HOW DO I KEEP FOXES OUT OF MY GARDEN AND SECURE MY PETS?
Content Updated:
26th July 2015

Short Answer: Short of turning your garden into a militarized zone,
it is almost impossible to stop a determined fox from gaining entry. Moreover,
successful
physical exclusion (i.e. fencing) of foxes will often also exclude
non-target
mammals, such as hedgehogs and badgers. There are various
repellents (chemical, physical and audible) available that have been used with
varying degrees of success; none are guaranteed to work in every
situation and some individual foxes simply are more sensitive or persistent than
others. Ultimately, the best course of action is to find out what
attracts the fox to your garden and remove or disguise the temptation. If the fox raids your compost heap, for example, look at fencing it or
investing in a compost bin. Similarly, if the fox is attracted to your
garden by livestock or pets you need to ensure that the animals are
securely housed. Housing should include a secure frame, with
sturdy wire (steel mesh, not chicken wire or plastic mesh) and either a
secure floor or wire buried into the ground to prevent foxes digging
into it – most important is that the door should contain secure locks,
not simple twist catches. Small pets -- guinea pigs, rabbits, rats, mice
etc. -- are most at risk from foxes if insecurely housed. There are
occasional reports of foxes killing (typically, although not
exclusively, young) cats and even small dogs. There have been
anecdotal reports suggesting attacks on cats may be increasing but,
despite recent media reports suggesting otherwise, there is no evidence
that foxes represent a significant threat to pet cats or dogs.
The Details: Foxes have a chequered relationship with humans and are
the victim of so many stories and so much word-of-mouth that it has
become difficult to separate fact from fiction – this is perhaps one
reason why they arguably polarize public opinion more than any other
wild mammal. Before we explore
how we might go about securing our pets and making the garden a fox-free
zone, it is worth taking a moment to look at why this might be
necessary.
We share our environment with many species of plant, animal and
microorganism, each of which will exploit an opportunity if it arises. Exploitation may take the form of an antibiotic-resistant bacteria, a
squirrel taking food put out for the birds, a ‘weed’ pushing its way up
through your garden path, a seagull stealing your fish and chips on the
beach, and so forth. Foxes taking chickens/rabbits/guinea pigs/etc
also fall into this category. The problem comes from our inherent
propensity to judge the actions of other species by our own moral and/or
social standards. Foxes have no in-built concept of what humans consider
right and wrong, just as we have no concept until we're taught it. There
is some good evidence that when a fox-human relationship is established
boundaries can be learned, just as they can for most animals with which
we share our space. Your neighbourhood fox(es) about to break into your
chicken run, however, has no idea that the animals on the other side of
the wire, which behave in a way that it triggering their natural urge to
hunt, are the property of a clever primate. The fox doesn't know what
it's about to do might upset someone. Of course, sometimes their
instincts get the better of them and carnage can follow but, again, the
fox is just doing what it has been programmed to do. Have you ever seen
one of those hidden camera shows where some unsuspecting person goes to
a cash machine to get some money out and it suddenly starts spewing cash
at them? They start grabbing at the cash as it comes out, trying to
secure as much as possible. Sure, they usually give it back because
they've been taught theft is wrong. Foxes are the
same; they do what comes naturally until they learn otherwise. A similar
parallel can be drawn when you have a baby in the house. You can't yet
talk to the baby to make it understand that it's dangerous to climb the
stairs, so you fit a secure barrier to stop your budding explorer from gaining access to the stairs. You don't assume
that the baby will know stairs are dangerous and you don't just toss
down a
blanket or something similar that the baby can move or slip through. If
you try something and the baby gets through, you change the barrier
until it becomes impenetrable. Managing your chickens in your garden
when there are foxes around is really no different.
Back in June 2010, nine-month-old
twins Lola and Isabella Koupparis made the headlines when they were
bitten by a fox while sleeping in their cots at home in Hackney, London.
Following this incident there was a whirlwind of press interest in foxes
and the papers were full of people voicing their opinions - some said
they'd also been bitten, others proclaimed urban fox numbers were 'out
of control', while a few 'hardline' fox lovers launched a disgusting
hate campaign against Koupparis family. I have discussed this incident
in more detail elsewhere on this site (see here), and reference it only
because I saw many of the same complaints about foxes arise in social
media in the weeks following these headlines. "Have you ever seen
the damage a fox can do in a chicken coop?" ask one commentator,
while another explained how foxes should be culled
because they will break into a chicken coop, kill one chicken to eat and
then kill the remainder “out of sheer spite”. We've
covered some of this above and the subject of surplus killing is covered
in detail in a Q/A, so I'm not going to regurgitate it here. It is
interesting to note, however, when someone points to the explanation(s)
behind this behaviour (sometimes even linking to this website!) they are
often met with responses of "rubbish" or "special pleading for foxes".
