Last Thursday morning as locals made their way along to Warwick Avenue tube station, they will have seen the shocking sight of a pair of foxes dead on the Clifton Villas crossing. Now its not immediately apparent why we have two dead foxes here – was it a “hit & run” accident? foxes fighting amongst themselves or even poisoned! At this stage it will be the murder mystery of the seasonal break or rather lockdown now in Little Venice. The police were at the site pretty quickly so will have had some initial records of what could be seen at the scene. So it will be interesting to see what they make of it. For example what type of crime it gets registered – presumably some sort of wildlife crime!
So when we have the usual discussion on fox hunting at the beginning of the new year, spare a thought of for what happened in Little Venice to a pair of foxes on the 17th of December. I don’t know if we have had similar incidents in and around London but this one is certainly a one-off in the old neighbourhood. While, we all know that they are a lot more foxes around in the City then is readily acknowledged has this become such a problem that people are taking matters into their own hands. So lets see what the Police investigation into this particular incidents tells us about the growing relationship between foxes in the cities and ourselves in the new year.
I had both my cats killed disembowed by foxes within 2 weeks of each other. For those of you who live in flats you are not aware of the devastation they do to families who are affected by them. These cats had been my companions for 14 years.
Are you are endorsing their demise? I had generations of shy, timid but friendly foxes in the garden and my and neighbour’s cats never suffered at all, even though there have been cubs to defend. Foxes are aware of the threat cats can present to them. 4 foxes died in agony from poisoning, one in my arms. My condolences for your loss but please substantiate here why you know it was killed by a fox & explain the devastation they do to families who are affected by them.
We are more of a nuisance than any fox.
Foxes should not be allowed to toamin urban areas especially for those neighbours who have pets that go into their gardens.⁴
Foxes, together with squirrels, have spent this COVID year devastating my garden. It is all very well to experience them as timid creatures entitled to share urban spaces but I used to have a lawn. I now have a ravaged full of holes area of some green but a lot of brown soil. Whole plants have been dug up, partially eaten and moved left exposed and dead. I have some sympathy for the poisoner/s if that is what happened though I would not do that myself. Why would foxes not kill cats if they could? Or small or young dogs?
Shocking! I live in the area and I have missed the night time howls in February when their mating season is active. I have missed the foxes that used to prowl our garden below. Fortunately the ones I am missing are not these! These two are in excellent condition compared to the ones I knew which were riddled with mange. People should realize that to kill foxes is criminal and liable to prosecution.
Shocking! We have foxes in the garden below but I have not seen them around for the last few months. I wonder what has happened to them?
I am sure there are still around!