I am amazed (why?) by the callous indifference by some posters to the lives of other creatures we share this planet with. The fox is one of the most abused and vilified creatures on Earth, and in actuality, all it is doing is trying to get by. I suppose all you upright citizens will be hoping the unctuous pro fox-huters get their amendment to the anti-hunting Act passed, so they can return to the torturing and mutilation of the wretched creatures. You are a nasty and brutish bunch.
What an unpleasant, presumptuous, uninformed, and silly post.
In the first place you have assumed - on the basis of no information at all - that people who have views that differ from your own have motives that are opposed to yours. You do not know what my opinions are on fox hunting - because I have never volunteered them. You will get no brownie points from me for your characterisation of me - or of my fellow posters who have a greater understanding of "nature" than you have. Your postings show no development in understanding than that you probably acquired in Nature Study at your infant school.
The fact that you have chosen associate an understanding of the reality of life on this planet for one particular species with "the unspeakable in hot pursuit of the uneatable" is unfortunate.
We are not abusing or vilifying the fox. We are telling you what life in the wild is
really like - it's not the Disney world of your sentimentality.
The fox is a carnivore and a predator. That means it kills other animals and eats them. It has an innate drive (you would say an instinct) to kill more than it immediately needs because, well, you never know, there might not be any food tomorrow.
In its ecological niche it is a very successful animal: it is at the top of its food chain. It will kill any animal that it perceives to be small or weaker than itself. Thus it will kill rats, mice, rabbits (a non-native introduced species), birds, small dogs, small cats, waterfowl, lambs, chickens, fawns, human babies ... you name it.
It has also learned that it can be commensal with homo sapiens. Homo sapiens leaves food waste in things called dustbins and elsewhere and it requires less effort to scavenge than to hunt. There are even specimens of homo sapiens that will
give it food and save it the task of even scavenging!
This has resulted in foxes deciding to live in urban areas. Note: the fox has
invaded cities. It has not had its natural environment taken from it, it has abandoned its natural environment. There is still plenty of countryside left for the fox - 93% of the total land mass of the UK. (
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18623096)
All of life depends on other life in order to survive and this usually means that a surviving organism has to work for its food. The higher up the food chain the more likely it is that protein will be provided in the form of meat. A top level predator is a meat-eater by definition.
This has consequences for all animals.
Are you aware that most male animals will die virgins? Only the strongest and most aggressive males will mate.
Are you aware that almost no animal will ever reach old age? As it ages it weakens, it will look for easier and easier prey, become predated itself - sometimes by its own species or contract some illness or suffer catastrophic injury.
Are you aware that bightly coloured male birds are advertising themselves as prey to raptors? So that the dull-plumaged females can get on with the business of safely producing offspring.
Nobody that has responded to your ill-informed and naive postings is callous or indifferent. You cannot see it as such, but it is your behaviour which is harming the fox.
