Honestly... I laughed so hard I nearly wet myself

[Ttaskmaster]

This. Likewise paying for inconveniencing humans, heaven forfend. All too commonplace, and incensing beyond measure

I have the same argument with the Mrs - She hates spiders, mice, rats, insects and bats, as well as having serious hayfever/allergies... and yet she fought *desperately* to get our house out here in the countryside where all of the above are in plentiful supply throughout the year and we're surrounded by farmers' fields full of flowers and flippin' rapeseed!!!!!

This is their natural habitat and we're intruding upon it. Learn to live with it or work around it, but don't expect them to lay down and die just for your convenience.
I don't especially regard myself as a tree-hugging hippy, but when animals just do what is natural humans have no right to complain.

[MrDLips]

2nd time I'm replying to this:

Any animal with enough gusto can cause fear.

And have you ever heard foxes yelping at night? They're not a far cry off sounding like a banshee. If that thing came running at me making that noise, I'd be on top of the club, never mind indoors!

I agree we shouldn't complain about animals acting naturally, but our response is likewise natural - if they are a threat, we remove the threat. Just as most animals try doing to us if cornered.

[Andy3536]

I would be laughing so much I wet myself... because that child likely did, or their parents let them do, something wrong in order to get bitten. No different in my eyes to the poor poacher who got stoped by the hippo he was going to shoot.

Same thing happens to peoples' dogs - Some kid goes over the fence to chucks stones at it and beats it with a stick, dog has enough and bites kid, dog gets put down while kid gets to play the victim. No animal should have to pay for the stupidity of humans.

Lets be a little rational here, not every dog and fox attack is the fault of humans.
Foxes are a pest, they attack young calves, Roe deer kids, poultry, game birds. Farmers and groundskeepers have a right to protect thier livelyhoods.
And all these animals that get shot on farms can't all be taken alive and taken to a sanctuary.

[Ttaskmaster]

And have you ever heard foxes yelping at night? They're not a far cry off sounding like a banshee. If that thing came running at me making that noise, I'd be on top of the club, never mind indoors!

Hell yeah!!
First time I heard it I was walking alone on a misty night through country woodland. Sounded like a cross between a screaming child and a howling dog!

I agree we shouldn't complain about animals acting naturally, but our response is likewise natural - if they are a threat, we remove the threat. Just as most animals try doing to us if cornered.

Most animals will try and flee, killing only if you're in their way.
Once this thing was captured, it was no longer a threat and did not need killing. It was just more 'convenient' and likely less paperwork than finding a better solution.

I just expected far better from 'supposedly' one of the most intelligent species on the planet, ya know?

We are the result of four million years of evolution... yet we really don't act like it!

[MrDLips]

Hell yeah!!
First time I heard it I was walking alone on a misty night through country woodland. Sounded like a cross between a screaming child and a howling dog!


Most animals will try and flee, killing only if you're in their way.
Once this thing was captured, it was no longer a threat and did not need killing. It was just more 'convenient' and likely less paperwork than finding a better solution.

I just expected far better from 'supposedly' one of the most intelligent species on the planet, ya know?

We are the result of four million years of evolution... yet we really don't act like it!

I disagree, it did more than enough to prove it could be a threat in the future. It not only showed no fear of humans, it aggressively tried to attack them.

If there was some kind of clockwork orange facility for correcting asbo foxes, great. There isn't, and releasing it elsewhere in the country leaves no guarantee that it won't try to get back to human society.

[Ttaskmaster]

I disagree, it did more than enough to prove it could be a threat in the future. It not only showed no fear of humans, it aggressively tried to attack them.

Yeah... wild animals tend to do that when they're alone, lost and have been threatened. Most likely someone had already done something to panic it earlier, so again it has to pay for human stupidity.

There isn't, and releasing it elsewhere in the country leaves no guarantee that it won't try to get back to human society.

Assuming it was an 'urban fox that had found it's way to the countryside', as the article thinks... Sounds more like a lost transient just looking for a way through.

[MrDLips]

I don't get it. It bit a woman, what more reason do you need? Dogs get destroyed for the same thing, and there's more of a case for sparing them.

