Vicious' fox traps eight people in Cambridgeshire sports club

[OH MY WORLD!]

Like Shaker has experience securing hen houses and runs. Too funny! I make no apologies for shooting two red fox that were able to get through into mom's hen and turkey run.  And I make no apologies helping my uncles, who had a large sheep ranch, set traps, shoot and skin coyotes and fox every winter. I make no apologies for allowing a fella to take his hounds on to our land every winter to cull the coydog and coyote populations. They run in packs and if left to breed like rabbits, they become very dangerous to all livestock young. Here in the city, the fox pop isn't a problem but every few years the coyotes must be shot. They become very brave, even on occasion snatching little dogs right out of the owners arms. Sitting on a bench at the bottom of the hill a coyote walked by me so close I could have reached out and touched it. But that's small potatoes. We get grizzly bears and mountain lions coming into the city a few times a year. Last year a mountain lion was laying in wait close to the main doors of one of our hospitals and a grizzly was roaming the neighbourhood next to mine.

[Shaker]

Of course you make no apology for killing animals. That would require a functioning conscience.

[OH MY WORLD!]

Shaker, how sad that your disgusting arrogance gives you such a low opinion of the first nation and aboriginal peoples across this planet. Also, what a low opinion you must have of your family members, alive and dead. Betcha most of them are and were meat eaters How alone your world is. Still hiding from the sun big boy? Have you been able to make some room for getting fit?

[jeremyp]

No it's you thats doing that, by comparing their reasoning and actions to a human being.

They kill because they like it,

Who's anthropomorphising now?

[BashfulAnthony]

I used to live in an area where there were numerous foxes to be seen.. I never saw a fox chase anything,  but I twice saw a cat chasing a fox.  Whenever I saw one, the poor creature would run away instantly.  It's all another attempt to vilify foxes, probably in the hope that it will influence the latest efforts to get the hunting ban overturned.

Damned straight. Anybody who knows anything about either foxes or domestic moggies or preferably both knows that when it comes to a toe-to-toe, chances are the cat will come off best. How do I know? Seen it more times than I can remember from my landing window.

Once, over a period of time a particular vixen would come round regularly each morning for scraps.  After some time she disappeared, and I feared the worst  (urban foxes only have a life expectancy of nine months.)  But then she re-appeared, and with a litter of five cubs.  And I began to feed them daily. One particular little one got so tame he would eat out of my hand:  a great privilege for me.  Eventually they all left of course; but to suggest that they were in any way fierce or dangerous is complete ignorance of their nature.

You tame them, then you get situations where they come into contact with babies, there's  been more than one case in the UK.

It's people like you taming a wild animal that's the issue.

Foxes are still classed as vermin, do you feed the local rats as well?

I'm surprised to see you have such a mean and cruel streak in you!   Why don't you just don your pink and go out and kill a few foxes  -  and don't forget to blood a child or two.  People with your attitude disgust me.

[Hope]

Just noticed - why the apostrophe after 'vicious' in the thread title?            

[Anchorman]

Of course you make no apology for killing animals. That would require a functioning conscience.

-
While I'm not as extreme as JC here, Shaker, I know where he's coming from.
There's a farm literally seventy metres from my gaff. They had sheep at one point, but now exclusively dairy.
Foxes were a menace at lambing - not every sheep could be taken to the pens or barns, and many remained on the hillside.
Of course the fox can't be blamed for what is, after all, its' natural behaviour; but the farmers had to protect their interests as well, and the shotgun was the only real answer.

It was an effective deterrant to the dogs of townies who thought letting Fido have a nice run in the country amongst the little lambs and calves was a great idea.
One bullet through the brain and the dogs did not repeat the exercise.
This still happens, by the way. Last month, some idiot let their German Shepherd dog loose on a farm a few miles away.
They need a new German Shepherd, now.
I hope the fine they get hit with by the courts means they won't be able to afford one.

[floo]

I used to live in an area where there were numerous foxes to be seen.. I never saw a fox chase anything,  but I twice saw a cat chasing a fox.  Whenever I saw one, the poor creature would run away instantly.  It's all another attempt to vilify foxes, probably in the hope that it will influence the latest efforts to get the hunting ban overturned.