Ultimately, there are good, logical explanations that seem to
be a good fit for this behaviour. There is also good evidence that foxes
attempt to clean up their mess. I have received e-mails from several
readers describing how, having had a fox break into their chicken coop,
they left the dead birds in situ and the fox came back over
successive nights to collect them all. In the end, choosing to ignore or
deny an explanation for a behaviour, because it may mean re-thinking
your opinion of an animal, doesn't make that explanation any less valid.
So, foxes aren’t
evil, chicken murdering, people-hating vermin. They're just medium-sized
predators trying to make a living in a habitat dominated by humans. In
some cases this means they take livestock, pets (even, occasionally,
cats), raid bins, dig up gardens and scream in the middle of the night.
Any, or all, of the foregoing are reasons people give for wanting to keep
foxes off their property. So, if foxes are causing problems for you or
your pets, is there something you can do about it? I have heard it
said that foxes have endless patience and that this means it's impossible to
keep them away from your pets/livestock. They are certainly patient,
even resourceful, but it is possible to take steps to secure your
animals and make your garden less appealing to foxes.

In Britain's fox population, and
especially those residing in urban areas, mange can be a significant
disease, causing widespread mortality. Mange is, however, readily
treatable and -- if caught early enough -- the fox can make a full
recovery, as demonstrated by the vixen in the photo above.
Necessity knows no law
The first point to cover is the legality of
fox control. There are no specific laws that prevent the killing of
foxes. There are, however, sections of existing Acts that regulate how
any control should be carried out, and what materials can be used. Several general Acts, including the
Protection of Animals Act of 1911
and The Wild Mammal (Protection) Act of 1996, make it illegal to cause
‘unnecessary suffering’ to an animal. I won’t go into the details of
each Act here (follow the links for full details) but, in essence,
in the UK it is currently illegal to gas, poison, stab, impale, beat,
burn, crush, stone, drag or asphyxiate/suffocate foxes. It is also
illegal to trap foxes in all but free running snares; even for these there are
multiple conditions associated with their use (especially that they must
be checked at least every 24 hours) and it seems unlikely that these
conditions could be met in urban areas. The main problem with snares is
that it is impossible to exclude non-target species, as data from a MAFF
trial conducted in 1968 showed. The snares caught 155 foxes and 132
non-target animals, including domestic pets, wildcats,
badgers, otters, hares, birds and deer.
In his 1980 book The Red Fox, Huw Gwyn Lloyd told how some farmers
recommended the spraying of strong-smelling chemicals -- such as turpentine,
diesel, creosote and paraffin -- to repel foxes, but there is little
evidence of their efficiency and, these days, their use is illegal,
resulting in a fine if caught. If you wish to use chemical repellents,
they must be certified. Repellents currently certified for use as fox
deterrents include Scoot, Get Off My Garden and Wash and Get Off -
repellents like these often contain pungent-smelling compounds such as
citronella oil and methyl nonyl ketone and are designed to upset a
visiting fox's 'scent map'. Some
older texts describe the use of a tar-like repellent, similar to the
wood preservative creosote, called Renardine (known colloquially as ‘fox
oil’), that was introduced in 1896 and used for the exclusion of foxes,
cats, moles and even badgers until it was banned by MAFF (now DEFRA) relatively
recently. In March 2003, MAFF banned the sale, stocking and
advertisement of Renardine; in order to permit the ‘using up’ of stocks
that had already been purchased some leeway was permitted but, as of
30th June 2005 it has been illegal to buy or use Renardine.
