Statement about the alleged Fox biting a baby.

by East Sussex WRAS on Sunday, 10 February 2013 at 20:18 ·

Statement:

East Sussex WRAS is urging people not to overreact to the reports of a fox allegedly biting a baby which hit the press at the weekend.  WRAS is pleased the police are investigating and hope that fox experts and consultants are given the opportunity to evaluate the incident fully, openly and independently.

There have been a number of stories in the press over the years blaming foxes for attacking babies, children and adults, sadly many of them are not true and a cover story for what has really happened.

I deplore anyone who calls for a cull of foxes as this really won’t solve the problem and would be yet another waste of life and tax payers money.  There are parts of the story which don’t currently add up, the real story normally emerges within a few weeks but sadly it doesn’t always get the coverage in the media which the original story achieved.

We have already heard some people calling for a cull of foxes, as a knee jerk reaction to the alleged attack. It is important to keep things in perspective. Nobody has ever been killed by a fox, as opposed to the many injuries to and several deaths of adults, children and babies each year from pet dogs.   We don’t hear people calling for a cull of pets when these incidents happen.

It doesn’t matter where you live in the world there will always be wildlife present which could bite, frighten or potentially even kill humans, and if we went round culling all these animals there wouldn’t exactly be many animals left in the world.  Lions, tigers, apes, sharks and other wildlife across the world would be wiped out as a result, and clearly we wouldn’t want this.

We do share this planet with other creatures and we have to learn to live alongside the other inhabitants. The planet is not owned by humans, and for some reason we appear to be rather obsessed with trying to control every single aspect of the planet.

There does need to be a change in attitude towards wildlife. Rather than looking at the cheapest and quickest option of culling we should really be looking at more long term preventative measures. This includes how we interact with wildlife.  There are a number of companies and consultants across the southeast who offer deterrence products and advice if you are concerned about foxes visiting your garden.  I would also urge those who like foxes to respect them for being wild and not encourage them to enter homes nor teach them that it is safe to approach humans as a source of food. 

I urge people to respect our wildlife, encourage people to live alongside our wildlife peacefully, and be the more intelligent creature of this planet and not overreact.

Trevor Weeks MBE

Founder & Director

East Sussex Wildlife Rescue & Ambulance Service