Post by chaz on Jul 9, 2010 23:19:59 GMT
As the title says really where do you stand on this issue?
Tbh my opinions and thoughts may not be popular, they haven't proven to be so far, but they are that, my thoughts and opionions, I have thought about this long and hard, and I feel a urban fox cull should go ahead, and not just because the poor twin girls were attacked which is a sad thing to have happened, it isn't a deciding factor for my opionions at all, I shall explain what they are, as then maybe some will understand why I feel the way I do, most if not all of it though is about nature, and how it works.
First of all, all Foxes now have no natural predator, years and years ago Wolves may of played this role, but man messed about with nature, taking this beutiful creature out of the equation, leaving only man to keep the numbers down on Foxes, the only thing is that by having a natural predator, who would take the old/young, sick/weak it actually stregthens the species, with only the fittest surviving and breeding they can only get stronger, without this keeping the species strong, with man reducing numbers the only natural selection is starvation or being attacked/in a fight with another animal, which again can leave the weaker one surviving for a while before sucumbing to death. When man took on this role it became more about what animals were pests, not what ones were the weakest, it is argued with Fox hounds that a strong fit Fox would get away, go to ground, but with snares/guns etc it doesn't matter if the Fox is strong, them sorts of techiniques do not differnate between a healthy animal in the prime of its life, and an old/sick one, meaning that the species is not now surviving on the stronger ones, and also its also making it easier for Foxes to breed as there is less risk to babies, meaning numbers can increase quicker.
Terrioties is another issue with urban foxes, rural foxes are territial animals, who would only come into contact with other foxes in the breeding season when a dog fox will go after a vixen and will stick around for a while, or a vixen raising cubs, however in inner urban areas more foxes seem to be in smaller areas, surviving easier because of human behaviours and actions, things like keeping pets, like rabbits and chickens, human waste anything, foxes are opptunistic and will take what they can, but with humans being a provider of most of their food urban foxes are getting closer and closer, getting braver and loosing fear, they are becoming concentrated, in big numbers, I saw a man explain on the telly how he dispatched over twenty Foxes in one area in one night, which is not normal Fox behaviour, going to the twins garden, six Foxes being caught there, and close to the house is not normal fox behaviour either, its clear that something is wrong.
Another factor is that apart from making life easier by removing a predator, and by being a food source for foxes, we are also providing medical care for them, allowing many that would die another chance to live, although this can be a great thing for that animal, I believe that we have to look at the effect that it is having on the species, we are acting like humans, trying to help, but are we really? Are we just not creating more of a problem for another animal if we help and release one? Are we not decreasing the amount of food for a healthy one rather then one that mother nature might of given up on? On the other side of the coin there are Foxes that are affected by us, who become injured, ill and dying because of something that we have done. Maybe thats different, we have caused that, but then it could also be seen by some as some sort of selection, I've no idea.
But to me there are so many things that we have affected, its like we have taken nature out of the equation as much as possible, we have created a problem that it takes two children being attacked to make it public knowledge, its been allowed to go on for too long, causing damage to both animals and people, I believe that we have to do one more big unnatural thing, cull some (or alot) foxes to make it so that only enough to be able to sustain themselves without too much human interfernce are living in urban areas, I feel that we need to take responsibilty for the numbers that are living there, and living short lives there, make it so that hopefully if the numbers go down enough, and as little impact on the foxes lives as possible comes from us, and we allow nature to regain control that maybe the urban fox can be saved, it will take a while, and a lot of heart ache, but I believe that this could be of so much benefit to the foxes, and then once nature has regained control we should allow nature to be in control as much as possible, although its possible that everynow and then a cull might need to take place to keep numbers low if everyone doesn't take enough responsibilty, but hopefully it wont. I just hope that I have shown that my opionions on this matter are not born out of some media hysteria, but are my thoughts on what has happened to Foxes because of us, and nature may of tried to show us what we have done by the recent incident, and hopefully it will get people to wake up and realise there is a problem with urban foxes, but I do not believe that just one incident should cause a cull, but everything put together about the problems that urban foxes both cause and face may mean that a cull could help.