Gone shootin’
Lethal control (namely hiring a pest controller to
remove the fox) is one potential solution to the problem of fox
disturbance. Some individual foxes seem more interested in
pets/livestock and more persistent than others and there is no doubt
that trapping can be beneficial in the removal of such ‘problem
individuals’. Those opposed to lethal control have, on occasion,
requested that the fox be caught and released somewhere else – somewhere
else often takes the form of ‘back into the countryside where it
belongs’. Contrary to popular misconception, however, it is not
practical to trap a fox in your city garden and release it into a rural location
outside the city. Foxes are territorial
and there is a large source population – in other words, if you
trap and relocate one, you’re likely to be releasing it into another
fox’s territory and, even if it manages to avoid confrontation with the
owner, depending how far it is transported, the released animal may return to its home patch,
only to find it has
been taken over by another fox. (This is why rescue centres always
aim to release rehabilitated foxes as close to their capture site as
possible as soon as possible.) Consequently, the
Abandonment of Animals
Act (1960), which makes it illegal to leave an animal in a situation
where it is unlikely to survive, arguably makes it illegal to relocate
foxes unless some sort of provision for their welfare is made. Ultimately,
if nobody is willing to put the fox through a proper translocation for
you (i.e. keep it in a pre-release pen in the new area for a week or
two, followed by providing food subsequent to release) any fox trapped will
likely need to be
dispatched by the pest controller. For this reason, it is always advisable to hire a licensed operator (speak
to the British Pest Control Association if you are unsure - see links at
the end of this article). The use of firearms of sufficient calibre to
kill a fox (an air-rifle is insufficient) is strictly regulated --
especially in urban areas -- and it is highly inadvisable to attempt
control yourself. In rural locations, away from high densities of
people, shooting with a medium-calibre
weapon and the use of a ‘long dog’ to ensure any wounded animals do not
escape can be efficient in reducing local predation of livestock or
protecting colonies of breeding birds.
Before leaving the subject of lethal control, it is worth pointing
out that removing a fox (or several foxes) from your garden will not
‘help keep the local fox population down’ (see
Q/A); any fox killed is
likely to be replaced within a couple of weeks by animals migrating in
from the surrounding area. This immigration also means that having
a visiting fox removed may only offer temporary respite before another
arrives. Finally, it is the
householder’s responsibility to arrange for removal or control of foxes
– as mentioned, foxes aren’t legally considered vermin and, as such,
local councils are not obliged to provide a control service for them. Costs will vary according to location and the company you employ, but an
impromptu vox populi of some of my local pest control companies suggests
an average figure of between £100 and £150 for the removal of a single fox.
Get orf my land
Foxes are medium-sized carnivores that are reasonably
proficient diggers and are perfectly capable of scaling a two metre
(6 ft) fence from a standing start; larger fences can be cleared with
ease if handy props (bins, for example) are nearby to provide a boost. Foxes
also have strong, sharp claws, allowing them to climb wire mesh with
ease (below, left). Consequently, keeping foxes out of your garden altogether is not a
simple or straightforward task -- it is equivalent to attempting the
physical exclusion of a cat -- and it is important to understand this
from the outset. Indeed, as Trevor Williams and Andrew Wilson put
it, in
their 2000 Unearthing the Urban Fox booklet,:
“Let us state categorically that nothing you can do, short of
building a fortress, will create a permanently fox free zone”
Bristol University biologists Stephen Harris and Phil Baker concur in
their 2001 book Urban Foxes, pointing out that it is “virtually
impossible to stop foxes getting in at all”. The fact, however, that you
may not be able to totally exclude foxes from your garden, does not mean
that you cannot make your garden less appealing to them which, at the
very least, should reduce the time they spend there. In his book,
My Friends the Foxes, veteran fox rehabilitator Mike Towler notes how
foxes appear uneasy with any change in their surroundings:
"[My wife] adores potted plants. Indoors and out, they are
everywhere. She bought a new one – a fine blue glazed pot about the size
of a football and placed it on top of the bank opposite the kitchen
window. Just another one of many. But that was during the time that
[one of my local foxes] was in the habit of coming there to look
into the kitchen for me. It terrified her. She declined to go near it.
“It’s just a pot,” I said to her and tapped it. She leapt back as if I
might have been playing with an unexploded bomb. It was months before
she ceased to worry about it. But it illustrates how much foxes dislike
any change. One method of discouraging foxes is to move the garden
ornaments about from time to time."
The periodic rearrangements of garden ornaments is one example of a
group of potential deterrents that I class as 'home remedies'. The category includes some slightly ‘off the wall’ suggestions
too and I don’t want to devote much time to them; not least because few show
any real promise. There is, however, one additional method that warrants further
consideration – the process of putting unpleasant-tasting food out for
the foxes. I have read several accounts of people who have put chicken
pieces covered in very spicy marinade (Tabasco, chilli, mustard, etc.) in front of
their coop and have found that the fox has taken one and never come
back. Indeed, in a
blog post
for Permaculture magazine,
sustainable farmer Tim Green explained:
"An old country method took advantage of a foxes [sic]
predictable nature. If El Zorro has raided your chicken coup [sic]
and killed more than one bird you can guarantee he'll be back for
the bodies. In the old days the trick was to liberally coat the dead
chicken/s with mustard powder and the fox soon learns that he doesn't
like chicken anymore. As a more modern alternative I believe Tabasco
sauce is meant to be particularly effective."