Damned straight. Anybody who knows anything about either foxes or domestic moggies or preferably both knows that when it comes to a toe-to-toe, chances are the cat will come off best. How do I know? Seen it more times than I can remember from my landing window.

Once, over a period of time a particular vixen would come round regularly each morning for scraps.  After some time she disappeared, and I feared the worst  (urban foxes only have a life expectancy of nine months.)  But then she re-appeared, and with a litter of five cubs.  And I began to feed them daily. One particular little one got so tame he would eat out of my hand:  a great privilege for me.  Eventually they all left of course; but to suggest that they were in any way fierce or dangerous is complete ignorance of their nature.

You tame them, then you get situations where they come into contact with babies, there's  been more than one case in the UK.

It's people like you taming a wild animal that's the issue.

Foxes are still classed as vermin, do you feed the local rats as well?

I'm surprised to see you have such a mean and cruel streak in you!   Why don't you just don your pink and go out and kill a few foxes  -  and don't forget to blood a child or two.  People with your attitude disgust me.

And people like you disgust me, you tame a wild animal, teaching it not to fear humans and when something unfortunate happens you push the responsibility and blame onto someone else..

If you had the wild animals interests at heart, you wouldn't' be so egotistical as to tame them in the first place.

I don't kill foxes, as it happens or badgers and I have both.

However,  I  don't tame them either.

Both manage quite well without the interference of misguided human beings wanting some egotistical relationship with a wild animal, which is not in the interests of that animal.

For once I agree with Rose. Wild animals should never been tamed that is unfair on them. My husband and I were sicken by a series of programmes, 'Kangaroo Dundee', a few weeks ago. The guy had baby joeys in bed with him, and he treated them like human babies!

I am also of the opinion that ALL animals, dogs and cats included, should be treated as animals NOT humans. Of course they should not be treated in a cruel manner, but they should definitely know their place.

[Sassy]

 

Someone should have let their dog out. It would have soon absconded.
Trouble is animals are coming through from France through the tunnel putting us in danger of Rabies.. If it foams at the mouth then run... If it runs from water then lock yourself up until it is Gone.... If all fails get a cricket bat and bump the buggar on the snout it will soon run.

I remember when my daughter was about 18 months and special needs she held her hand out to an Alsatian dog which looked at her and growled. It snarled and went straight for her.
I stood in front of her trolley and as it pounced smacked it hard down on it nose. No dog was going to bite my child... It stopped dead in it's tracked took one look in my eyes and just walked quietly away. It was dumb struck... I had no fear but I did have anger that it was attacking my child...

My father use to smack the boars on the nose with a paddle when they got out of hand.
It was what he taught me which made me act as I did... It quietens the boars and worked on the dog... No need for any real violence a smack hard down on the snout would have probably stopped the fox. I would not have ran I would have faced it head on and slapped it...

[floo]

 

Someone should have let their dog out. It would have soon absconded.
Trouble is animals are coming through from France through the tunnel putting us in danger of Rabies.. If it foams at the mouth then run... If it runs from water then lock yourself up until it is Gone.... If all fails get a cricket bat and bump the buggar on the snout it will soon run.

I remember when my daughter was about 18 months and special needs she held her hand out to an Alsatian dog which looked at her and growled. It snarled and went straight for her.
I stood in front of her trolley and as it pounced smacked it hard down on it nose. No dog was going to bite my child... It stopped dead in it's tracked took one look in my eyes and just walked quietly away. It was dumb struck... I had no fear but I did have anger that it was attacking my child...

My father use to smack the boars on the nose with a paddle when they got out of hand.
It was what he taught me which made me act as I did... It quietens the boars and worked on the dog... No need for any real violence a smack hard down on the snout would have probably stopped the fox. I would not have ran I would have faced it head on and slapped it...

So would I! However, I certainly don't think foxes in the UK are likely to have rabies!

[OH MY WORLD!]

