What happens when foxes start eating chickens (graphic)

[BarnyardChaos]

I'm rather afraid of large dogs. Some trauma when I was little, I think. I've thought about an LGD on our place, but I dunno.....
I'm leaning toward getting a couple of donkeys, though. No wolves nor (carnivorous) bears here, only very rare sightings of mountain lion. Most of the time, it's fox or coyote. A good donkey can take care of those in a minute.

 

[Aunt Angus]

I'm rather afraid of large dogs. Some trauma when I was little, I think. I've thought about an LGD on our place, but I dunno.....
I'm leaning toward getting a couple of donkeys, though. No wolves nor (carnivorous) bears here, only very rare sightings of mountain lion. Most of the time, it's fox or coyote. A good donkey can take care of those in a minute.

I was attacked by 3 dogs when I was 12. Tore up my left calf, my left wrist, got a chunk out of my back. I only recently started feeling ok around large dogs, and I'm in my 40s. I understand completely.

 

[Feathers of Eden]

I'm rather afraid of large dogs. Some trauma when I was little, I think. I've thought about an LGD on our place, but I dunno.....
I'm leaning toward getting a couple of donkeys, though. No wolves nor (carnivorous) bears here, only very rare sightings of mountain lion. Most of the time, it's fox or coyote. A good donkey can take care of those in a minute.

Here is the thing about donkeys. Like dogs some breeds of donkeys are not up to task but yes they might be as effective as LGDs in protecting the flock.

 

[Geena]

Still you think LGD is not answer?

I don't know his situation, but I would think that if he already has three dogs and still has a predator problem, that yet another dog is not going to help that much.
You are not doing LGDs any favor by claiming that they don't even need basic care and training. No dog is born knowing exactly what you expect from it, no matter what their bloodlines are. All dogs need some kind of grooming and regular vet care etc. I don't know what the laws are in Canada, but in most of the US you are required by law to contain your dog on your own property. A LGD is not going to stay on an unfenced suburban lot. LGD are great for doing what they are bred to do, but they are not a good choice for most folks.

 

[mowin]

LGD are not the answer to everyone's predator issues. My 3 lab mixes do a reasonable job at keep predators away. However, my dogs don't roam the property at night or when we're not home.
I haven't lost a chicken yet to predators, but they have been injured bouncing around the pen when the coop/run was under attack. If a predator jumps my fence, they are doing so for one reason. To kill my livestock.

If someone doesn't want to shoot a predator, for whatever reason, that's up to them. It's there choice. Just like it's my choice, by law, to do so if my livestock is being attacked.

Telling me I'm wrong because the predator needs to eat, or I should put up electric fences, or get a LGD because they are offended by my killing of predators because they don't approve is crazy.

Don't want to shoot, don't. I won't bash you for not doing so. Don't bash me for doing so.

 

[ikoCRO]

You won't respond to me because you know I'm correct.

And what can I answer you when I have already written everything!
You provoke all the time and do not want to accept a different opinion, because you persistently believe that it is your right to kill!
Violence and killing is never a solution to a problem!
If you think that your government has allowed you to kill wild animals by law, under the "pretext of taking care of your pets", it does not necessarily mean that it is right!

Remember the past, how the problems with Native Americans were solved or in Europe how Hitler solved the "problem" with the Jews....I know it's an extreme comparison, but then the government thought it was ok to kill Indians/Jews and people killed because of that that the government told them that it's ok, because they pose a threat to them and threaten their rights!
Today you know that this policy was wrong and that the problem could have been solved more peacefully.
It's the same problem with predators - the government allowed you to kill them and you think it's ok - because they endanger your pets!
The Europeans realized that the problem can be solved in a more civilized manner and passed a law that protects your pets with proper housing conditions!

You think it's your right to keep animals as you want - WRONG!
If you cannot provide proper conditions for keeping animals, you should ban keeping animals!
Exposing your pets to wild animals with poor protection directly harms your pets and makes you a bad farmer!

Do you think it is your right to have children?
What happens in the USA when someone has children in bad living conditions!
Well, the social service takes away your children - of course!
Do you think it is wrong to take children away from parents who, for example, let their children be in pedophile groups without supervision?
See what I'm getting at?
Wait, I have the right to have children, I will let my child be with pedophiles, but I will defend him with a gun! That's your logic!
My logic is: I will never allow my child to go to pedophiles!

(I know the examples are extreme, but I just want to explain more clearly what I mean)

Understand that that fox is a living being, she does what she was created for!
She always follows the line of least resistance and if she sees that she is allowed to kill a chicken, she will do it.
Remember the fox that got tangled in my fence - I watered it and released it into the wild.
She never came back to try to kill my chickens again - because she learned that because of the quality fence and barbed wire, she couldn't do it (she even injured her eye in the process).
Isn't that a better and more humane solution than if I killed her with a rifle?

I read that I called Americans primitive... Google translator is to blame for that, because I thought that killing was a primitive way - not a primitive man! In Croatia, those two words mean something completely different.
That's why I apologize to everyone who was offended, it was not my intention!

 

[Geena]

Your proposed greater good is great only for us humans.

No, there are a lot of areas where it used to be all woods and open fields that are now covered with subdivisions. The animals get pushed out of their regular territories and into ever smaller areas. They of course continue to reproduce anyway because that's what animals do and they become too numerous for the resources available to them. Some of these animals have to learn to live off of what they can find in people's yards and if they survive they then teach their young to do the same.

I live in such an area. I used to be out in the country, but suburbia has crept up all around my property over the past decade. The foxes are still here and the vixens are still having their kits every spring, but now I no longer get the watch them as they grow up over the summer, because they seldom even make it that long. The foxes constantly fight among themselves now over territory and resources. They are generally smaller, thinner and their coats aren't as plush.

It IS for their good as well that some of them be culled, not for those few individuals obviously, but for the good of the local fox population as a whole. The ones that become a nuisance are dealt with and those that retain their wild instincts can go on and live their lives as nature intended for them.

I have a lot of compassion for the wild animals, it's not their fault that they are being squeezed out, but it happens, because us human tend to reproduce and claim territory as well. I don't like to kill anything, and certainly would never shoot an animal for no reason, but there are times when it becomes necessary.

 

[Geena]

That's why I apologize to everyone who was offended, it was not my intention!

He says... as he then continues to be unbelievably offensive.

 

[ikoCRO]

He says... as he then continues to be unbelievably offensive.

Please explain to me what I wrote offensively, I really don't understand!

 

[Geena]

Please explain to me what I wrote offensively, I really don't understand!

If you really don't even understand why comparing horrible human atrocities to a fox is offensive then I don't have the time and energy that would be necessary to explain it to you.