The linking of an unpleasant taste or response to a specific
action is called conditioned taste aversion and occurs
in the medulla of the brainstem. In a paper to the journal Animal
Welfare during 2004, David Macdonald and Sandra Baker found that
three hand-reared orphaned fox cubs were less likely to sample a bowl of
milk after they'd been presented with milk containing a bitter-tasting
chemical (denatonium benzoate, commercially known as Bitrex), although
developing this response required quite high levels of the chemical in
the milk (4,000 parts per
million, or 0.4% solution). Taste aversion has also been
trialled in
Australia, where foxes are significant predators of indiginous wildlife. The
basic premise of such experiments is that a fox eats the carcass of, say a gamebird, that
has been laced with an emetic (vomit-inducing chemical) and is then sick
– the fox learns to associate eating that bird with the unpleasant
experience of being sick and avoids eating that species in future. This
is not a new idea -- if you think about it, many species employ a
similar tactic (i.e. looking toxic) in a bid to prevent ending up on
someone’s menu -- but it can be very effective when instigated
correctly. Indeed, in July 2015, a reader from Buckinghamshire e-mailed me to relay her success using this technique to stop foxes eating
her strawberries. Here's her experience, published with her permission:
"Foxes raid my strawberry patch most years. Once they have got
the taste for them, they return every night to strip the plants. This
year they cut through wire fencing and got in, eating some. After
reading your suggestion I heavily dressed some spoiled strawberries with
hot chili powder and placed en route to the strawberry patch. Next
night, a few chili treated straws were eaten but some left, and although
foxes had been in the veg area, the strawberries were left untouched. No
more raids since then!"
I would be very interested to hear from anyone else who’s had
success using taste aversion to dissuade foxes from causing problems in
their garden.
If such, 'home remedies' don't work for you, the methods at your
disposal can be broadly divided into three groups: chemical repellents;
acoustic or other motion-activated devices; and electric fences or
netting.
Chemical repellents
Despite H. Gwyn Lloyd’s opinion, given in The Red
Fox, that proprietary brands of repellents “are of dubious efficacy”,
more recent authors have recommend them as a means of keeping foxes away. That which follows is a summary and the reader is directed to
Fox Projects director Trevor Williams and former fox researcher Andy
Wilson's excellent booklet Unearthing the Urban Fox for detailed
coverage of all fox repellent options.
Earths under sheds: Williams and Wilson point out that,
in London, some 75% of fox earths are located under garden sheds, with
other favourite places being in bramble patches, under building
foundations or in disused buildings. They also note that an adult fox
can easily get through a hole 12cm (5 in.) in diameter, while Mike
Towler described how one of the vixens he was rehabilitating escaped
through an 8cm x 10cm (3 x 4in.) hole she bit in the mesh of her pen, meaning that
care is needed to block even innocuous-looking holes to prevent entry. In their
Urban Foxes book, Stephen Harris and Phil Baker explain that the best
way to remove a fox from under your shed or building is to soak straw or
rags in a deterrent and use it to loosely block any entrance and exit holes; the
fox will invariably remove the obstruction, but simply replace it and
keep doing so. When the blockage has not been removed for two days, you
can be sure the foxes have moved out and you can seal the hole
permanently with stones, bricks, slabs or wire. It is important not to
seal the hole before this because you might entomb the foxes, which
would likely cause them to asphyxiate or starve to death – this is not
only illegal under the Wild Mammals (Protection) Act, but it would also
leave the bodies to decompose in situ. Blocking of the hole should be
done quickly; a disused earth can be reoccupied within a fortnight if
left accessible. Foxes give birth during the spring and a vixen will
start looking for a natal (cubbing) earth well in advance, so it is
important any holes are blocked by the end of January at the latest.
Lawn fouling and digging: It is important to remember that foxes are
highly seasonal animals and the fact that you have foxes in your garden
now doesn’t mean they will be there in a few weeks/months, so the disturbance
isn’t necessarily permanent. Indeed, much disturbance tends to be
confined to the summer months because it is caused by the cubs playing;
most cubs will be independent by the end of their first year and many
will have moved away to find a territory of their own. Being
territorial, foxes use scat to mark their territory and objects within
it – as a consequence, scat is often deposited on, or close to,
conspicuous objects (on shoes, flower pots, stones etc.) where it is
likely to gain most attention. Removal of the scat only leads to its
replacement, usually the following night, and so the problem must be
treated. It is suggested that you soak a small amount of sand or sawdust
in a repellent and place it next to the scat or, if using a spray
applicator, apply directly to the scat.



