Extensive research shows that our rural and urban foxes are a timid and peaceful bunch
by Pip Donovan
When dusk falls, cats like to leave their homes and prowl about their neighbourhood. Foxes do the same thing at the same time. It is inevitable, then, that wild foxes and domestic cats will encounter one another at some point. But are foxes a threat to our cats?
It is proven that domestic cats are not part of a fox’s diet. When foxes do eat meat, they choose small mammals, particularly rodents (rats, mice, voles, rabbits and hares). Most of the rest of their diet is made up of scraps – fruit, maybe. They do not choose to eat cats. Foxes are not much bigger than cats; cats are agile, clever animals and they are armed with sharp teeth and claws. When finding food, wild animals choose easy targets. If foxes and cats get into arguments, it is not because the fox is trying to eat the cat. Generally speaking, foxes and cats give each other a wide berth and rarely get into altercations.
Foxes don’t kill cats
In 2021, Action Against Foxhunting (AAF), in conjunction with Mini’s Law – a group that was set up by Carly Jose, whose cat was savaged and killed by hunting hounds in March 2021 – contacted 166 vets and asked them if they had ever treated a cat who had definitely been attacked by a fox. Out of the replies, only one vet said that they treated a cat definitely attacked by a fox. The cat recovered. None of the vets reported any cat deaths caused by a fox. One vet, of over 41 years’ experience, told us he had never treated a cat for wounds inflicted by a fox. Another one, who qualified in 1977, also had never seen a case. This vet added “clients often assume, almost certainly incorrectly, that they (the fox) have been the aggressor”. Another vet (36 years experience) said that a “fox would look for an easier meal”.
Additionally, Trevor Williams, from the Fox Project, a specialist Wildlife Information Bureau and Fox Deterrence Consultancy, explained, “Over the 23 years we’ve been in existence we’ve paid for around 15 post-mortems on cats suspected of being killed by foxes. In every case, death was from other means, usually crushing (road accident). As foxes will certainly scavenge roadkill, sightings of foxes hauling dead cats across the road or even found consuming them, are regularly misinterpreted.”
AAF is a national organisation based in the West Country. This year, AAF has so far surveyed 940 rural residents in and around Castle Cary, Chard, Dorchester and Frome (as well as other locations), to determine the level of support for foxhunting. Of those questioned, 93% do not support foxhunting.
The fox in these photos was a regular visitor to the garden of one
of our neighbours. Sadly, the South and West WIltshire Hunt
hunted and killed her in the corner of a nearby field
Vital role in nature
Foxes are an essential part of our ecosystem. In rural areas, foxes are the crop farmer’s friend, preying on rabbits, which eat the crops. In urban areas, they clean up food wasted by humans, which would otherwise need to be cleaned up by the local council. In both areas, they provide effective, consistent and natural control of other animals, eating rats, mice and pigeons. Foxes themselves are classified as ‘wild animals’ and not as ‘vermin’. Most people enjoy seeing foxes in our gardens and I for one, am happy to share my world with such a wild, clever, beautiful and useful creature.
This a fabulous documentary about the true lives of foxes.It should be on mainline TV. NOT ABOUT JUSTIFCATION of Badger Culling from Our King.
This is very useful evidence. When I was growing up in rural Ireland, my father, and other local farmers, found the foxes very useful. They controlled the numbers of rodents, and scared off the pigeons and magpies. We often observed them eating fruit in the orchard, and I dare say they dispersed a lot of seeds in this way. We had cats, but the foxes could be seen giving them a very wide berth.
Our local vet told me that, in forty years of professional practice, he had never heard anything about a fox harming a cat in any way. We are so lucky to have this beautiful creature in our sadly depleted fauna.
Bravo. It’s about time more people knew about the true behaviour of foxes, and indeed the fact that so-called ‘trail hunting’ is a mere charade; a smokescreen to obfuscate the reality that the hunts are still participating in bloodsports.