The Poultry Keeper

CP · Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2005 12:23 pm Post subject:

The debate regarding foxes is one that will run & run. There will always be those for & those against.

I personally think they are beautiful animals.

We do our utmost to keep our chickens safe from them & I would be extremely upset if any were taken by a fox, but it will not make me go out & by a gun.

I think ALL firearms should be licensed, including air rifles & should not be allowed except in rural areas. I had my beautiful cat killed several years ago in an urban environment by some 'child' getting their kicks!

There are people near me that go night shooting foxes (& rabbits, which is OK if they then eat them) just because they like to, not because they have anything to protect. Whether that has anything to do with the fact that we haven't had any trouble with foxes (yet) or not, I don't know.

We continue to be vigilant around our coop & run, using many tricks to help keep our girls safe. Hopefully these will be enough.

poultry poofs · Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2005 4:48 am Post subject:

I have always lived my life on a live and let live philosophy,I wish the fox would do the same.
They are very beautiful animals,I don't demonise or attribute them with an evil cunning personality, they are a major bloody nuisance killing stock or being ever present in the fields around us waiting to have a go,particulaly when you are trying to be self sufficient in a small unobtrusive non invasive manner and there are a million and one wild snacks it could happily dine on.
Being ever vigilant and doing everything possible to protect the poultry with fences etc is just not enough,you cant be around all the time.
If I had no stock at all i probably wouldnt care what the fox was up to but in my little egocentric way of life imposing my will on nature I am trying to eak out an existence with as little dependency on energy and outside materials as I can, for which ,I am an uncompassionate gung ho gun toting heathen because I choose to defend that precious bit of my life with a rifle from a creature that cant keep itself to itself and out of my life.

I have no compassion or respect for something that has no compassion or respect for me or my livestock.

Man has chosen to try and live with and within the natural world for thousands of years and there have always been predators to deal with.

I cant help the fact that imbalances have been created in the natural world by humans,a lot of what goes on in the name of mankind and civilisation reviles me but I cant do anything about whats been done and is being done iby my fellow men and can only do something in my own small sphere of influence in my own small way to redress the balance.

If that means using a gun to defend my livestock against predators which is the quickest and least cruel method of despatch,or,for using it to kill for food then thats what is going to happen.

If I have to use poison to kill rats in preference to being over run by them and having them eat all my food and render evErything they have touched unfit for use, then I am going to use poison to do it.

If there was a more effective method of control for these nuisances preferable to these I would be only too glad to use them and be a more suitable human being in the judgement of others.

Unfortunately there isnt so I am judged as ignorant,unenlightened and unworthy .........so be it .

I have no love of weapons, they are a tool to accomplish a particular job.

I deplore our modern gun culture and uncaring urban throwaway lifestyle and yes more regulation needs to be imposed on weapons if people choose to disregard each other so casually as to shoot them to kill or maim them with no thought of the consequences for them or their victims.

Cruelty seems to be a natural quality of being part of the human race especially for those that claim to live in the 'civilised' urban culture as opposed to 'backward' country life.

There is a yawning chasm of difference between what is acceptable behaviour between different groups of people.

I am judged as some sort of guntoting hill billy because I choose to distance myself from the urban chaos and live quietly looking after and protecting my feathered and furry creatures, judged, by the very people who largely live on top of and amidst some of the worst cruelty imaginable that goes on day in day out toward animals, children and men and women, right under their noses in their very streets and they do nothing but draw the curtains and pretend it doesnt exist prefering instead to draw attention to how cruel and vicious we country folk are!!.

strange that?

summayah · Joined: 14 Apr 2005 Posts: 4289 Location: luton

well said and eloquently put. I'm sure many of us can empathise with what you have said. thank you

CP · Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2005 11:51 am Post subject:

I am not against people shooting foxes, as long as it is done professionally & humanely.

I am not a 'bunny hugger', I realise they can & do cause great harm & damage to livestock. No doubt I will have murder in my heart if they ever kill any of my chickens!

But no matter what we think of them they are animals after all, capable of feeling pain & suffering.

Julian · Joined: 26 Oct 2005 Posts: 16

poultry poofs: Wishing that the fox would "live and let live" is a perfect example of the anthropomorphising of a wild animal.

I have no idea who is judging you. Yourself perhaps?

I was born and bred and have lived all my life in the country. I am not a 'townie' and I live as self-sufficient a way of life as is possible today. I don't think of myself as a 'hill-billy' - more a peasant.

Sorry.

summayah: I'd say rather hackneyed than 'eloquent', but then I don't accept the premise or agree with the sentiment.

Knobby · Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2005 3:48 pm Post subject:

This is a discussion that "WILL" run and run" without reaching a compromise.......I think nothing of shooting rabbits/squirrels and rats as they destroy everything I work so hard to accomplish in the garden....I dont enjoy doing it and I dont go outside the garden looking for things to kill, but as I live on a farm, theyre never far away and for every rabbit i seem to get, is soon replaced by another.
As for shooting a fox......if it was in my garden, sure, I would shoot it....the same as if I caught a Burglar in my house I would use whatever I had to hand...i.e, knife/gun/baseball bat to remove the threat from my property, knowing full well, that I wouldnt kill them....only hurt them !

But this is just the thoughts of someone who is young and needs to grow up.

George · Joined: 14 Apr 2005 Posts: 5661 Location: London

Knobby · Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2005 4:17 pm Post subject:

Very Good George ! Very Happy

Deb_Moderator · Joined: 13 Apr 2005 Posts: 3661

mojo · Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2005 10:18 pm Post subject: hi

please lets beg to differ POLITELY.....thankyou.mojo

poultry poofs · Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2005 4:10 am Post subject:

The corridors of middle England are full of pseudo psychologists and armchair philosophers and just plain good old do-gooders who dish out criticism of our farming methods and pest control like cold soggy porridge while they glide around on silent castors and pick up their salary cheques at the end of the month.

The real world to most of us is hard graft to make things work and the reality means dealing with unpleasant problems like foxes and rats and sometimes people.

Maybe if the fox was something much larger and threatened to eat their wife and children or perhaps be a spreader of rabies that could infect their domestic pets and then themselves would they still sit smuggly by and criticise the methods of pest control....hmmm?........probably.

I suppose we could all just go out and ask the fox and rats to politely go away couldnt we.

but of course they would have to want to go away wouldnt they.

Bendix01 · Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2005 1:57 pm Post subject:

jooles · Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2005 2:41 pm Post subject:

poultry poofs · Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2005 10:49 pm Post subject:

Julian · Joined: 26 Oct 2005 Posts: 16

[ROTFLMAO]
Oooh, the sound and the fury.
The Blunderbuss is a gun - preferred weapon of the hundred watt gob - for which any ammunition will suffice, even reactionary bile. But, best wait until you see the whites of their eyes before you pull your trigger and let 'em have it [BLAMMM!!!]. A prematurely spent shot will signify and achieve nothing, leaving the 'piece' impotent and defenceless in your hand.