During the early hours of Boxing Day (December 26) 2019, while nursing a hangover, a 48-year-old lawyer, dressed in his wife’s green satin kimono, bludgeoned a visiting fox to death in his own back garden. The lawyer in question was Jolyon Maugham, QC. The fox was a nameless animal that had got caught in protective nets surrounding a hen house in the lawyer’s central London home. Having done this, Mr Maugham tweeted: “Already this morning I have killed a fox with a baseball bat. How’s your Boxing Day going?” Inevitably, there was a backlash, and not just on social media but also in the wider print and broadcast media. The responses varied, and typified the fact that while some people love foxes, many others equally loathe them. Maugham’s actions were thus variously described as the vicious killing of a defenceless animal or the courageous extermination of a dangerous predator in self-defence.
Urban red foxes first appeared in British towns and cities in the 1940s. They are probably better described as suburban foxes. The suburbs, with their woodlands, grasslands, large gardens, railway embankments, brooks and streams provide a substitute natural habitat for foxes that have been forced out of the countryside in search of food and shelter. In these places, foxes can successfully establish underground dens, in which to live and breed. Foxes have successfully made the transition to town living not only in Britain, but also elsewhere in Europe, North America, Australia and Japan. Fox movements are part of a global trend caused by an ever-increasing human encroachment on their various natural habitats.
The question is why such a cute-looking and bushy-tailed creature, a metaphor for such qualities as cunning and beauty, has come to attract such widely divergent views. Common complaints include the pungent smell of fox faeces, the mess they produce by scavenging for food from rubbish sacks, their digging of holes, and the noise caused by male foxes in the course of territorial fights or by female foxes during the mating season-which begins in January. Foxes can sometimes kill poultry birds and small pets, such as guinea pigs and rabbits. Attacks on pet cats and dogs, as well as on children are, however, extremely rare.
The fox is a nocturnal creature and generally tends to avoid humans and larger animals, attacking them only out of fear when cornered. Most often, omnivorous foxes live off rodents (rats, mice), earthworms, birds, small mammals (voles, rabbits), insects, fruits, vegetables and household refuse, when available. Their feeding habits are of necessity both opportunistic and resourceful. In doing so, foxes often contribute to the maintenance of local ecosystems, particularly through the extermination of rats and feral pigeons.
Town living is not necessarily beneficial to foxes. The natural life span of a fox, allowed to live an unfettered life, ranges between twelve and fifteen years, while survival in urban areas is usually limited to two to three years. The leading cause of death in towns is through collisions with vehicular traffic on the roads. The majority of fox cubs die before reaching sexual maturity, further reducing the total numbers. Only a minority of urban foxes actually survive longer than a year.
Life in rural areas comes with its own perils. As the countryside continues to shrink so do the fox’s natural habitats. Furthermore, the lack of a natural predator as well as a propensity to attack poultry, once led to organised hunts, in which foxes were chased by packs of blood-thirsty fox hounds before being ripped to pieces. This particular “sport” provided the least level playing-field of any sporting activity then available to humans. If there is an absolute necessity to kill foxes for whatever reason, more humane measures are available, including shooting. The hunting of foxes and other wild mammals by hounds was banned in England and Wales by the Hunting Act 2004. Several pubs named “Fox and Hounds” are the sole reminder of this now-banned countryside tradition.
Hunt meets, however, continue to take place in the form of drag hunting, during which trained hounds follow an artificial scent trail. The scent is usually obtained from urine, body parts and carcasses from wild animals, including foxes, but does not have to originate solely from animals. Some anti-hunt campaigners think that foxes can still end up as “collateral damage” from such hunts in the absence of proper oversight. Hunting continues to remain a polarising issue in England, with pro-hunt rural groups continuing to defend the activity against anti-hunt, and frequently urban, campaigners, thereby framing the issue as one of countryside- versus town-dwellers.
The Fox Project, established in 1991 and based in Pembury in Kent, is an example of an initiative designed to rescue, rehabilitate and eventually release red foxes back to the wild, which is where they really belong. Some high-profile celebrities, such Queen guitarist Brian May, have spoken out in recent years in support of foxes, which is helpful given the lack of friends and voices willing to support this very British of animals.
The British people are, for the most part, animal lovers. Despite this, foxes continue to be seen by many as pests. A better understanding of the reasons why red foxes have become town dwellers can hopefully change human attitudes, behaviours and practices so that the presence of foxes among our midst is better tolerated, at least until they can regain their natural habitats. Urban foxes are a reality, with their numbers continuing to rise despite all the obstacles put in their way. Maybe we just have to learn to share our land better in the meantime, in a spirit of peaceful coexistence.
Ashis Banerjee (lives near a fox den, located in a brook)