[Toadem]

Foxes dont seem to be as timid as they used to be, years ago they would run a mile from humans because it was easier to get food in the wild than have to be in proximity to us, now they just see us as something getting in the way of their next meal and are willing to do what it takes to get to the wheelie bin

[Zak33]

Strong beliefs running through this thread now

I apologise to the people who think it's not a funny article and those who believe the fox deserved re locating.

I also disagree that people would laugh about a child bitten by any animal and purely blame the child or parents.

A shark maybe innocent.....for biting a person on a surf board...but it's not funny.

Several adults locking themselves inside a building because one fox cornered them..in my world is funny. Defending themselves with a bike....and falling and losing their glasses was editorial comedy...and groin strain caused by a fox must surely be amusing.

Dead fox...less than amusing.. Agreed.

Right?wrong? Humans evil? Animals always innocent?

Knock yourselves out on that.

[tepo]

Strong beliefs running through this thread now

I apologise to the people who think it's not a funny article and those who believe the fox deserved re locating.

I also disagree that people would laugh about a child bitten by any animal and purely blame the child or parents.

A shark maybe innocent.....for biting a person on a surf board...but it's not funny.

Several adults locking themselves inside a building because one fox cornered them..in my world is funny. Defending themselves with a bike....and falling and losing their glasses was editorial comedy...and groin strain caused by a fox must surely be amusing.

Dead fox...less than amusing.. Agreed.

Right?wrong? Humans evil? Animals always innocent?

Knock yourselves out on that.

animals dont discriminate they kill for necessity ...humans have killed almost everything including themselves

[sammyc]

Am of the firm belief that, as Ttaskmaster says, we are intruding, while behaving in the main as though it's nature that is in our way.

However for this, which I realise is as middle ground as we'll get here, ta.

I apologise to the people who think it's not a funny article and those who believe the fox deserved re locating.

[Zak33]

animals dont discriminate they kill for necessity ...

they do discriminate WHILE killing for necessity.. they go for the weak... the young.. the slow.

they don't just kill for food though. they kill for territory.. they kill for breeding rights.. they maim to lure other prey to them.

[Zak33]

Am of the firm belief that, as Ttaskmaster says, we are intruding, while behaving in the main as though it's nature that is in our way.

However for this, which I realise is as middle ground as we'll get here, ta.

agreed with

i think humans are doing less bad this century than previously though. Genuinely I do.

[DanceswithUnix]

animals dont discriminate they kill for necessity ...humans have killed almost everything including themselves

Cats kill because they are cats.

[Ttaskmaster]

Foxes dont seem to be as timid as they used to be, years ago they would run a mile from humans because it was easier to get food in the wild than have to be in proximity to us, now they just see us as something getting in the way of their next meal and are willing to do what it takes to get to the wheelie bin

There has been a fair bit of research into that, although half of it is around selective breeding of foxes in captivity. Not sure if they were trying to create tame foxes for pets or what, but after (I think) 30 generations, it seems half turn out very placid compared to normal, while the others turn out to be REALLY aggressive mother-foxers... and the people doing this, supposedly very learned in genetic breeding and all that, have absolutely NO idea why.
There were similar results within a couple of tracked control groups that were allowed to breed however they liked, although the aggression was much less pronounced.

I don't get it. It bit a woman, what more reason do you need? Dogs get destroyed for the same thing, and there's more of a case for sparing them.

And yet if a cat bites/scratches me I'm a criminal for killing it...

The difference is that dogs ARE domesticated animals, with regulations applying to the owner and the legal responsibility for both training them and keeping them controlled or isolated. Often further investigation reveals that either the human 'victims' put themselves in danger to begin with, or the human owner was seriously irresponsible.

Conversely, foxes are wild and, like other wild animals, should just be left alone to get on with things. What one human does may not affect them, but affect another human further down the line.

If this was any larger wild animal, like a hippo or a bear, anyone getting hurt for trying to feed it would just be decried as an idiot.

[tepo]

they do discriminate WHILE killing for necessity.. they go for the weak... the young.. the slow.

they don't just kill for food though. they kill for territory.. they kill for breeding rights.. they maim to lure other prey to them.

but they dont do revenge attacks ..