Urban fox problem.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Just recently we have had a urban fox coming onto our front lawn and digging small holes. Its not much of a lawn in the first place but now its starting to look like a quagmire.

I know it could be looking for worms etc but can anyone help with a humane way to stop this behaviour?

Many thanks Colin

[VirginVegGrower]

I know what I'd like to say but...RSPCA seem to like catching them and then giving them back to those of us in a rural setting, grrrr. Try them!

[Glutton4...]

Lion Poo from your nearest Zoo?

[snohare]

Bad news, I'm afraid.
It's a fox; a super smart predator that is famous for its ability to "reason" its way round obstacles to its aims. It is either digging for worms as you say, or thinking about creating a den. (Which believe me, you really don't want in your front garden. They absolutely reek.)
Short of having an alarm which will go off every time it appears at dead of night (don't think the neighbours would thank you) or staying up late on dawn patrol to personally run it off the premises - and you would need to do something that would scare it, not just appear on the horizon - it is likely to only be "controllable" by violence, ie shooting. I suppose you could trap it...if you can find a canny enough gamekeeper, who is willing to countenance such a thing ! I would expect that the RSPCA only relocate foxes that have become trapped naturally in urban settings - I can't see many foxes being trapped, they are too wily.
Mark my words, these things are going to be a real issue soon, as their numbers continue to build up and they are forced to compete ever harder for food. Predators that will attack pets and small children in gardens are not going to go down well, and much though they fascinate and engender respect, at some point their numbers are going to need to be controlled - that is the bottom line.

[arpoet]

At this time of the year foxes dig for grubs in lawns.. We had a major fox problem down our bowls club with them digging up the bowling green.If you dont nip it in the bud it becomes a habit to them.
Here are a few suggestions that may help.

Plastic pop bottles on sticks at ground level and placed around you lawn and flowerbed to creatate movment. So do those kiddies windmills we had as kids at the seaside.

You can buy horrid smelling repelant pellets that you put in to the holes they have dug, before refilling them with soil.

Sonic scarers also work but are not cheap.

Foxes are like dogs and are creatures of habit, so finding where they come in to your garden and blocking it off will also help.

If you can find their way in you can also lay a trail away from your lawn by the use of cooked chicken juice and bones in a leaking bag dragged to a part of you land you dont mind em digging and burying the contents.

In the past all these have worked for me down the club.. but its never ending battle.
Roger

[Two_Sheds]

At this time of the year foxes dig for grubs in lawns..

As do badgers and corvids (word of the day?). They make a mess of the school playing field

[arpoet]

As do badgers and corvids (word of the day?). They make a mess of the school playing field

The only flying pest i dont like are from the Columbidae (second word of the day?) family, better known as flying pigs or pigeons who seem to think that crops are thier just for them.
Roger

[susieq100]

Foxes take sweetcorn at our allotment site.

[VirginVegGrower]

We get plagued with foxes, pigeons and badgers where we live but the farmer at the back with gun seems to keep stuff in order. Not nice sitting in your garden with shot raining round yours ears though.

[pauco]

Bad news, I'm afraid.
It's a fox; a super smart predator that is famous for its ability to "reason" its way round obstacles to its aims. It is either digging for worms as you say, or thinking about creating a den. (Which believe me, you really don't want in your front garden. They absolutely reek.)
Short of having an alarm which will go off every time it appears at dead of night (don't think the neighbours would thank you) or staying up late on dawn patrol to personally run it off the premises - and you would need to do something that would scare it, not just appear on the horizon - it is likely to only be "controllable" by violence, ie shooting. I suppose you could trap it...if you can find a canny enough gamekeeper, who is willing to countenance such a thing ! I would expect that the RSPCA only relocate foxes that have become trapped naturally in urban settings - I can't see many foxes being trapped, they are too wily.
Mark my words, these things are going to be a real issue soon, as their numbers continue to build up and they are forced to compete ever harder for food. Predators that will attack pets and small children in gardens are not going to go down well, and much though they fascinate and engender respect, at some point their numbers are going to need to be controlled - that is the bottom line.

Mmmm, a real contentious subject me thinks, what about our numbers needing to be controlled, when takeing over land that has been barron for years, but then man decides we can, we will take this land with no regards for whats already living there???? Just a thought.


paul.

[FionaH]

A build up of urban foxes was always on the cards after the hunting ban. I wonder where will the folks who campaigned for it stand when children and pets become prey?

Foxes are territorial. See if you can get hold of some fox scent and douse your garden with it. Your local hunt should have acces to some. Warning though its not pretty.

[VirginVegGrower]

A build up of urban foxes was always on the cards after the hunting ban. I wonder where will the folks who campaigned for it stand when children and pets become prey?

Foxes are territorial. See if you can get hold of some fox scent and douse your garden with it. Your local hunt should have acces to some. Warning though its not pretty.

Hear hear!

[mothhawk]

Best cure is a bit of lead in its ear...

[Potstubsdustbins]

Thanks for all your replies, some good ideas there.

As I live in the middle of an housing estate shooting not an option or I would have nipped to my gun locker and taken that route.

Its only a small lawn so I had thought I might peg chicken wire down over it to stop the little bu--er. Any thoughts on that one please.

Colin

[Glutton4...]

Or peg it loosely around the lawn, they don't like climbing floppy fencing, apparently.