London's serial cat killer turns out to be not what was expected...

gozunda

London's serial cat killer turns out to be fox*

See:
http://www.thejournal.ie/croydon-cat-killer-fox-4246363-Sep2018/

The reason this caught my eye was that a number of years ago I had a cat taken from the yard by a fox in broad daylight. I reckon it's not that unusual behaviour tbh.


* mods - not sure if this is the right forum? Thanks.

Kamili

I actually found the remains of a cat only the other day that had been killed by something in my Dublin suburbia garden. Not a whole lot left of the poor creature.

I dismissed the fox idea, but there are a family of foxes living nearby so maybe it was them..

the purple tin

Wow I never thought a fox would attack a cat.:eek:

Anjobe

gozunda wrote: »

London's serial cat killer turns out to be a fox*

See:
http://www.thejournal.ie/croydon-cat-killer-fox-4246363-Sep2018/

The reason this caught my eye was that a number of years ago I had a cat taken from the yard by a fox in broad daylight. I reckon it's not that unusual behaviour tbh.


* mods - not sure if this is the right forum? Thanks.

That is not a very good report, the theory is that cats that had been killed on the roads were then subsequently scavenged by foxes. Some of the mutilated bodies that were examined showed injuries consistent with car accidents and the presence of fox DNA, along with the CCTV of foxes carrying cat parts. The animal charity SNARL does not believe this accounts for all the cases.

mymo

I grew up in London, foxes often took pet rabbits, Guinea pigs and cats, we kept our bunnies and piggies indoors, and cats as much as possible.
The fox numbers in London have exploded in recent years, I've seen them walking the street in daylight and they have little fear of people, my brothers neighbour lost her 2 cats to a fox in her own garden in one evening.

em_cat

mymo wrote: »

I grew up in London, foxes often took pet rabbits, Guinea pigs and cats, we kept our bunnies and piggies indoors, and cats as much as possible.
The fox numbers in London have exploded in recent years, I've seen them walking the street in daylight and they have little fear of people, my brothers neighbour lost her 2 cats to a fox in her own garden in one evening.

We have one living in our communal courtyard. It’s feral but getting too cosy all the same & drives the dogs insanse. At least it’s not going hungry ‘cause certain neighbours can’t seem to understand how to use the bin storage rooms.

Dinxminx

I saw that some of the area's vets have put out statements saying they disagree with the findings, and honestly, although I'm sure it does happen occasionally, I definitely don't think the answer can solely be "foxes."



Anecdotally, the area around where my parents live has many, many neighbourhood cats and also many, many foxes. They have no fear of people and happily roam around the place. In thirty years they haven't killed a single cat. In fact my dad and I have on separate occasions seen them playing with some of the cats.

If all the cat deaths around Croydon are because of foxes or because of cars+foxes.... why are the same rates not being reported elsewhere? One of the owners said her cat was left at her house, tail sliced off, with its intestines arranged in a clean, perfect circle. Does Croydon have particularly artistic psychopathic foxes? The whole thing is just so strange.

Kamili

Now that you mention it DinxMinx, I have seen foxes play with cats in my area too, there is a den on a patch of overgrown space where the foxes live and breed.

I've seen the cubs play with a cat a few years ago which I had completely forgotten about.

The thought that did strike me when I found the cat parts in my own garden is that it was killed on the road and brought there by magpies or crows.

Knine

Could well be dogs. There was an awful issue near me going back about 10 years or so. Every morning several cats were found mauled to death. The culprits turned out to be 2 pet dogs who were let out to roam at night. One being a fox hound cross, the owners when confronted said "sure dogs will be dogs"

It was actually horrific. They hunted those cats down. The Cats Protection League teamed up with the Dog Warden and warnings were issued. Eventually the dogs jumped into someones back yard & were removed by the dog warden & destroyed.

gozunda

Dinxminx wrote: »

I saw that some of the area's vets have put out statements saying they disagree with the findings, and honestly, although I'm sure it does happen occasionally, I definitely don't think the answer can solely be "foxes."

Anecdotally, the area around where my parents live has many, many neighbourhood cats and also many, many foxes. They have no fear of people and happily roam around the place. In thirty years they haven't killed a single cat. In fact my dad and I have on separate occasions seen them playing with some of the cats.
If all the cat deaths around Croydon are because of foxes or because of cars+foxes.... why are the same rates not being reported elsewhere? One of the owners said her cat was left at her house, tail sliced off, with its intestines arranged in a clean, perfect circle. Does Croydon have particularly artistic psychopathic foxes? The whole thing is just so strange.

Id agree It's possible that not all the cats were killed by foxes. But I don't doubt the investigation tbh - I've personally seen a fox take a cat in broad daylight.

Some foxes will also become habituated to certain types of kills. There are foxes who once find that killing one type of prey is easy - will go back again and again to the same place to do the same. You see this in the case of poultry where the same foxes will return to kill where they have been successful in the past. Some foxes will also engage in killing all poulty in an enclosure for example even though they can only eat one or two.

Rogue urban foxes are a breed apart compared to their rural cousins.

https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/fox-kills-pet-dogs-housing-2141800

https://www.freewebs.com/nwtf/03 Live stock & Pets Cat.jpg

Knine

I have also seen foxes well battered by cats here where I live. An adult fit cat is generally well able to defend itself. I also had to drag my terrier off one when I let her out not realising there was one in my coal shed. That was a very lucky fox.

kylith

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised at all that it's foxes. Between foxes that will predate on cats and foxes that will scavenge cat carcasses from roadsides I'd say they'd account for a fair few of the incidents.

Tom Mann Centuria

Bound to be a cull now. The Tory government love a good cull.

Graces7

Knine wrote: »

I have also seen foxes well battered by cats here where I live. An adult fit cat is generally well able to defend itself. I also had to drag my terrier off one when I let her out not realising there was one in my coal shed. That was a very lucky fox.

I was warned when I came here to watch out for my cats as there is apparently a vicious tom that will tackle the island foxes..

The owner apparently refused to get the cat fixed; when I was bringing my three over on the boat they asked were mine done...

There were many loud skirmishes; but I trained the dog to "see it off" which she does with great gusto and never a sight of the foxes.

ganmo

Tom Mann Centuria wrote: »

Bound to be a cull now. The Tory government love a good cull.

theres no health risk so not sure what the justification would be

gozunda

ganmo wrote: »

theres no health risk so not sure what the justification would be

Afaik in the UK local councils etc do not get involved with issues to do with urban foxes etc. That is the remit of private pest control companies who are called in when foxes become problematic or have health related issues such as mange etc ....

Demonique

ganmo wrote: »

theres no health risk so not sure what the justification would be

Pretty sure it was a joke about the tories love of foxhunting

Knine

Was out with 3 Border Terriers at the weekend & a large fox jumped out right in front of us. He jumped into a river to get away from the dogs who were thankfully on leads. The dogs thought all their dreams had come through. The night before I found a very young fox in my front garden.