Battle of the Scats: The Fox Project
points out that, at many of the fox deterrence calls they attend, they
find the scat of cats (top) or geese (middle), rather than fox (bottom).
Digging in lawns and flowerbeds is another form of disturbance
commonly reported to the Fox Project. Williams and Wilson note that foxes are able to smell
food -- and unfortunately this can include deceased pets -- buried up
to 45cm (18 in.) below ground; they often also dig shallow holes, or scrapes,
while searching for invertebrate prey. As with fouling, the authors
recommend soaking a small amount of sand in repellent and placing it into the scrape,
or spraying a repellent directly on to the ground being targeted (depending on the applicator). If there
are children in the garden, you can purchase specialist disinfectants
(PX Parvo, for example - see Fox Solutions in links below) for use on
areas of fox fouling. If the digging is in flowerbeds, repellent-soaked
sand (or repellent granules) can be sprinkled directly onto the affected
area. Repellents can also be applied to any entrance and exit holes in the
garden, as well as to ‘take-off’ or ‘landing’ sites if the fox scales a fence
or wall to get in. It is also possible to purchase “prickle” and
“brickle” strips that line the tops of fences and walls (respectively)
to deter animals climbing over them.
So, how do chemical repellents work? Much fox communication is
achieved with scent, which is applied (in the form of a potently
odiferous liquid) to faeces from paired anal sacs, one lying either side of
the anus. Most chemical repellents contain either the strong-smelling
salt aluminium ammonium sulphate, or the citronella-scented carbonyl
methyl nonyl ketone; both aim to over-power the animal’s own scent,
introducing confusing smells that appear to have an unnerving effect on
the fox. It is worth pointing out at this point that studies by Andy
Wilson found that chemical deterrents were less effective during late
summer, because the cubs are less territorially-aware than their parents
and so much less bothered by the scent of repellents. Mr Wilson
also found that repellents were usually ineffective at preventing losses
of livestock -- presumably because the sight of prey overrides the smell
of the repellent -- and that subordinate and itinerant (no fixed
territory) foxes behaved differently to dominant animals, which can
influence their response to repellents. Overall, however, The Fox
Project have found chemical repellents to be a useful method of
deterrence and, in their book, Williams and Wilson note that
consistent and appropriate use of repellents usually stops the dominant
animals using the garden, but keeps them in the area (i.e. just shifts
their habitat use), which is important because if they stay in the
territory they prevent new animals from moving in.
Chemical repellents may take the form of other strong-smelling
compounds. Some companies sell predator (especially lion) dung, which
they claim can be applied to a garden to deter various predators,
including foxes although there are no studies, of which I am aware, to
testify to their effectiveness. Some people have recommended a free
chemical repellent, which apparently works well to exclude badgers and
foxes: male urine. Apparently, applying the urine to the sites of
disturbance (or at entry and exit locations) can deter the animals from
entering the garden (like we might avoid using the stairwell of the
local multi-storey carpark, presumably!). Predator odours are well-known
to deter prey animals (fox urine will, for example, deter rabbits, while
coyote urine is widely sold as a deer repellent), although they tend to
be less successful at deterring other predators. I have read testimonies
suggesting human male urine is very effective, while others have
commented on how it made no difference. Again, this presumably reflects
both the biochemical profile of the urine donor (probably even his diet)
and
the individual response of local foxes to repellents.
Acoustic,
optical and motion-sensitive repellents: As with chemical
repellents, many of these devices work by exploiting a fox's senses or behaviour and their success is equally subject to variations in
individual fox determination. In his 2002 book Living with Urban
Wildlife, former pest control officer John Bryant recommends a device
called a Scarecrow for fox deterrence. The Scarecrow is a water-jet
triggered by an infrared sensor, sensitive to objects up to 11m (35ft)
away – when triggered by movement it fires a three
second jet of cold water from its sprinkler head. Mr Bryant explains
that he has “found that it has deterred foxes that have defied all other
repellents”, but points out that it can be triggered by any movement,
including cats, dogs and plants swaying in the breeze. As part of
the Foxes Live programme, broadcast on Channel 4 during May 2012, a
water jet deterrent was set up in a bid to prevent foxes digging an
earth in a ladies garden in Clapham, south London. The setup was
filmed using a remote nighttime camera and the footage revealed that after a couple of initial scares,
which caused a fox to briefly retreat to the other side of the garden, the
foxes very quickly became used to the device; shortly after initial
exposure, one was continuing to dig while being sprayed.
