Foxy Loxy

...and Foxy Loxy ate Chicken Licken, Henny Penny, Cocky Locky, Ducky Lucky, Drakey Lakey, Goosey Loosey and Turkey Lurkey, because that's what foxes do!


The story of Foxy Loxy, the cunning fox who lured the farm poultry into his den to feed his cubs after they all thought the sky was falling in and he promised them he would take them to the king.

During the summer, the red fox made the news headlines for all the wrong reasons. It seems the red fox is a bit like marmite! The public either love them or hate them. There have been a number of low level reports of urban foxes entering houses, but the mauling of two twin baby girls in East London in June caused uproar and opened the debate on how to deal with the vast amount of foxes living in urban areas. There are an estimated 10,000 urban foxes living in London and the suburbs alone. They are highly adaptable creatures and have seamlessly integrated into the towns and cities from the countryside. They are normally spotted wandering around gardens and town centres at night searching for food to take back to their den. Most foxes will run away if approached, but there is evidence that some are becoming much bolder and in extreme cases invasive. Most councils deal with fox complaints by despatching a pest controller to set traps to snare and 'humanely' kill the animal. This of course is a short term solution and only highlights that councils don't have any long term direction or plan to deal with an issue that will only become more high profile as the fox continues to evolve and adapt to city living.

Is it that the urban red fox is adapting to the presence of humans to the extent where by they are getting tamer? Are they actually evolving into much different creatures compared to their country cousins? It's quite clear that some are adapting quicker and faster than others living in the same urban areas. As time goes on, will the foxes that show these tamer more bolder traits pass on their genetic characteristics to 2nd, 3rd or 4th generation cubs?

It's clear that the majority of urban foxes get along with their business in harmony with the human population and at worst are only seen as a petty nuisance for rummaging through rubbish bins, digging in the garden or fouling gardens to mark their territory. Foxes also get along well with domestic pets, generally ignoring cats and keeping clear of dogs. Foxes become more prominent to households during the breeding season, especially at night when the screaming and barking can keep people awake and start the local domestic dog population into a barking frenzy.

Traditional fox strongholds have been engulfed by sprawling towns and cities throughout the decades. Many other creatures losing their habitat in this way would struggle to survive. The fox though is incredibly adaptable to new environments and populations self regulate themselves due to their territorial approach in any given area. This is why the urban fox population is quite stable and will never get completely out of control. With no natural predators in the urban jungle, only disease has threatened the fox. When sarcoptic mange spread during the early 1990's, both urban and wild populations declined. You can still see the occasional fox that shows the tell tale signs of mange with fur loss and the usually bushy tail looking sad and withering.

Anyway, back to the original questions posed earlier! It is possible that the urban red fox is evolving due in part to the continued natural adaptation of the environment, their ability to source a wide range of food sources, and continual interaction with humans. Urban foxes can be seen wandering around during the day and will quite often casually stand their ground if approached to a certain degree. Some foxes are regularly fed in people's gardens. They have become used to leftovers on the lawn or titbits on the patio.

The recent story of twin baby girls being attacked by a fox is of course very upsetting. Did this fox have mental issues, was it sick and desperate or was it just showing natural instinct mistaking the baby girls for fair game. The only difference of course that instead of pillaging the farmyard, the foxes are now entering people's houses and gardens. The real story thankfully is that these type of stories only surface once in a while and in context the domestic dog is guilty of a much larger percentage of attacks on children than foxes.

Meanwhile back in the suburbs as another piece of woodland gets knocked down for the development of some starter homes, foxy loxy is just waiting in the wings for the building to finish so that he can make his new home underneath someone's garden shed.