I can't blame city slickers for being afraid and drama prone when dealing with wild critters. Several years ago I got a call from my sister and she was almost in tears. Now she didn't live as many years on the farm as I, so she has a bit of an excuse. Anyways we live close to each other and share the same hill and trails down to the creek and the Bow River. She had her cell phone with her and she had gone down the hill for dome exercise. She was desperate that I come down quick and chase off a coyote that was sitting in the middle of the path a bit further up the hill and staring down at her. I told her I wouldn't come and chase it away and that she was just to keep walking towards it and call me when she got home. Half hour later she called back, the coyote fled when she got close to it. One may think I was mean about the whole thing but this was the sister that thought she would pedal her bike all the way to Golden British Columbia. I had warned her that she would not make it if she doesn't spend a few weeks on her bike getting in shape for the trip. Anyways i had to jump in my truck, drive out to Banff, pick her and her bike up and drive them to Golden, then turn around and drive all the way back so I wouldn't miss my graveyard shift. Too funny

However nobody wants to be bitten by a rabid fox or any other critter. Probably best they ran away.

[Harrowby Hall]

Someone should have let their dog out. It would have soon absconded.
Trouble is animals are coming through from France through the tunnel putting us in danger of Rabies.

Oh Sassy.

Where have you got this scaremongering rubbish from? This is pure tripe.

Do you mean rabid animals being smuggled by drivers or that wild animals are just wandering through the Tunnel? The Pet Passport scheme controls the first.

Believe it or not, the Channel Tunnel has detectors which will soon find any animal which has strayed into it which can then be caught. There is no danger.

Anyway, there is no apparent reservoir of wild animals with rabies in France where there is a continuing programme of leaving oral vaccine-baited caches of meat for wild carnivores. France has been officially rabies-free since 2001. The last time a French person caught rabies from a wild animal was in 1923. The last time a British person caught a rabies-like disease from a wild animal was in 2003 in Scotland when a man died from a variety of the disease found in bats.

Occasionally, people travelling from North Africa bring infected dogs into France and sometimes there is a human death but this is not significantly different from the occasional British death resulting from a dog or cat bite suffered when the person was in South Asia.

Rabies has nothing to do with the Cambridgeshire incident. I believe the fox concerned was eventually shot. If rabies had been found in its carcass we would all know by now.

[BashfulAnthony]

I used to live in an area where there were numerous foxes to be seen.. I never saw a fox chase anything,  but I twice saw a cat chasing a fox.  Whenever I saw one, the poor creature would run away instantly.  It's all another attempt to vilify foxes, probably in the hope that it will influence the latest efforts to get the hunting ban overturned.

Damned straight. Anybody who knows anything about either foxes or domestic moggies or preferably both knows that when it comes to a toe-to-toe, chances are the cat will come off best. How do I know? Seen it more times than I can remember from my landing window.

Once, over a period of time a particular vixen would come round regularly each morning for scraps.  After some time she disappeared, and I feared the worst  (urban foxes only have a life expectancy of nine months.)  But then she re-appeared, and with a litter of five cubs.  And I began to feed them daily. One particular little one got so tame he would eat out of my hand:  a great privilege for me.  Eventually they all left of course; but to suggest that they were in any way fierce or dangerous is complete ignorance of their nature.

You tame them, then you get situations where they come into contact with babies, there's  been more than one case in the UK.

It's people like you taming a wild animal that's the issue.

Foxes are still classed as vermin, do you feed the local rats as well?

I'm surprised to see you have such a mean and cruel streak in you!   Why don't you just don your pink and go out and kill a few foxes  -  and don't forget to blood a child or two.  People with your attitude disgust me.

And people like you disgust me, you tame a wild animal, teaching it not to fear humans and when something unfortunate happens you push the responsibility and blame onto someone else..

If you had the wild animals interests at heart, you wouldn't' be so egotistical as to tame them in the first place.

I don't kill foxes, as it happens or badgers and I have both.

However,  I  don't tame them either.

Both manage quite well without the interference of misguided human beings wanting some egotistical relationship with a wild animal, which is not in the interests of that animal.