Some devices
rely on physically scaring the fox out of the garden and include the
use of reflective or light-emitting objects. One such product, called
Nite Eyes, consists of a series of flashing red LED lights and is
reputed to deter a wide range of species, from owls to bears and
cougars. (On the product website the manufacturers go so far as to
suggest that if the Koupparis family had owned one it could have
prevented the attack on their twins!) The solar-powered device works by
trying to fool the predator into thinking it’s being watched – the
manufacturers note that “The sense of being watched is the greatest fear
night animals have”. I have read some reviews suggesting the
device can be very effective, but I must confess that I have reservations about
it. Certainly, I can honestly say that none of the foxes I have
watched (even when they’ve spotted me) have ever appeared frightened by
my gawking, provided I kept my distance. There are also some conflicting
statements on the manufacturer’s website. I would be interested to hear
from readers who have had success using these devices to deter foxes.
Perhaps the most common type of non-chemical repellent devices are
acoustic. Several companies produce ultrasonic (i.e. too high to be
heard by the human ear) deterrents, with the general idea being that
they emit an ultrasonic sinus or siren-like sound -- which foxes find
unpleasant -- every two seconds or so for a pre-set period after the
device is activated. The devices are usually activated when movement or body heat triggers a
passive infrared (nighttime) sensor. Many general purpose units have a broad
frequency range (from about 8 to 40 kHz), which can be set according to
the animal(s) (e.g. foxes, cats, rats etc.) you're trying to repel –
those designed specifically to repel cats and dogs tend to operate at
around 22 kHz, while those for rodents broadcast between 30 and 70 kHz.
The units are usually battery operated, with a sensor range of around
12m (40ft) and an effective distance of (i.e. excludes animals from an
area of) about 18m (60ft).
One widely sold ultrasonic device, aimed specifically at deterring
foxes, is the FOXWatch unit produced by Concept Research in the UK. The
product website makes some impressive claims, including that “Following
the largest study of its kind ever undertaken in the UK, FOXWatch is now
the only fox deterrent, scientifically tested and recommended”. Unfortunately, at the time of writing, my requests for details of the
research -- i.e. scientific paper citations, report details,
collaborative organisations etc. -- have gone unfulfilled by Concept
Research, so I cannot comment on the science. I have also drawn a blank
with a search of the scientific literature. Indeed, there appear to
have been very few studies published on the hearing responses of foxes
at all, let alone in the context of repellent development. Concept
Research did have their ultrasonic cat repellent (Catwatch) tested by a
team of RSPB biologists, led by Sarah Nelson, and the results were
published in a paper to the journal Applied Animal Behaviour Science in
2006. The data show that the device had a “moderate deterrent effect”,
reducing both the likelihood that a cat would come into the garden and
the time the cat would spend there if it did venture in. Nelson and her
colleagues found that active devices
were about 4% more effective than disabled ones during the first nine
weeks of the study and, between the tenth and eighteenth week of the
trial, active devices reduced the probability of a cat visit by about
30%. As with most of the repellents discussed here, I have read mixed
reviews of FOXWatch’s effectiveness, but would love to hear from readers
who have found it effective.
Overall, the studies that have been conducted with ultrasonic
repellents have been mixed. In their Unearthing the Urban Fox book,
Trevor Williams and Andy Wilson describe how their own trials showed
success rates of up to 80%, although they do not provide the details and
Andy’s dissertation (conducted while he was a student at Greenwich
University) wasn’t published – Mr Williams did tell me, however, that
some of the companies weren’t happy with the findings of some of their
tests. The Oxford Croquet club experienced problems with foxes digging
and fouling their green and tried several repellents; on their
website, they conclude:
“During experiments carried out in association with Greenwich
University, we found ultrasonic devices broadly ineffective, but found a
water driven gadget, called "Scarecrow", very effective.”
Electric fencing or netting: By far the most effective method of
predator exclusion involves the use of electric fencing and the
technique has been widely used to protect nesting bird colonies from the
attentions of foxes. In February 1974, for example, a trial electric
fence was erected along a leading edge of the nesting sandwich tern
(Sterna sandvicensis) colony on the Sands of Forvie
National Nature Reserve in Aberdeen (Scotland). Even though foxes were
able to get around the fence at either end, Ian Patterson at the
University of Aberdeen found that it was still an effective deterrent
and reduced fox visits to the general area by over two-thirds. Using
tracks in the sand, Patterson demonstrated that the fence turned back
60% of the foxes that approached it and reduced fox activity beyond the
fence to about 16% of that before the fence was erected (overall
predation was reduced by 84%) – foxes crossed the fence in only 6% of
visits.
