- Written by James W. Kelly & PA Media
- bbc news
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Radio 2 presenter said foxes were ‘bad news’
According to Radio 2 presenter Paul Gambaccini, London’s urban foxes “squeal like children being tortured” when they are in heat.
The veteran broadcaster said he once separated two foxes who were mating outside his home in Kennington, south London, because of the “shocking” noise.
He says many other people are also unhappy with their rusty red and white Vulpines.
Trevor Williams, founder of rescue charity The Fox Project, said foxes were generally a “pretty quiet population”.
Mr Gambaccini said he heard the screeching once or twice a week, adding that he “wouldn’t wish on anyone” the experience of disrupting fox breeding.
He told Radio 4’s Today program that urban foxes once urinated on his Financial Times newspaper as a “symbol of their territory”.
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Don’t expect “What Does the Fox Say,” a one-time hit in Norway, to appear in the Gambaccini Collection
The broadcaster, known as the “professor of pop”, said: “This is absolutely shocking and no matter how many times you wake up, it’s bad news.
“They’re really operating with impunity, and sometimes they’re fighting over turf. So it’s a very disturbing incident.”
Mr Williams said the issue of noise was “completely subjective”, adding that foxes are mostly quiet except for two times of the year.
The high-pitched chirps heard in winter are usually produced by female hens trying to attract a mate.
Mr Williams told the PA news agency: “Most people are perfectly happy living with foxes because overall they are not a problem.”
“Noisy farewell”
“Foxes do not draw attention to themselves if possible.”
He added that the January-February breeding season is a “tumultuous time for everyone”, as is the end of summer, when fox families break up and “separate quite aggressively”.
The number of foxes living across the UK is not officially recorded. However, a 2013 report from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) estimated that there were around 430,000 foxes in the UK, equivalent to around one fox for every 150 people in the UK. .
Mr Williams said urban fox numbers, estimated at around 10,000 within the M25 during cub season, “haven’t changed much since the mid-1970s”.
At the end of the cub season, the fox population is reduced to half this number, and the population is limited by the amount of food and territory available.
Williams said urban foxes are increasing as a proportion of the national fox population as humans move into their territories.
“We’re not getting more foxes. We’re all just getting more.”
Foxes have been recorded in urban areas in southern England since the 1930s.
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From pop professors to prime ministers, no one can escape the urban fox
The Natural History Museum said the expansion of these areas during the interwar period created “ideal new habitats with an abundance of food.”
“Lack of understanding”
London boroughs have been responsible for the fox population since the 1970s, and attempts to cull them have failed. In Bromley, fox wardens killed 300 foxes a year, with no effect on the population, the Natural History Museum said.
Urban fox control was abandoned in the 1980s.
Mr Williams said the idea that urban foxes were a nuisance stemmed from a “lack of understanding of foxes”.
He said they “love nice gardens and lawns” because they can dig holes to find scarab beetle larvae and other insects, but those who don’t want visitors should “use non-toxic chemical repellents. “They can deter visitors by doing so.”