Tbh my opinions and thoughts may not be popular, they haven't proven to be so far, but they are that, my thoughts and opionions, I have thought about this long and hard, and I feel a urban fox cull should go ahead, and not just because the poor twin girls were attacked which is a sad thing to have happened, it isn't a deciding factor for my opionions at all, I shall explain what they are, as then maybe some will understand why I feel the way I do, most if not all of it though is about nature, and how it works.
First of all, all Foxes now have no natural predator, years and years ago Wolves may of played this role, but man messed about with nature, taking this beutiful creature out of the equation, leaving only man to keep the numbers down on Foxes, the only thing is that by having a natural predator, who would take the old/young, sick/weak it actually stregthens the species, with only the fittest surviving and breeding they can only get stronger, without this keeping the species strong, with man reducing numbers the only natural selection is starvation or being attacked/in a fight with another animal, which again can leave the weaker one surviving for a while before sucumbing to death. When man took on this role it became more about what animals were pests, not what ones were the weakest, it is argued with Fox hounds that a strong fit Fox would get away, go to ground, but with snares/guns etc it doesn't matter if the Fox is strong, them sorts of techiniques do not differnate between a healthy animal in the prime of its life, and an old/sick one, meaning that the species is not now surviving on the stronger ones, and also its also making it easier for Foxes to breed as there is less risk to babies, meaning numbers can increase quicker.
Terrioties is another issue with urban foxes, rural foxes are territial animals, who would only come into contact with other foxes in the breeding season when a dog fox will go after a vixen and will stick around for a while, or a vixen raising cubs, however in inner urban areas more foxes seem to be in smaller areas, surviving easier because of human behaviours and actions, things like keeping pets, like rabbits and chickens, human waste anything, foxes are opptunistic and will take what they can, but with humans being a provider of most of their food urban foxes are getting closer and closer, getting braver and loosing fear, they are becoming concentrated, in big numbers, I saw a man explain on the telly how he dispatched over twenty Foxes in one area in one night, which is not normal Fox behaviour, going to the twins garden, six Foxes being caught there, and close to the house is not normal fox behaviour either, its clear that something is wrong.
Another factor is that apart from making life easier by removing a predator, and by being a food source for foxes, we are also providing medical care for them, allowing many that would die another chance to live, although this can be a great thing for that animal, I believe that we have to look at the effect that it is having on the species, we are acting like humans, trying to help, but are we really? Are we just not creating more of a problem for another animal if we help and release one? Are we not decreasing the amount of food for a healthy one rather then one that mother nature might of given up on? On the other side of the coin there are Foxes that are affected by us, who become injured, ill and dying because of something that we have done. Maybe thats different, we have caused that, but then it could also be seen by some as some sort of selection, I've no idea.
But to me there are so many things that we have affected, its like we have taken nature out of the equation as much as possible, we have created a problem that it takes two children being attacked to make it public knowledge, its been allowed to go on for too long, causing damage to both animals and people, I believe that we have to do one more big unnatural thing, cull some (or alot) foxes to make it so that only enough to be able to sustain themselves without too much human interfernce are living in urban areas, I feel that we need to take responsibilty for the numbers that are living there, and living short lives there, make it so that hopefully if the numbers go down enough, and as little impact on the foxes lives as possible comes from us, and we allow nature to regain control that maybe the urban fox can be saved, it will take a while, and a lot of heart ache, but I believe that this could be of so much benefit to the foxes, and then once nature has regained control we should allow nature to be in control as much as possible, although its possible that everynow and then a cull might need to take place to keep numbers low if everyone doesn't take enough responsibilty, but hopefully it wont. I just hope that I have shown that my opionions on this matter are not born out of some media hysteria, but are my thoughts on what has happened to Foxes because of us, and nature may of tried to show us what we have done by the recent incident, and hopefully it will get people to wake up and realise there is a problem with urban foxes, but I do not believe that just one incident should cause a cull, but everything put together about the problems that urban foxes both cause and face may mean that a cull could help.