nothing,
and you obviously do not need my assistance to inflate your ego.

[Zeuhl]

/you obviously do not need my assistance to inflate your ego/

No

But thanks for doing it anyway


In contrast, is it working with chickens that seems to have damaged your self esteem or have you always had an issue coping with people who can confidently articulate their ideas and beliefs?

[Baldric]

If you read my post properly, you would have noticed the past tense.
I have never worked with chickens, I dealt with the stables before I went off and served the best part of 20 yrs in The Royal Marines, I went on to inherit and sell the businesses in the mid/late 80's, I still live in a semi-rural-coastal location, we still have foxes.
I have no problem whatsoever in articulating my opinions, only a lack of interest in conversing with those with an inflated idea of their own importance, which is why I seldom bother.

[paddywak]

As long as the foxes aren't being a nuisance or causing any damage I'd tend to let them alone. The first time they started being a pest I'd be sat up one night waiting to introduce them to my friend Mr .410.

[viv38]

Zeuhl, I'm with you all the way on this one. In my opinion the biggest 'vermin' in the world is mankind and yet we expect so much more of animals and wildlife, how hypocritical of us !

Carry on feeding your foxes Zeuhl, I wish I had some to feed.

[RATTER15]

Im not sure that my 23 chickens would thank me for encouraging foxy into their garden.

[gness]

When we had chickens we didn't encourage foxes into the garden...but we didn't kill them..we just protected the chickens.
When we lost some lovely wild land nearby to housing the foxes moved from there to under next door's shed. We had no chickens then and lived very happily with visits from the foxes.

[Boto]

Zeuhl, what a great picture! Foxes occasionally pass through my garden on their way to some fields a few minutes away but don't linger. I don't put any food out because 1) my dogs would gobble it up given half a chance and 2) foxes lingering in the garden would wind up the dogs.

[woofgang]

I don't encourage foxes because my dogs like to roll on their poo. If you have ever had to clean fox poo off a dog who doesn't want you to......