Urban Foxes

Are you troubled by foxes?

The adaptable nature of the fox has made it a very successful resident of many British towns. Although many people enjoy seeing foxes around their homes or in parkland, foxes can be a nuisance and sometimes cause damage.

Foxes will usually shelter and breed below the ground in an 'earth' or 'den'. They prefer well-drained soil and sometimes use burrows made by rabbits or badgers. In urban areas, they also live underneath sheds and outbuildings, some have even be found to nest under the floorboards of houses.

The average life span of foxes in towns is only 18 months due to most urban foxes being killed on the roads. Although rare, foxes can live for over 8 years!

Is there any fox control in Thanet?

No.  Controlling urban foxes is difficult, expensive and never successful, as some Local Authorities have already discovered.  Therefore the responsibility for dealing with a fox problem falls to the owner or occupier of the property where the problem occurs. 

What methods of fox control should I consider trying?

Foxes are attracted to gardens by the food and shelter that they offer, by eliminating these, the problems should cease.  Some preventative measures you may want to consider taking are as follows:

1. Remove all known food sources

• Do not feed foxes, either intentionally or unintentionally. Ensure that foxes cannot access food put out for other wildlife or pets. Make bird tables inaccessible for foxes to climb onto, for example, by erecting a covered table at a height of at least 1.5 m (5 ft). Always clear away spilt food from under any bird feeder. These measures will also reduce the vulnerability of feeding birds to predation by foxes and help prevent rodent infestations, which can also attract foxes.
• Store rubbish, especially food waste (including composted waste), in fox-proof containers made of materials such as metal or plastic and ensure that the dustbin lids are secure.  If you need additional wheelie bins please contact our Waste & Recycling team on 01843 577115, there maybe a charge for these.  If you are still having to use plastic sacks for refuse, ensure that these are put out on the morning of collection.  If you are not sure when this is please visit our waste & recycling pages for more information.
• Provide secure, fox-proof accommodation for vulnerable pets and livestock.  Foxes can bite through ordinary chicken wire; welded mesh provides a much stronger alternative and do not leave your pets in the garden unsecured at night.
• Foxes will dig up lawns to find tasty things to eat e.g. earthworms and grubs.  This damage is often seasonal, occurring mainly during the wet springs and warm wet autumns.  If the damage is not too severe then you can ignore it and repair the lawn as soon as the weather and habits of the fox change.  Otherwise you can remove the grubs and earthworms in the lawn by using a commercially available insecticide and vermicide available from garden centres and D.I.Y. stores. This course of action should only be considered in extreme circumstances, due to the need to reduce the use of all pesticides in the environment.

2. Remove shelter

• Foxes usually use garden sheds that are in the corner of the garden with a wall or fence on at least two sides, they provide a nice dry, lying up site, and are an ideal place to breed. If there is rubbish piled behind the shed, then so much the better. To deter the fox, all you have to do is clear any rubbish stored behind the shed; open up the area around the shed so that it is exposed and draughty. The foxes will leave pretty quickly, usually the following night.  If you have exposed the shed so that it is open all round the base, this is usually enough to stop them from returning.  If you want to be absolutely sure, securely fix strong “weld mesh” (not chicken wire) around the base of the shed, covering the gap and dig about 12 inches (300mm) into the soil.
• Foxes breeding under garages are more difficult to get out, since they will have burrowed under a concrete floor. Often the only way to get them out is to break up the concrete floor of the garage. This is a drastic course of action; particularly since the nuisance value is far less than if they were under the house.  The best course of action will be to leave well alone until the foxes take their cubs away; in most years this happens during June. When you think the foxes have gone, loosely block the holes with some soil. If the holes are re-opened, continue re-blocking the holes each day until nothing disturbs the soil plugs. Then immediately fill the holes with rubble and cement them over to prevent the foxes gaining access again. In future years look for new holes, and block these in the same way as soon as they appear.
• If the foxes have got in under your house, all you can do is to arrange for a pest control company to lift floorboards and drive the foxes out. However, since the foxes probably have access under the whole house, this may well involve lifting floorboards in all ground floor rooms.  Getting the foxes out can be very time consuming, difficult, disruptive and an expensive operation. Maintaining your air vents is a much, much cheaper option.

