2 fox's attacked.... at 3:30 in the afternoon

[ailurophile23]

I am so sorry for your losses. What great neighbors you have!!!

I too am surprised a fox would take a cat - any possibility these were coyotes instead of foxes?

 

[deerman]

Fox do come out in the day, also mother and her kits will be together now.


There something wrong with these.....for Sue to be able to run them down to hit them with a board...sound like a rabit one........fox fear people ,and run super fast, noway a person should be able to get near one.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Foxes have hungry kits this time of year so they are bold. The parents often hunt together. They will come out in daylight if they are hungry enough. My policy is, if it kills my livestock it is fair game. I have two guardian dogs, so the predators need to stay off my place if they know what is good for them. I shot a coon, skinned it , cooked it, and fed it to the dogs and chickens. Sweet revenge. Pretty good for a grandma.

 

[sourland]

The person who was bitten should seek immediate medical attention. It's not worth taking a chance with rabies. Although it is not at all unusual for fox to hunt together or even during the day, the behaviors described are abnormal. I would suggest keeping your chickens penned up and exercising caution until this situation is resolved. The reaction of the AC people is almost as bizarre as that of the fox.

 

[Chickenaddict]

this scares the HECK out of me! I fear the huge fox we have seen in the neighbors yard will get thru our fence and to our flock in broad daylight! I hope you catch it and get rid of it for good! I am so sorry for your losses

 

[JoAnn_WI_4-H_Mom]

Very sorry for your losses. Poor cat! Poor birds!

Behavior sounds more like coyote. or dog/coyote cross. However, you were there and will be the best judge of what you saw.

You are living near a nature preserve. It is reasonable to assume you will have A LOT of predators in the neighborhood. That will not change even when you remove these particular foxes. You will be killing a lot of predators, possibly illegally (SSS). It will preserve both wildlife and livestock if you protect your domestic animals. If you cannot move away from the nature preserve, it will be your responsibility to protect your livestock from the predators. If you are free-ranging even just during daylight hours, you should probably expect significant losses on a regular basis.

We pasture within an electrified enclosure. This has protected against any ground attacks. We still have to watch for aerial predators.

Yes, guard dogs would also help, if they can be trained to leave your other animals alone.

There is no perfect solution. Everything eats chicken, so it is an on-going problem.

Locations around nature preserves are great fits for people who want to observe a lot of wildlife. Not so great for livestock raising. It is so hard to get people in the places they want to be.

 

[Singlemaple]

Quote:
well we are sure they were foxs they have been coming around the last few weeks... they are red foxs big fluffy tails...

and i looked it up online, it is fox hunting season from sept 1-march 31 and there is no bag limit on them so if we have to they will be gone....

we are pretty sure we know where there den is.

 

[Singlemaple]

Quote:
Nobody was bitten....?

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

they won't shoot it unless it was rabid?? that tells me alot, how are they going know if its rabid unless they shoot it?
foxes will hunt together, the male and female, and pups too (or kits I believe they are called) I've seen them in mid day which is not normal and in and of itself makes me believe it may be rabid,
I would recommend fortification of your chicken yard cause if you are that close to game land - like the previous message said, there will be more

 

[chickiepie]

While I have no problems with SSS, I think in this case it would not really solve your problem. You mentioned that you live next to a large preserve with lots of potential predators. Just because they haven't caused problems in the past doesn't mean they never will. With that in consideration, you might want to come up with a more secure situation, whether that means a big guard dog or an enclosed area. You can take care of those two fox, but there will be more to come.