A similar study, this time at a least tern (Sterna albifrons) colony
on the Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts (USA) during the
summer of 1978, found that, while new nests established outside of the
fence were depredated (raided) by foxes, none of the foxes approached closer than
three metres (10ft) to the fences, resulting in a substantial increase
in the number of nests within the fenced area. In this case, even when
the fence was turned off for a week, it still deterred the foxes. In his
summary of the data, published in the Journal of Mammalogy during 1980,
Dennis Minsky concluded that:
“…there would have been virtually no production without the fence.”
In a brief paper to the journal Mammal Review during 2002, Central
Science Laboratory (CSL) biologists David Poole and Ian McKillop
reviewed the effectiveness of electric netting and electric
strained-wire at excluding foxes. The researchers set up the two types
of fences in the enclosures of seven captive foxes and monitored how readily
the animals crossed the barrier. Poole and McKillop found that
one of their foxes refused to cross even the un-electrified fence and netting
(presumably the same fear of novel items in their territory, or neophobia,
that Mike Towler observed in his pot-fearing vixen) while the remaining six crossed it
multiple times, illustrating how foxes are individuals with different
responses to deterrents. In the case of the netting, foxes pushed underneath it,
pulled it down or chewed a hole in it. In the strained-wire trials the
animals either pushed underneath the fence, or jumped through the upper
wires where the gap was wider. None of the foxes crossed the electrified
netting or fences, except during the daily maintenance checks, when the
fright associated with an attendant in their enclosure was sufficient to
cause them to ignore the risk and jump over. Curiously, even though the
fence was easily low enough for the fox to jump over, they were only seen to
do so when an attendant entered the enclosure – this suggests that, just
as is true of humans, even difficult barriers may be overcome if the
motivation is sufficient.
The behavioural observations from the CSL experiments showed that,
even though the fences prevented the foxes from crossing in most cases,
the animals investigated them regularly and even after receiving a shock
only stayed away for about an hour. The foxes investigated the fences
with their nose (a highly innervated and sensitive part of their body)
and most foxes were only shocked once; one was shocked twice, but none
took more than two shocks to get the message.
The downside to electric fences is that they can be expensive to
erect and maintain, although electric netting is cheaper than
strained-wire, and some animals can be very vulnerable to them. In his
1994 book, The Complete Fox, Les Stocker points out that the wire of
electric fences should be placed at least 15cm (6 in.)
above the ground to avoid the risk of hedgehogs coming in contact with
them. (It appears that, while most animals move away after receiving a
shock, hedgehogs curl up and get shock after shock until they die of
exhaustion, heart failure or starvation.) Nonetheless, I know several
people who use electric fences to successfully exclude foxes from their
property. Arguably, electric fencing is only cost-effective for large
areas, but it can be included in the design of animal housing
(especially chicken coops) to add additional fox-proofing. See the
diagrams below for some of the most popular configurations of electric
fencing. An electrified fence is basically an open circuit. When an
animal touches the fence, it provides a pathway from the fence to the
earth through which electrons can move and thereby closes the
circuit. The 'shock' that an animal feels is a rapid muscle contraction
in response to the electron flow. Animal fur is a poor electrical
conductor and can insulate them against shocks delivered by electric
fences if the voltage is set too low. Consequently, fences operate at a
relatively high voltage, commonly between 4,000 and 5,000 volts, capable
of overcoming the resistance of the fur. Note that, if you install an
electric fence, you will need to strim around the bottom regularly to
prevent grass or other vegetation from short circuiting it.
Rules of attraction
Generally-speaking, all deterrents should be used
in conjunction with some common sense actions to remove or disguise
whatever it is that attracts the fox to your garden in the first place. Foxes are attracted
to garden ponds to drink (solution: perhaps consider putting netting
over them at night), to bird tables where food has been left out
(solution: clear away any leftover food), to compost heaps searching for
insects and rodents (solution: consider fencing the heap, or using a
compost bin), to lawns looking for insects (solution: if you use a lawn
fertilizer and it contains fishmeal or bonemeal, consider swapping it
for one that doesn’t, or apply a repellent) and to gardens with trees
looking for windfall fruit or berries (solution: gather windfall and
store it away). If shoes are being stolen from the garden, tidy them
away – the same applies to any litter that may be an attraction.