3. Prevent access

• Foxes can be excluded from areas such as gardens by erecting a suitable fence/barrier.  However a fox-proof fence can be expensive to install and unsightly.
• Foxes use faeces to mark their territory, remove and dispose of all fox, as well as dog and cat, droppings. Fox droppings are distinguishable from those of a cat or dog by their musty odour and often twisted shape. Do not handle droppings with bare hands and ensure that children (and adults) always wash their hands after spending time in the garden.
• Block any access points.  Filling in excavations as soon as they appear can prevent foxes from moving in where they are not wanted. This can be done by light blocking with loose soil. This will help to ensure that no animals become trapped below ground. Care must be taken to check that the hole is not part of an active badger sett; blocking or interfering with a badger sett without a licence is illegal. Advice on distinguishing badgers setts is available from Natural England.
• A chemical repellent can be used as a deterrent, they have an unpleasant odour or taste which makes an area unattractive to foxes.  Only compounds that are approved as animal repellents may be applied and they must be used in accordance with the instructions on the product label. Repellents should not be placed down a fox hole, and the use of anything other than an approved product as a repellent may be illegal. It should be noted that the efficiency of a repellent depends on the determination of a fox to enter the area to be protected, and this will be affected by the availability of alternative food and shelter.

Will foxes kill any of my pets?

Given the opportunity, foxes will kill small domestic pets and livestock such as rabbits, guinea pigs, ducks and chickens. Unlike many predators, foxes have the habit of killing more than they need to eat immediately. They may subsequently return for any uneaten corpses.

Pet killing is most frequent in late spring/early summer when foxes are rearing cubs.  If you live in an area where foxes frequent your garden then the onus is on you to take precautions to safe guard your pets.

Foxes are unlikely to be a danger to adult cats or dogs, although occasional reports of foxes fighting with a cat or small dog have been reported.  Cats and dogs will defend their territory and fighting may occur as they try to drive the fox away from their garden or food bowl. Deliberately using dogs to chase foxes away from gardens, allotments etc. is illegal under the Hunting Act 2004.

Do foxes attack people?

Until recently there has been no evidence to suggest that foxes pose a significant risk of attacks on people. The incident where two children were attacked in their bedroom has been the first confirmed reported incident. However, if you know that foxes are in your area then you may want to consider taking some simple precautions.

Can I keep a fox as a pet?

Foxes do not make good pets and are best left in their natural habitat. Sometimes young cubs are found apparently abandoned; these are best left alone as more often than not the vixen is close by and will soon find them. Foxes are wild animals and, even if hand-reared, readily revert to their wild habits. Few people have the space to accommodate adult foxes adequately and owing to their territorial nature it is very difficult to release a hand-reared fox into the wild.  Releasing a hand-reared fox into the wild may also be an offence under the Animal Welfare Act (2006) if the animal is not capable of fending for itself.

Further help

If you require further help or advice, you may find a phone call to the Fox Deterrence Helpline 01892 514863 will prove invaluable. Although the Fox Project is a wildlife group, they have developed a wealth of knowledge and expertise on fox deterrence. Their advice will vary according to the time of year and can also be tailored to your own particular situation. It may be possible to resolve the problem without controlling the foxes. Advice on how to achieve this can be obtained from:

National Fox Welfare Society

135 Higham Road

Rushden

Northants NN10 6DS

Tel: 01933 411996

Fax: 01933 397324

Email: martin@nfws.org.uk

Web site: www.nfws.org.uk

E-mail:

environmental.health
@thanet.gov.uk 

Tel: 01843 577580

Fax: 01843 290906