howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
in the last 3 days i have seen 2 foxes bombing down the road.
this after over 5 years not seeing one.
when i lived in london the urban fox was the equivalent of the sea gull around here.
they work out whose black bags go out on what night, and then dine a la carte on the proceeds whilst leaving the streets strewn with rubbish.
round here they are less comfortable with people, being hill foxes.
just wait until they work out what delights await them, when they alight on this estate mob handed.
Where I work in South West London, on a big PCT site with teeming wildlife and trees that must be centuries old, the foxes are so bold! There are some who appear under my office window and "talk", sometimes it is almost noisy, with the foxes, woodpeckers, pigeons, magpies.........................and incidentally, the sunrise this morning was fabulous!! I watched the sun follow me as I drove into London, a blaze of orange and red in my rear view mirror - absolutely charming.
Guest 657- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 3,037
Foxes do seem to be on the increase, I have noticed more of them around here - and fat ones at that!
What a lovely description of the sunrise Bern.
Guest 656- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 2,262
For the first time in ages I have spotted at least five foxes in the past three days, only last night I saw a vixen and her cub strolling up the road without a care in the world.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
not my imagination then colette.
they are beautiful creatures, unfortunately they are dogs without an owner to clean up after them.
they will soon feel at home here.
Guest 666- Registered: 25 Mar 2008
- Posts: 323
I have noticed a marked increase both of foxes and rabbits at the roadside when returning late at night from an occasional gig.
Maybe the increase goes hand in hand, charming to see them though and much better than the frogs I found crossing the road en-mass near Northiam last year, it was well eerie at nearly two in the morning to find a biblical surge of them swarming across the road with the mist hovering about two feet above!
Oh Boy!, That'll be the day.........
Guest 650- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 542
BuddyG - hi! You'll remember the fox that was in my brother's garden last year - it was a regular visitor, and you'd often see it trotting up and down the road as well.
My eldest lives in Birmingham - admittedly next to a playing field, and not right in the centre. She quite often gets woken up by foxes barking outside her window.
We get lots of foxes up here in the Hamlets, especially where I am because of having the open fields so close.
I remember not so long ago, about 7pm at night I stood in Northbourne Avenue near the scout hut feeding a very adventurous fox who decided to get out and about early in the evening.
We very often hear the young cubs, and I have to say. I know some people see them as vermin etc but I think tthey are beautiful creatures.
Guest 645- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,463
All Gods life is beautiful and serves a purpose in the chain of life.It's only Man that kills for no reason.
Thats why I support the ban on foxhunting.
Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter)
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
humans and cats are the only torturers, and both kill for no reason.
i do not understand the mentality of cats, my one, when she had her two litters, spent all her time with them washing and feeding them for months on end, until she was a physical wreck.
when they finally leave for their new homes, she goes out and kills a baby bird.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
You sound like a good Catholic Marek - keep up your convictions (although I don't share them all).
We can get over-run with certain kinds of God's creatures and some of them need culling: I believe "life" is very important, but there are many considerations to be made as to whether certain lives should be saved or not.
Foxes are indeed beautiful looking animals, but when their numbers grow to unmanageable levels, do we still leave them all be ? should we cull only ugly animals - who decides what is an ugly animal ?
Roger
Guest 645- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,463
If we culled "ugly" animals I would have been culled years ago.When I was born the Midwife took one look at me and slapped my mother...boom boom.
Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter)
Foxes are indeed beautiful looking animals, but when their numbers grow to unmanageable levels, do we still leave them all be ? should we cull only ugly animals - who decides what is an ugly animal
I see what you are saying Roger, but there is humain culling and downright barbaric culling such as fox hunting. I just don't get that at all really. The only ones who get enjoyment from that are those on the horses. That most certainly isn't humain, and I simply cannot and will not condone such action.
It's a volatile subject is the fox hunting issue, but there's my view, and I know some may disagree with me, and that's fine.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
There has certainly been an increase in urban foxes, no fun when like my youngest you have had a pet killed by a fox. Not a pretty sight. I cannot help wondering if the recent surge in urban foxes is something to do with the foxhunting ban, a bit of a coincidence if not.
That aside there is a strong argument for getting rid of the ban if you put aside the excessive sentimentallity of the Beatrix Potter attitudes to animals. Indeed I would go so far to say that it is an animal welfare issue to do so.
After all, there is general agreement that foxes (viscious killers as many chicken farmers will testify) need to be culled. Poison perhaps, shooting? Very indescriminate that. With hunting the fit animals often escape while to sick and injured will be caught.
Consider the impact of this:
A quick death rather than a lingering one.
Healthy animals escape the cull.
Disease and generic defects will not be passed on.
There is some control over numbers in a way that most benefits farmers. I think I am right to say that a sick or injured fox will be more likely to go for domestic animals, after all it is easy for them to corner their prey in a chicken coop, for instance, than hunt in the wild.
So yes fox hunting does have animal welfare benefits.
The other argument is the old one about enjoyment in killing but that is a false argument. I have never been fox hunting and never want to but I do know from those who have that the enjoyment is in the ride, chasing after an unpredictable prey accross country, not in the kill.
I myself, as a child, went hare coursing with my father. This is a different issue to fox hunting and the argument in favour of it is not as strong, though still substantial. I do remember though that the enjoyment was in watching the greyhounds run off against each other, while chasing a prey that is not quite as fast as them but a lot more agile. If all the hares escape (as most did) the 'event' was not marred and was enjoyed to the full.
So I do believe that it is in the interests of foxes and indeed hares to get rid of this uninforceable and sensless ban. Why not garner some enjoyment from it as well, from the ceremony, the ride, the chase, the skill of the dogs if not from the kill.
Guest 660- Registered: 14 Mar 2008
- Posts: 3,205
Get some enjoyment from it,watch a fox run for its life,away from its family and then torn to shreds,to see if the dog is skillful,it is just those people who think they are the landed gentry excersising thier right,with no reguard to land people and animal,sport is a competion where 2 sides battle against each other on equal terms.Not if you win you can tear me to bits,if I win I escape!
If you knew what I know,we would both be in trouble!
Guest 654- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 169
I live in a road that sees many cars, but because some hills close by, I watched a fox walk down the road as though he owned it.
Lovely sight though cos im a fox fan.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
barry
the rise in urban foxes began over 20 years ago.
hunting with dogs was banned only 2 or 3 years back.
nice try though.
to me, being a simple soul, hunting is a legitamate activity when it pits the wit of man against a dangerous beast and man is then going to eat that dangerous beast.
the masai warriors in the serengeti are just armed with a spear when they take on their prey.
playground bullies that gang up on a child that is different to them.
these prats here dressed up like ventriloquists dummies on horseback chasing one small dog remind me of the playground bullies that victimised a child that
was different to them.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
I sense the truth of what this issue is really all about from what some of you have said - envy and class hatred.
Nothing to do with animal welfare, otherwise fox hunting would not be banned. No-one has provided any counter arguments in respect of the animal welfare case for foxhunting that I put over.
Howard - you missed my point. Yes there have been urban foxes for quite a while but is this thread not prompted by what seems to be a significant increase in sightings of late?
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
not class envy barry, just civilised behaviour.
i have to accept that ny moggy will lay some corpses on my doorstep on certain mornings.
i feel ill, but understand the centuries that have made her this way.
we have been educated!!
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
not class envy barry, just civilised behaviour.
i have to accept that ny moggy will lay some corpses on my doorstep on certain mornings.
i feel ill, but understand the centuries that have made her this way.
we have been educated!!