Couple fear fox family

0:00am Fri Feb 22, 2008

A couple say they are concerned for the safety of their pets after a family of foxes moved into a neighbouring garden.

Mr and Mrs Clifford Hey of Lincoln Road, Newark, said they believed seven foxes were living under a garden shed and were concerned they could harm their two small bichon frise dogs.

Mr Lorna Hey (76) said she was too afraid to let the dogs out into the garden on their own.

She said: “If the dogs were cornered by two or three of the foxes then they wouldn’t stand a chance. The foxes would just rip them to pieces.

“The dogs aren’t having any life at all because we have to keep them near the house and watch them while they are out there.

“The foxes are just so bold they come right up to the house and I’m sure they’d come in if we ever left the door open.”

Mr Hey (79) said that two foxes moved into the garden last year and had five cubs which had remained in the area and were now almost fully grown.

He said the foxes caused damage to their garden and often kept them awake at night.

Mr Hey said they had contacted Newark and Sherwood District Council, Friends Of The Earth and the People’s Dispensary For Sick Animals to ask them to remove the animals, but no one was able to help.

The land the foxes live on is owned by Mr Keith Neale of Lincoln who wants to build on the site in the future.

Mr Neale said he had contacted environmental health officers and they said that once the foxes had their cubs they would move on.

“I rang the district council three times last week and they said the foxes weren’t a problem and would move on, but obviously they haven’t.

“The district council did suggest I paint something with creosote because the foxes didn’t like the smell but that doesn’t seem very practical.”

Mr and Mrs Ronald Moffat of Lincoln Road, Newark, live near to the fox’s den and also have a small terrier dog.

Mrs Annie Moffat said although the foxes often came into her garden she was not bothered by them.

She said: “We’re not too worried about the dog. She’ll be fine. But we’ve asked our gardener to close up the small gap in the fence where the foxes get through close to the house just to make sure.”

The district council’s senior environmental officer, Mr Jeremy Hutchinson, said he could find no record of any complaint about the foxes.

He said: “We are under no obligation to deal with the foxes but we try to help people with these problems if we can.

“We wouldn’t have been able to move them while they had cubs because it is not any good for them, but they should be old enough to cope on their own now.”