I did not "tame" any, you silly woman.  Please do not ascribe to me, in your biased, nasty, ignorance, things I did not say, or do.  It's people like you, who care not for other creatures, who are the menace.

[BashfulAnthony]

I used to live in an area where there were numerous foxes to be seen.. I never saw a fox chase anything,  but I twice saw a cat chasing a fox.  Whenever I saw one, the poor creature would run away instantly.  It's all another attempt to vilify foxes, probably in the hope that it will influence the latest efforts to get the hunting ban overturned.

Damned straight. Anybody who knows anything about either foxes or domestic moggies or preferably both knows that when it comes to a toe-to-toe, chances are the cat will come off best. How do I know? Seen it more times than I can remember from my landing window.

Once, over a period of time a particular vixen would come round regularly each morning for scraps.  After some time she disappeared, and I feared the worst  (urban foxes only have a life expectancy of nine months.)  But then she re-appeared, and with a litter of five cubs.  And I began to feed them daily. One particular little one got so tame he would eat out of my hand:  a great privilege for me.  Eventually they all left of course; but to suggest that they were in any way fierce or dangerous is complete ignorance of their nature.

You tame them, then you get situations where they come into contact with babies, there's  been more than one case in the UK.

It's people like you taming a wild animal that's the issue.

Foxes are still classed as vermin, do you feed the local rats as well?

I'm surprised to see you have such a mean and cruel streak in you!   Why don't you just don your pink and go out and kill a few foxes  -  and don't forget to blood a child or two.  People with your attitude disgust me.

And people like you disgust me, you tame a wild animal, teaching it not to fear humans and when something unfortunate happens you push the responsibility and blame onto someone else..

If you had the wild animals interests at heart, you wouldn't' be so egotistical as to tame them in the first place.

I don't kill foxes, as it happens or badgers and I have both.

However,  I  don't tame them either.

Both manage quite well without the interference of misguided human beings wanting some egotistical relationship with a wild animal, which is not in the interests of that animal.

For once I agree with Rose. Wild animals should never been tamed that is unfair on them. My husband and I were sicken by a series of programmes, 'Kangaroo Dundee', a few weeks ago. The guy had baby joeys in bed with him, and he treated them like human babies!

I am also of the opinion that ALL animals, dogs and cats included, should be treated as animals NOT humans. Of course they should not be treated in a cruel manner, but they should definitely know their place.

You have no empathy at all with animals, no understanding, only your usual, crude, dogmatic, nastiness.

[BashfulAnthony]

I used to live in an area where there were numerous foxes to be seen.. I never saw a fox chase anything,  but I twice saw a cat chasing a fox.  Whenever I saw one, the poor creature would run away instantly.  It's all another attempt to vilify foxes, probably in the hope that it will influence the latest efforts to get the hunting ban overturned.

Damned straight. Anybody who knows anything about either foxes or domestic moggies or preferably both knows that when it comes to a toe-to-toe, chances are the cat will come off best. How do I know? Seen it more times than I can remember from my landing window.

Once, over a period of time a particular vixen would come round regularly each morning for scraps.  After some time she disappeared, and I feared the worst  (urban foxes only have a life expectancy of nine months.)  But then she re-appeared, and with a litter of five cubs.  And I began to feed them daily. One particular little one got so tame he would eat out of my hand:  a great privilege for me.  Eventually they all left of course; but to suggest that they were in any way fierce or dangerous is complete ignorance of their nature.

You tame them, then you get situations where they come into contact with babies, there's  been more than one case in the UK.

It's people like you taming a wild animal that's the issue.

Foxes are still classed as vermin, do you feed the local rats as well?

I'm surprised to see you have such a mean and cruel streak in you!   Why don't you just don your pink and go out and kill a few foxes  -  and don't forget to blood a child or two.  People with your attitude disgust me.

And people like you disgust me, you tame a wild animal, teaching it not to fear humans and when something unfortunate happens you push the responsibility and blame onto someone else..

If you had the wild animals interests at heart, you wouldn't' be so egotistical as to tame them in the first place.

I don't kill foxes, as it happens or badgers and I have both.

However,  I  don't tame them either.

