I was woken up again during the night on account of screaming foxes, which I accept is part and parcel of living in an area at this time of year which has quite a large fox population. What I cannot accept, however, is people leaving left over food out for these wild animals and encouraging them further into the area…
I understand that a certain couple on Ebsworth St in Honor Oak are back to their old tricks and have recently left some spare ribs out for the local vermin to devour in recent days, with not a thought for the resulting mess made nor for domestic animals that will be attracted to this food source and could end up choking,
This in my mind is simply unacceptable and what I consider to be anti social behaviour that should not be allowed to continue; given the offence this pair have caused in the past by behaving this way they clearly have a total lack of empathy for a number of people that live in the surrounding area.
Leaving plastic cartons of meat in the street, or pouring dogfood onto the street, is really antisocial behaviour and the council need to take it seriously.
Irritating that council workers would close a FixMyStreet report on the basis that it’s “old” as opposed to being fixed.
The kind of idiots who feed foxes by leaving out rib bones are usually the kind of idiots who don’t know a thing about foxes and that a fox’s jaw isn’t powerful enough bite through a rib bone.
Does the Community Trigger only work if the food is left out on the street?
I ask because I know of several people who buy food specifically for foxes and leave it in their gardens. This means anyone living near them has to put up with the noise, mess and having their gardens trashed, as the foxes break fences to reach the food.
This is the first time I have heard about of community trigger, but from what I read they are for anti social behaviour. The Met defines anti social behaviour to include
"Rowdy or nuisance neighbours: This covers any rowdy behaviour or general nuisance caused by neighbours, including boundary and parking disputes. It also covers noise nuisance from parties or playing loud music.
Animal problems: This covers any situation where animals are creating a nuisance or people’s behaviour associated with the use of animals is deemed as antisocial. It includes uncontrolled animals, stray dogs, barking, fouling and intimidation by an animal."
So, it seems to me it would cover the situation you describe
Dropping food on the street is littering and an offence. But feeding foxes on your own property is not. If the noise disturbs you, hard luck. They were here first.
Many things, good and bad, were “here first”. That doesn’t give them any kind of license.
I remember suffering church bells ringing at anti-social times when I lived in Rotherhithe. People said the “church was here first”. True. But what was appropriate behaviour in the 19th century is not always appropriate for modern day life in the 21st century. We shouldn’t be afraid to challenge anti-social behaviour simply in order to preserve the status quo or the “natural order of things”
And given that foxes migrated into cities in the 1930s it’s not necessarily accurate to claim they were “here first”
This topic is now in slow mode as it has proved contentious previously. Please keep all discussion friendly and on topic, even if you disagree. Thank you.
