"Robert" wrote in message
...
In message , Sharon
writes



You were responding to one of Basildon Pete's sockpuppets (he is just a
troll)

As a matter of interest what problems are the foxes causing?
--
Thank you for confirming that suspicion. I've searched newsgroups and found
that pretty well every posting from this person is in much the same vein.

What problems are the foxes causing? Where should I start? We can't use
blood, fish and bone to plant perennials, trees, etc, because the foxes
smell it and dig the plants out of the ground to get at it. They dig holes
not just to bury food but seemingly for the pure joy of it. There is fox
shit everywhere. The bark chip paths we laid around a new vegetable path
are dug up every night. They dig around the entire perimeter and at spots
where the membrane overlaps. Essentially, we "re-lay" most of these paths
every morning. A temporary reed screen around new hedging has been pretty
well demolished because one entry point through it was not enough for them.
The climbers we want to grow on the wall beside the bedroom window are
continually pulled off their support because that is one of their favoured
spots for coming into the garden. They collect various items from
neighbouring gardens (mostly but not exclusively stuffed toys) and bring
them into our garden. And take stuff from our garden. For example, I left
my favourite leather gloves just inside our patio doors when I came in to
take a telephone call. A few minutes later, I saw the fox running across
the garden with my gloves in its mouth. It had actually come inside the
house to take them. My husband left a pair of gloves outside for a short
time; months later, we dug one of them up in a different part of the garden.
Any rubbish that is not in a covered bin is strewn across the front yard in
the morning. This is a particular problem for us because the top floor flat
is rented, and every time the tenants change it takes a while for them to
understand what will happen if they just leave a bag standing beside the
bins. We have permanent paths across our lawn; efforts to divert them to
other routes have been unsuccessful. I could go on.

Then there is the question of whether other wildlife is being deterred. I
can't prove the foxes are the reason for the decline in bird numbers. We
still get lots of tits, but ground-feeding birds are rarely seen in our
garden anymore.

Finally, they make a lot of noise at night. I work particularly odd and
long hours, and sleep is precious. I would have thought by now I would be
desensitised to their screaming, but I'm not.

Despite what "Dr. Hammer" says about territories, the number of foxes is
increasing.