Fox attacks people

[otherego]

Interesting:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-33360817

From the article:

A "vicious" fox trapped eight people inside a sports club for three hours as it stalked them from the car park.

The animal appeared as people were preparing to leave Alconbury Sports and Social Club, Cambridgeshire.

Panic reigned, with a woman being bitten, a man falling off his bicycle as he was chased and a pest controller being pursued back to his car.

Club chairman Bruce Staines, who was chased around the car park, said he had "never seen anything like it".

I just hope they tested it for rabies after it was killed - not something to be complacent about.

Apart from that, I suppose the whole thing was not without its funny side.

[cee-dee]

When I first saw that news item I thought they should have tested it because Foxes usually beat it from humans not stalk them like that.

[angelah1847]

I had to stifle my laughter when I read that on the BBC site last night, particularly the guy who tried to fight it off with his bicycle.

Sorry, I'm afraid it has got to come out

[astrologica]

Poor fox.😨

[aernethril]

I agree and I hope they keep a watch on the health of the woman who was bitten.

[fallen-archie]

For Fox sake! Must we always destroy an animal when it behaves strangely.Not going to speculate on why because there are lots of possibilities but just remember the next time a human traumatises another human by brandishing a knife and demanding money he will either get away or be caught and handed community service. 

RIP Basil Brush

[malacandran]

But Basil Brush wasn't a real fox - dirty, rancid and infested with fleas, lice and  (possibly) rabies.

Basil was just an artificial, hygenic glove-puppet.   Who bore no resemblance to Nature.

So, I can't see why he is cited here.  Except that it might show the naive Greenie view of Nature - ooh look, aren't foxes so adorable and cuddly?

[ravendays]

It sounds like the "members" of Alconbury Sports & Social Club need to be put out of our misery.  Stupid people clearly shouldn't breed. 

[suzieseaside]

Very rare for a fox to be aggressive.

Perhaps it was injured or had a parasitic disease like toxoplasmosis.

I have seen a young fox on the street around the corner from me sitting just a couple of metres away from a local cat.  Neither seemed at all bothered about the other. Wish I'd had my camera with me.

[suzieseaside]

[malacandran]

---

@suzieseaside wrote:

Very rare for a fox to be aggressive.

Perhaps it was injured or had a parasitic disease like toxoplasmosis.

I have seen a young fox on the street around the corner from me sitting just a couple of metres away from a local cat.  Neither seemed at all bothered about the other. Wish I'd had my camera with me.

---

Yes, foxes don't usually show themselves in broad daylight. There must have been something wrong with that fox. Probably diseased with some brain-affecting microbes, as you suggest.  Otherwise it would've tried to catch the cat, in order to eat it.  Or just run off.

[suzieseaside]

Malacandran - Why would the fox have gone for the cat ?   Oh, and it wasn't broad daylight it was about 2am.

Foxes are not generally aggressive.  Cats are not normal prey for a fox - they go for smaller animals.  A fox is more likely to run away from a cat.

Apparently many cats chum up with foxes if they don't chase them out of the garden.

[malacandran]

Thanks Suzie for the pictures. They're extremely interesting.  I wouldn't have thought that a fox and cat could stand beside each , with such apparent unconcern.

The explanation might be this:

The fox was already quite well-fed.  You can see it has a thick abdomen. Indicative of a full, well-nourished body.

Whereas - suppose the fox had been "lean and hungry"!  Then wouldn't it have grabbed the cat,  bitten its neck, turned it over, ripped open the cat's bowels, and gulped down the visceral contents, don't you think?

Thanks again for your reply, best regards

[otherego]

Considering the way cats treat their "prey," I suppose the cat concerned would go out more easily than whatever it last tormented to death. Nasty things, cats...

I'm fascinated by the foxes and the cats getting along, though. Really not what I'd have expected at all. I wonder how they get on with domestic dogs. I know the hounds used on hunts don't do foxes much good, but might one's ordinary domestic mutt make friends with them instead?

[suzieseaside]

No mal, in general I don't think a fox would grab a cat - for reasons I said in #12.

Even most dogs who like to chase cats have second thoughts when they meet a cat that stands its ground!

I don't know about dogs and foxes otherego. I know that my dog and other dogs I know always chased a fox if they saw one and the fox always ran away.

If brought up together and the fox was domesticated anything is possible. All sorts of animals get on if they are brought up in a domestic situation.

  

But although unlikely, it seems that friendships between a dog and wild fox can happen.  These two below met in the woods in Norway.

There are some amazing photos of these two in the link below.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2518490/The-adorable-unlikely-friendship-fox-dog-thats-turne...

 

[otherego]

Those are remarkable pictures, Suzie. One shouldn't project human notions onto animal behaviour, I suppose, but it's intriguing that different species seem to be able to make friends.

I honestly know very little about foxes. A more knowledgeable friend has a soft spot for them - she says that they have very distinctive individual personalities. Presumably, they're fairly intelligent, too.

Can foxes be tamed? I've always assumed that this would be tricky, even raising them pretty much from birth. Presumably part of the problem with UK's urban foxes is that they're not tame, but have become accustomed to humans - resulting in the two sometimes getting closer together than is good for either. It's hardly surprising that somebody approaching what's essentially a wild animal got herself bitten. I'm sympathetic rather than surprised. (I still hope they tested the fox for rabies. As I understand it, if you wait for someone bitten to develop symptoms, it's already too late.)

[******lynda******]

Foxes do go out in daylight. I see them every day, several times a day here. They pass through my garden and the Cubs come to eat dropped bird seed at my feeding station several times a day. When I worked in the town, we often saw foxes in the streets, though more often in the mornings than afternoons. And when I used to walk my dog in another county, up the hills, we could guarantee to see a fox cross the path at the same time every day. I watched a fox take a lamb at lunch time on our hill when I lived way oop North and managed to rescue it, and holidaymakers frequently took photos of foxes in daylight. I have quite a collection of such snapshots of my own.
As for cats..a fox met my cat in my garden and all I was left with when the noise died down was the bell of his collar. I was in the shower when it started so too late by the time I got downstairs.

[******lynda******]

Foxes are never really tamed. My ex mother in law hand reared a cub but it never really settled as a pet. It left in the end. In behaviour, they are much more like cats than dogs.

[******lynda******]

Except they are dirty animals, while cats are clean

[******lynda******]

And of course foxes are aggressive. They are hunter. If you see a dead fox it is really all teeth and tail. The rest in between is not noticeable. I have been growled at by a cub when I got too close...little thing was only about three weeks old...it still had its round blue eyes.