|
Location: Scottish Borders
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 13,902
|
|
Originally Posted by
tinkladyv
I dont think its as simple as that, i dont think the foxes are coming into our cities, but that it us that have taken away there natural enviroment and that they have now adapted to a city life. Im not convinced that because of one incident, terrible as it is that the urban fox is a bad thing.
Go and live in Australia and you might find a snake in your back yard. I know friends in Forida often get aligators in their swimming pool,
so much so that there is a man who relocates them for a living.
I think we are now just getting hysterical in this country, we need to understand that our
wildlife is an important part of our world and learn to live alongside it with respect, nature is very clever and we dont need to interfere...the urban fox is a perfect example of this.
Re the aligators - yes some are relocated, others are killed - depending on whether they are deemed a threat to humans or not and whether there is somewhere safe they can be released. I think most people have agreed that you can't relocate an urban fox to the wild - it just wouldn't know what to do without bins to raid - attacking a still baby is one thing - catching a running rabbit is another)
And as for living alongside wildlife - what all of it? So do we just leave the rats to multiply in our towns?
Originally Posted by
labradork
Oh dear, the anti fox people are loving this.
I think a bit of perspective is needed. Dogs hospitalize 10's of thousands of people each year, dogs kill people each year, plenty of dogs attack and kill livestock each year, plenty of dogs attack cats each year...do dogs also deserve a "mass cull"?
A single fox attacks a child so therefore they must all be culled - yeah, right.
There is more to it than that though. The fox has no natural predator. in the wild they die off in harsh winters etc according to the availability of rabbits and other prey...i.e. nature does its own job of keeping down numbers (and not in a very pleasant way). They generally keep away from humans and are afraid of us.
In the city things are different. For years they have had easy pickings from our bins etc. and as a result, urban foxes have multiplied and prospered. They've become much less fearful of humans. What will the next stage be? What happens when the oversupply means there is not enough food to go round? Will the population subside or will they just look for other types of food? Will some become tame and are foxes the 'next dog'?
I don't know whether the situation is yet so bad that a mass cull is needed, but I think this case has raised an interesting issue and one that should be considered. The fox population cannot carry on expanding indefinitely.
Foxes don't belong in cities. Yes are cities have expanded but there is still masses of open countryside to support the a very healthy fox population. If we had altogether removed their natural habitat, I would maybe think differently.
By the way - same question to you as for Tink - do you feel the same about rats - we should just live and let live?