Both manage quite well without the interference of misguided human beings wanting some egotistical relationship with a wild animal, which is not in the interests of that animal.

I did not "tame" any, you silly woman.  Please do not ascribe to me, in your biased, nasty, ignorance, things I did not say, or do.  It's people like you, who care not for other creatures, who are the menace.

Bashful Anthony said.....

"hs.)  But then she re-appeared, and with a litter of five cubs.  And I began to feed them daily. One particular little one got so tame he would eat out of my hand:  a great privilege for me.  Eventually they all left of course; but to suggest that they were in any way fierce or dangerous is complete ignorance of their nature."

??

Sounds like taming to me.

What do you call it then? Communing with nature?

You Silly man!

No, I call it, "feeding an extremely hungry fox"  -  a little kindness you clearly do not appreciate.  You're a very insensitive woman.  As to, "Communing with nature,"  what would you know about that?  I reckon shooting nature is more your line. 

You're not so much silly, as just ignorant!

[Harrowby Hall]

No, I call it, "feeding an extremely hungry fox"  -

And I call it rampant anthropomorphism. You have no idea whether the fox is hungry or not.

For all you know, your back door is just another in a series of stops that fox makes in its search for easy pickings.

You are interfering with the normal behaviour of the fox. You are altering its role in its niche in its normal habitat. I'm sure you think that you are being kindhearted but you are really interfering in the local ecology.

If you really respect nature then you would let things take their course instead of going gooey-eyed over pretty furry animals. The fox is a high-level predator in the food chain. You action is disturbing the food chain - by feeding this animal and its litter you may be inadvertently increasing the rat or rabbit population.

If you want a nice furry animal, get yourself a teddy bear.

[BashfulAnthony]

No, I call it, "feeding an extremely hungry fox"  -

And I call it rampant anthropomorphism. You have no idea whether the fox is hungry or not.

For all you know, your back door is just another in a series of stops that fox makes in its search for easy pickings.

You are interfering with the normal behaviour of the fox. You are altering its role in its niche in its normal habitat. I'm sure you think that you are being kindhearted but you are really interfering in the local ecology.

If you really respect nature then you would let things take their course instead of going gooey-eyed over pretty furry animals. The fox is a high-level predator in the food chain. You action is disturbing the food chain - by feeding this animal and its litter you may be inadvertently increasing the rat or rabbit population.

If you want a nice furry animal, get yourself a teddy bear.

Why would a fox come looking for food unless it was hungry?   

And check the word, "anthropomorphism," which you have used totally wrongly here!

You really are talking a lot of airy-fairy clap-trap!!

[floo]

Spot on, Rose!

[Anchorman]

Why would a fox come looking for food unless it was hungry?

Well, like many animals, foxes will cache food in times of plenty, in case the times don't last.
That's why dogs occasionally bring back half putrified rats and rabbits - they've been hidden by foxes.
The fox will eat any protein - no matter in what state of decay it is.
I'm afraid, BA, that your generosity was very probably unfounded - the fox probably regurgitated the food and cached what it did not want.
In an urban setting, this is a health hazard - and a magnet for rats.

[Harrowby Hall]

No, I call it, "feeding an extremely hungry fox"  -

And I call it rampant anthropomorphism. You have no idea whether the fox is hungry or not.

For all you know, your back door is just another in a series of stops that fox makes in its search for easy pickings.

You are interfering with the normal behaviour of the fox. You are altering its role in its niche in its normal habitat. I'm sure you think that you are being kindhearted but you are really interfering in the local ecology.

If you really respect nature then you would let things take their course instead of going gooey-eyed over pretty furry animals. The fox is a high-level predator in the food chain. You action is disturbing the food chain - by feeding this animal and its litter you may be inadvertently increasing the rat or rabbit population.

If you want a nice furry animal, get yourself a teddy bear.

Why would a fox come looking for food unless it was hungry?   

Because it has learned that it can get food more easily from you than it can by doing its normal predation. It isn't starving - it's on Easy Street. It doesn't have to exert itself, it has you trained.

