Last night I saw a fox calmly walking down the middle of our snow covered road at 9pm. Well when I say walking, it was limping on 3 legs, the 4th looking very withered.
Now there are loads of foxes about this area but yet you never see a dead one. Since I got the dog, the walks have been more into country, the woods etc where you might think they may reside but no sign of them there either?
What in the food chain eats foxes - other foxes?
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Well they prefer rare chicken, but yes foxes eat anything, curry, pizza, worms, poo in babies nappies, and yes other dead foxes. Foxes are scavengers and thats what they do.
As far as your raspberry ripple* (as its a fox I can be very un pc here !) fox goes, in the old days it would be dead by now, but urban foxes have no natural predators. (apart from cars) Thats why there are so many of the beggars.
*great of example of modern CRS, normally I would have said "raspberry" but used the full phrase for those who no speaka da lingo (like that stuffed shirt jumped up posh west londoner)
Last edited by: Zero on Tue 6 Dec 11 at 14:03
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Hi there Zeddo. Quite right, I have never heard raspberry ripple (we don't go in for lurid confectionery of that sort where I come from). When I was briefly Georgie Fame in Lagos I borrowed a rabbit hutch from a medical exhibition to help me walk.
Apart from other foxes, though, we could add rats and carrion birds to the list, along with insects. Inside urban areas, one supposes, the street cleaners and dustmen may remove the remains sometimes when they can be bothered.
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>>> that stuffed shirt jumped up posh west londoner)
I would refer you, Zero, to the Adams cartoon on p 28 of today's terrorflag (online from the terror's website under Comment).
There is a character in it whose discourse fits the sort of person you seem to be describing.
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I wonder how long a fox with a gammy leg could survive? Probably quite while if it could feed from bins etc and avoid fights over territory or mates.
Got me thinking, apart from roadkill what other carrion do I see and even as a regular walker in wild country the answer is hardly any. Hill sheep from time to time but not 'wild' animals Some will presumably 'go to ground' and die in their dens or other secluded places. But I supect the main disposla route is carrion eating animals, particularly birds. Down here we have Crows and Magpies. The Red Kite is spreading and will happily eat dead meat; buzzards are not averse either.
Maybe 'Hoodies' too round your way Bobby?
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Saw on yesterday killed on the side of the road.Big fox beatifull colour why the hell they wonder across roads I don't know.
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It was probably following the proverbial chicken - Spooky experience a few weeks ago - let the dog out late on after his walk, shining an LED torch down the garden, I saw his familiar reflected yellow eyes, further down the garden there was another pair of eyes reflecting back.....! =:-0
Last edited by: R.P. on Tue 6 Dec 11 at 15:29
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Hound of the Baskervilless?
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Dead foxes get eaten by badgers.. or dumped in the rubbish bin..
In the middle of a war and trapped one. Neighbour has shotgun.
Only another 4 to go..
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Of course, the traditional hunt was a good way of taking out the weak, old, and diseased foxes. When the ban came, all the animal rights people celebrated, as now the old and weak foxes got to live a longer lingering death.
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As opposed to a short life with a brutal and cruel death?
Pat
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>> As opposed to a short life with a brutal and cruel death?
>>
As meted out to lambs, chickens, etc by Reynard.
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Reynard is pursuing his natural instincts.....something man should never interfere with.
Pat
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Not really relevant to this thread but something new to me as scavenger animals. Just got back in the car at Melksham Lidl this afternoon. Elder lady passed in front of me pushing trolley, small group of seagulls descends with lead gull perching on front rail,snatches pack of Milk Chocolate Jam Teacakes, then departs with the pack in hot pursuit!!.
Happy Motoring Phil I
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It's part of a wider question, where do all dead animals and birds go?
I think they are eaten by either cannibals of their own kind, badgers, or carrion birds or birds of prey.
It's a common sight to see a dead fox etc on the road and disturb a couple of rooks or magpies busy tucking in. They resume the meal after the car has passed.
Round here buzzards are pretty active too, and increasingly, red kites.
Another interesting question is why do birds never die in mid-air? Do they know when they are going to die, so never drop dead unexpectedly?
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>> natural instincts.....something man should never interfere with.
Pat, you are being soppy again. Man, too, has his natural instincts. Perhaps they shouldn't be thwarted either, since they are an important part of nature, er, 'red in tooth and claw'.
Incidentally, 'man' and 'mankind' are terms that are frowned on these days. 'Humanity' is the inclusive term preferred by all sorts of PC zealots, feminists and so on.
You are sending mixed signals. Cough up! Are you a tough trucker or a soppy lady?
Heh heh...
(ducks below parapet and holds hands over ears)
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I'm a tough trucker without a doubt AC, but as with all tough truckers, we've shared many a happy night out in a lonely layby and shared it with the local wildlife.
Crows, lambs, squirrels have all provided many hours of entertainment, far better than a noisy night club!
And again, with most truckers, be them male or female, we are all animal lovers and believe that nature is a wonderful thing.
Pat
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>> male or female, we are all animal lovers and believe that nature is a wonderful thing.
From what I have seen of tough truckers, Pat, I feel you may be over-egging the pudding a bit there. If I wanted to tease you I would start to fantasize about the Tough Truckers' Fluffy Kitten and One-Eared Old Mog Appreciation Society's Hunt Saboteurs' Ginger Group, meeting for tea and buns every Thursday at the Ace Cafe on the old A1...
You are quite right however to point out that observing nature and its creatures, even in passing, is something that never palls, while noisy nightclubs can pall very quickly indeed, depending to some extent on the music...
