Urban foxes and DLR county council

Desmo

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/urban-fox-prowling-a-potential-safety-hazard-says-council-1.1996231
gob****es!

Amalgam

Next to no one in the catchment area have bare bin bags.

A big (ongoing) problem with dog waste, not fox waste.

I'd like to see the number of complaints involved.

Baffling 'campaign'.

Capercaille

NPWS have had their budget cut in recent years. Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown now want the NPWS to waste scarce resources on reducing Fox numbers. What a joke

Woodville56

A while back it was gulls in the firing line, now it's urban foxes ! What next ?

OpenYourEyes

This kind of thing rears its head every two or three years - either its the Daily Mail or a clueless local politician. People have been going on about big sudden increases and the need to 'do something' for years, but the reality is that there's no indication that the fox population in Dublin is any bigger than it was 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 30 years ago and probably even before that. In addition to that, even if the fox population has gotten bigger - we've seen absolutely no negative effect of that - no increase in disease, no traffic accidents cause by hitting them or swerving to avoid them, no packs of hungry foxes beating up old ladies and stealing their handbags - no negative effects. The term 'overpopulation' indicates that a population has gone past some sort of tipping point where the negative aspects of that population are getting out of control, and that is not the case for urban foxes.

I'm very pragamatic when it comes to wildlife control, including foxes - if there's a proven need for it, and if there are no other reasonable ways to solve the problem, then fox control should go ahead. With that in mind, there is no reason for urban fox control, and based on what we've seen with urban foxes over the last 30+ years I don't anticipate there'll be any need for urban fox control in the future either.


My guess is, given how underfunded and understaffed they are and the fact that there isn't an actual problem, DLR CoCo will get a very polite email telling them that increased education re: not feeding foxes, and tidier streets and better secured bins are the best course of action.

OpenYourEyes

Also note that any accusations levelled at our urban foxes could equally be said about our feral cat population - but you won't hear a politician grandstanding about that!

Desmo

I agree with all these comments; these recurring calls about foxes belong with the Ivy, Magpie and "Seagull" control suggestions. Feral cats are indeed a bigger genuine problem and disturbance from domestic dogs (and their s***e) is more pressing.

OpenYourEyes

A pretty good piece by the Guardian from last year:

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/shortcuts/2013/feb/11/urban-foxes-fact-fiction

Good to see Fine Gael prioritizing.

Manach

I believe vermin should be humanely dealt with.
Given the problems that they cause the general public: over-vocalisation, irrational behaviour, and causing unsightly messes then the kindest thing to do is to capture, de-gender and to move them to an appropriate location (Rockall) these DLR county council councillors.