I think that if its mankind that is driving this species to live in towns where it cannot support itself and is suffering, then man should be doing something about it with vaccines (after all, we vaccinate dogs and cats and even rabbits!), a neutering programme and formal monitoring. If a pack of stray dogs were wandering round killing folks cats a LOT more resource would be put into dealing with the problem IMO :)

I live in a town and We have always had fox's at the back of my garden they walk threw my garden we have always had cats and cocker spaniels ,ive had guinepigs and they havent killed any of my animals

my current cats are 17 and 18 yrs old not as quick as they once were i often watch them walk up to the fox's in the street i used to be worried but there not botherd  ,

Ive seen fox cubs grow and they still live here. They dont make a mess i hardly know they live there they arent thin at all quite a nice size  they seem pretty happy living here there not scared at all ive seen them eat of someones hand . its not such a hard life for all urban fox's

We live in an urban area and do see many foxes.  My mum and her neighbour have lost five cats between them - not taken by foxes, but killed by poison people have put down for the foxes (which is illegal I believe).  We don't have any worse problems from the foxes than scattering bin bag rubbish everywhere.  I just put mine out the morning the bin men come now.

Fiona

Everyone here seems to suggest culling as the solution. but the fox population is only 240,000 approx, hardly booming. Surely sick foxes have a right to medical treatment at wildlife sanctuaries, or by vets who don't mind treating wild animals? Culling should only be used to benefit the species not add it to the endangered list.

Can you imagine the terror a wild animal feels at being handled by humans, even when it's 'for their own good'? Some have been known to die of fright and shock. Generally it's not a good idea.

Spot on JG.  Some people do think its a good idea, to take a wild animal and give it the treatment we would ask for on behalf of our pets.  They do NOT do handling!  I have known Deer die at being handled, Foxes start fitting when a human hand approaches, yet people still think its the right thing to do. 
Dawn.

They then think Dawn, that it's a good idea to release the urban fox into the country. Unfortunately the poor fox has never seen the countryside before and the first thing he finds is, No dustbins! He has no idea how to find food. He has absolutely no idea what "Countryside" is! Ancestors for many generations have been born in the towns and "The Countryside" is a foreign place, in fact worst than a foreign place because it's a place without food.

OK, so I know some of you look upon me as the "Hunting, Shooting" person but I love the countryside and all in it. I've no wish to see the Fox extinct! He's a beautiful creature and many's the time I've stood with Anna watching them. The world would be drab without them. In the same way that the world would be drab without Deer! But even with Deer the government has acknowledged the need for culling, so much so that they have just reduced the restrictions on shooting them and for some species, extended the season.

Why do we have "Urban Foxes"? We never used to have them. Simple. The urban jungle has grown to the extent that it now covers so much of what was countryside. The Fox has not moved in, the towns have!

Regards, John

Absoloutely John - and the urban fox is simply adapting to it's changed environment - why do we have to declare war on them ? - if we object to them scavenging  our rubbish then surely we can secure our bins so that they can't get to it ? - if we are worried about them killing our pet rabbits/guinea pigs etc then make sure those pets are safely locked away at night - are folk in all seriousness saying that the only solution to the nuisance value of our wildlife is to kill it :( - what a sad selfish world we live in if that is the case - yes we may be the dominant species but we DO share this world with many others - what kind of legacy are we leaving behind if we cannot find ways of co-existing with them.

As for the physical condition of urban foxes - as many posters have said this seems to vary - some are in poor health and others are blooming :D - we live in the countryside and have two foxes which regularly visit one is a young vixen who  is gleaming with heath and vigour and who has only recently started to visit, the other is an old dog fox who we have known for many years  - he  is quite thin now and spends a lot of his time asleep under the shed -we pretend we don't know he is there and he pretends not to see us :D - we don't expect him to be around much longer - but he IS old and that is the natural way of things. Yes he has killed some of our chickens when we first moved here but we were more careless then and now never leave them out at dusk.

Urban foxes may not fit into our 'nice' sanitised urban world maybe we think they 'look' out of place, maybe we object to the sounds/smell/behaviour of a wild animal but WE are responsible for driving them out of the countryside - can we not at least try a little give and take :(

Yvonne

Poor old dogfox - how long before he starts to starve (or raid to survive), I wonder? But a slow death through disease or starvation is the natural end for wildlife. I'm glad you're not prolongng it by feeding him. That would attract other foxes to the area and make his competition for food (and the likelihood of fights leading to infections) even greater.