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>> something that never palls, while noisy nightclubs can pall very quickly indeed,
>> depending to some extent on the music...
Its inversely proportional to the amount of alcohol consumed.
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>> I'm a tough trucker without a doubt AC, but as with all tough truckers, we've
>> shared many a happy night out in a lonely layby and shared it with the
>> local wildlife.
>>
Should have thought that statement through Pat! (:0~0:)
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Rats, mosquitoes and tape worms also have natural instincts. But of course they can't afford media lobbyists and don't have such cuddly looking offspring.
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No idea what a fox might taste like... but did you not all see that programme on saving money etc on TV last week. One bloke looked out for road kill. He was also a taxidermist.
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>> No idea what a fox might taste like...
A late friend claimed he had once stayed at a posh but faded hotel somewhere in Germany that had a special full English breakfast menu. He may have been lying though.
The first dish on the special menu was 'Fox soup'.
Doesn't sound good does it, especially for breakfast? Even game soup tasted of vomit the only time I tried it.
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>> Reynard is pursuing his natural instincts.....something man should never interfere with.
>>
>> Pat
>>
He doesn't kill to eat. He kills to kill.
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I shoot, I hunt and I photograph too. I 'wave' more wildlife onward than I shoot (those species permitted to be shot of course) and bid them good luck into the bargain. 'Twas not always so. What I shoot I, or others eat, however I will without exception, shoot every Magpie I can. Don't ask me for justification as you are well aware why. At the weekend a Grey squirrel was busy digging up my bulbs and perched itself in a Copper Beech not too far from the bedroom window. The Air rifle was out, cross hairs placed and I watched it for 2-3 minutes. It was totally oblivious to it's impending demise. However, the thought of my mate (52) in Hosp' with Leukaemia made me once again think about the fate of all of us and you can guess the rest. The little Git will be digging again next week!!
MD
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>> cross hairs placed and I watched it for 2-3 minutes.
>> you can guess the rest. The little Git will be digging again next week!!
It's an age thing MD. It is quite usual to become more compassionate as the years pass. In my adolescence I was perfectly content to shoot things with my .177 air rifle, but every time felt sorry for the grey squirrel or magpie as it came to terms with its fate. In later adult life was quite keen on rough shooting for a few years - one deer, one woodcock and a couple of dozen yummy pheasants plus vermin (squirrels and rabbits, the latter a nuisance in the vegetable garden) - but I haven't done any for a few years. Perhaps I'm a sentimentalist at heart.
Even now though I don't buy that macho proper-gent stuff about not shooting a sitting bird. Mafia-style assassination is much surer when you're doing it for the pot. And there's something pretty distasteful about big organized shoots with driven birds. In the sixties high Tory cabinet ministers and the like still used to be photographed with their loaders and dogs and the kill laid out on the ground before them, sometimes thousands of birds with a few hares and weasels to one side. No wonder they couldn't hear questions properly in the House.
And there was always the possibility of having your head shot off by a dozy ambassador or tycoon. Fortunately such people wouldn't want someone like me standing around making remarks.
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>> He doesn't kill to eat. He kills to kill.
Not so sure about that. Nature conditions him to find food after a chase and for most prey to escape not in a hen coop where it's the vulpine version of supermarket sweep!!!
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Tue 6 Dec 11 at 20:24
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>> He doesn't kill to eat. He kills to kill.
I don't disagree, having lost multiple chickens more than once, but it's moot really. He's still just being a fox. Which is not say I'm happy about it.
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My wife found a large dead fox submerged in our little pond a couple of years back. Not a mark on it, looked perfectly sleek and healthy, but for the deadness and a missing brush, which appeared to have been severed or broken at the root.
No sign of the brush in the garden.
It's a mystery.
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clearly it had a brush with something fatal.
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I bet it could tell a tail...
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I like to think the chickens got him.
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A lot of "Huntsmen" take the brush as a souvenir - in the same way as the Matador takes the Bulls B****!
So it looks like "pond-fox" was just discarded extra`s!
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I found a dead fox on the other side of our back fence once. I just looked over the fence because I was wondering what the smell was....
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>Reynard is pursuing his natural instincts.....something man should never interfere with.<
Although I admire them for what they are, my natural instinct has always been to kill foxes, as well as aged, nuisance deer and a lot else. Please do not interfere.
Answer to the original question: crows.
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>>Reynard is pursuing his natural instincts.<<
Man was born a hunter.
>>something man should never interfere with.<<
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I thought Jeremy Clarkson was responsible for all fox deaths?
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>> I thought Jeremy Clarkson was responsible for all fox deaths?
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Does a horse exist which is big enough to carry him and his pot belly?
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A friend of mine in the Bath area used to work for the local council. I can remember him telling all during a late night pub discussion about roadkill that the council had a road maintenance team whose primary purpose was to pick up dead animals from the highways and byways of Somerset. No idea as to how true that was but I suspect if it was the roadkill operatives might have been victims of cutbacks recently.
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Some (not I) think the road kill collection process has been reversed, with some farmers distributing dead badgers on the roads.
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My mum told me dead foxes go to Fox Heaven. Are you lot saying she was wrong?!
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I got really bad news for you mate, not only was she lying about fox heaven but also, - wait for it - there is NO Father Christmas.
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Until queuing in a post office today to post a card to the US, I hadn't realised what the naff joke in Russ Abbot's Basildon Bond character was about. It's writing paper. Long time to find that out. I had thought it was just a reference to James Bond as a child.
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Where do dead foxes go??? - Zero
