Calls for fox cull after shocking attack on babies
‘They are vermin – wipe them out’
Published: 11 June, 2010
by JOSH LOEB
COLUMNIST Peter Oborne has called on Islington Council to carry out a cull of foxes after two baby girls were mauled by a fox in Homerton.
The journalist, who lives in Highbury, said he believed fox numbers had grown out of control and suggested sending a marksman out on Highbury Fields to shoot them.
He told the Tribune: “I believe that the council has been very negligent in allowing the growth of urban foxes. We know that they spread an enormous amount of dirt when they go through the bins and now we know they are also a threat to small children.
“People are very foolish to get sentimental about foxes. They are not an endangered species. Like rats, they are vermin and they need to be treated as such. The solution is very simple: you send a trained marksman out at night to Highbury Fields.”
However, wildlife consultant John Bryant, who specialises in humane wildlife deterrents, said anecdotal evidence suggested fox numbers were not increasing.
“In London and the South-east, fox numbers are not increasing and if anything they are decreasing,” he said. “The idea that we should shoot them is just stupid.
“The government started slaughtering foxes in the 1940s and carried on for 40 years. They killed foxes in London with all sorts of brutal methods and in the 1980s this had to be abandoned because there were more foxes than when they started.
“The only way that you could reduce the fox population is to slaughter 70 per cent of the population every year for 40 years and that would mean bringing in the army and laying poison.”
The babies attacked by a fox on Saturday are understood to be in a stable condition but suffered facial injuries described earlier this week as “life-changing”.
Islington Council said that controlling the fox population in Islington is not in its remit since the animal is classified as “wildlife” and “unlike rats they do not cause disease”.
A spokesperson said that anyone concerned about the presence of foxes should call the RSPCA.