Here is an academic paper on the diet of urban foxes in relation to anthropogenic food availability in Zurich. It concludes that the supply of such food could support a greater number of foxes.

http://www.cb.iee.unibe.ch/content/e7117/e7118/e8739/e9612/e9614/Contesse_MamBio2004.pdf

And have a look at this one, too:

Saunders, G., et al. "Urban foxes (Vulpes vulpes): food acquisition, time and energy budgeting of a generalized predator." Symposia of the Zoological Society of London. Vol. 65. 1993.

And check the word, "anthropomorphism," which you have used totally wrongly here!

I don't need to. I know exactly what it means - and have done for well over 40 years. Your determination that the motivation of the foxes in coming to you is because they are hungry is pure anthropomorphism. I'm sure they are hungry in the sense that you are hungry before you eat your lunch.

What you are doing is to remove from them the responsibility of hunting for their food - you are interfering in their ecology.

  You really are talking a lot of airy-fairy clap-trap!!

I've provided evidence - you only wrap yourself in sentimentality.

[floo]

Why would a fox come looking for food unless it was hungry?

Well, like many animals, foxes will cache food in times of plenty, in case the times don't last.
That's why dogs occasionally bring back half putrified rats and rabbits - they've been hidden by foxes.
The fox will eat any protein - no matter in what state of decay it is.
I'm afraid, BA, that your generosity was very probably unfounded - the fox probably regurgitated the food and cached what it did not want.
In an urban setting, this is a health hazard - and a magnet for rats.

Exactly!

We spent nine months in Eastbourne in 2005, renting an apartment just off the prom. I remember watching five foxes chasing each other around the car park of the building opposite ours. Foxes are BIG problem if they are in urban areas. My sister's previous home was in a town in Surrey, a fox had caused a lot of damage to their garden and that of the next door neighbour. Fortunately it was eventually caught and put down.

[Shaker]

Foxes are BIG problem if they are in urban areas. My sister's previous home was in a town in Surrey, a fox had caused a lot of damage to their garden and that of the next door neighbour.

Presumably we'd have far fewer foxes in urban areas if the urban areas didn't keep sprawling and expanding year on year because humans seem incapable of keeping their numbers down. It's no good bitching and bleating and whining because you have a fox in your garden when that garden stands in what would, could and should have been open countryside for the fox to roam freely before some arsehole developer came along and covered it in bricks, tarmac and concrete.

Fortunately it was eventually caught and put down.

What a thoroughly vile, but entirely unsurprising, attitude.

[floo]

Foxes are BIG problem if they are in urban areas. My sister's previous home was in a town in Surrey, a fox had caused a lot of damage to their garden and that of the next door neighbour.

Presumably we'd have far fewer foxes in urban areas if the urban areas didn't sprawling and expanding year on year because humans seem incapable of keeping their numbers down. It's no good bitching and bleating and whining because you have a fox in your garden when that garden stands in what would, could and should have been open countryside for the fox to roam freely before some arsehole developer came along and covered it in bricks, tarmac and concrete.

Fortunately it was eventually caught and put down.

What a thoroughly vile, but entirely unsurprising, attitude.

Why, people don't seem to have a problem with exterminating rats?

[Shaker]

Foxes are BIG problem if they are in urban areas. My sister's previous home was in a town in Surrey, a fox had caused a lot of damage to their garden and that of the next door neighbour.

Presumably we'd have far fewer foxes in urban areas if the urban areas didn't sprawling and expanding year on year because humans seem incapable of keeping their numbers down. It's no good bitching and bleating and whining because you have a fox in your garden when that garden stands in what would, could and should have been open countryside for the fox to roam freely before some arsehole developer came along and covered it in bricks, tarmac and concrete.

Fortunately it was eventually caught and put down.

What a thoroughly vile, but entirely unsurprising, attitude.

Why, people don't seem to have a problem with exterminating rats?

Depends on the person, doesn't it? I have a problem with it.

[Leonard James]

It's all a result of this idiotic idea put about by Christianity that "God" created all life for his 'jewel' (mankind) to have dominion over it.

Unfortunately, evolution gave us the same idea! 

I could almost believe "God" thought up evolution, if I believed he existed.