Many times I have heard it said that urban foxes thrive on our waste and that the
introduction of 'fox-proof' wheelie bins by many local councils has
meant that our urban foxes are starving. This, apparently, explains
why foxes are growing bolder and are more frequently seen in
gardens. I have said this before on the site, but it is an
important point so I will reiterate it
here: yes, foxes will take advantage of our rubbish if presented with
the opportunity, but foxes do
not depend on bin scavenge. Moreover, there are no data
to suggest that the implementation of wheelie bins has had any impact on
the health or behaviour of foxes living in our towns and cities. The biologists at Bristol University's
Mammal Research Unit (MRU) are
quick to point out that foxes scavenge from bins far less than people
tend to assume, and that foxes are often assumed culprits of
knocked-over bins or torn bin bags, based on an expectation of their
nature. The culprit may be far from obvious,
however, given that cats, dogs, rats,
mice, badgers and ground-feeding birds, especially corvids, will also
break into rubbish sacks. Interestingly, one survey by the MRU
found that so much food was
deliberately provided for foxes by householders in the city that they
had no need to look anywhere else to meet their daily energy
requirements. Indeed, if your neighbours feed
the local foxes, it might be worth assessing how much they are putting
out. Studies by the MRU have shown that there is a tendency to put out far more food than is necessary;
this certainly ties in with my experience of people feeding 'their'
foxes. The problem with putting out a lot of food is that it alters the
foxes' behaviour - specifically it has the effect of concentrating their
activity and, hence, any disturbance they may cause. When bountiful food
is provided, two things initially happen. Firstly, the foxes tend to
move around less; they don't need to cover as much ground to get their
daily 'rations', and this gives them more time to relax and play in and
around the garden. Secondly, they start caching surplus food for later
retrieval; some will be buried in the garden in which they're being fed,
but more will end up in neighbouring gardens. Over a longer timescale,
if food provision remains high, the foxes may actually reduce the foxes
may reduce the size of their territories and this can lead to more foxes
in the area. When food is abundant there is also often less pressure for
cubs to disperse, resulting in an increase in family group size. Everyone has their opinion on the right, and wrong, way to feed foxes
and in the end it is quite likely to vary based on the fox(es) you're
feeding, where you live, and how tolerant your neighbours are of
wildlife. In my experience, a couple of handfuls of peanuts or dog
biscuits sprinkled around the garden every few days will keep the fox
occupied long enough to get a decent view and probably some photos
without having any significant impact on its normal foraging behaviour.


Popular electric fence arrangements.
These typically consist of a low-level electric fence to discourage foxes
from digging beneath a sturdy unelectrified fence. An alternative to
either of the above would be to remove the electric wire and substitute
the unelectrified fence with electrified netting. Clipart fox from
Free Clipart Now.
(Illustrations not to scale)
There is no doubt that one substantial attraction for foxes is
livestock and they have a bad reputation for killing small pets and
fowl. The kill itself, however, is seldom witnessed and thus assumptions
are often made. The reporting habits of some of our newsmedia
these days may not always make it apparent, but in criminal law there is a clause called the
presumption
of innocence, which is known more colloquially as being ‘innocent until
proven guilty’. This is meant to remind us that things are not
always as they appear and it applies well to some of our encounters with
foxes. First things first: foxes will take chicken, rabbits, guinea pigs
and most other small pets if the opportunity presents itself. They may
also attack cats, although this appears - contrary to popular tabloid
headlines - to be the exception rather than the rule (see
Q/A). Before you go to the
trouble and expense of purchasing repellents, however, it is worth
taking the time to ensure the culprit is actually a fox. A case in point
occurred recently when some friends of my parents came
home to find all the chickens in their coop, in their garden in rural
Cornwall, had been killed. In this particular
case, however, the culprit was still in the chicken run among the
bodies; not a fox but a neighbour’s Jack Russell. Had the dog
found its way back out of the coop before the owners arrived home, it is
tempting to wonder whether the losses would've been attributed to a fox. I am aware of other examples where badgers, stoats and
weasels have caused similar damage having gained access to a coop, and several
farmers I know rank rats above foxes when considering predators of
chickens, especially chicks. Indeed, most predators, wild or domestic, will
engage in surplus killing (where they kill all the birds in the coop)
when confronted with the scenario of abundant, agitated prey that cannot
escape (this is also covered in a separate
Q/A). Many people assume that the birds are killed and the predator
takes what it wants, leaving the rest to rot. Fortunately, in recent
years several people who suffered such losses have left
the chickens where they were killed and waited – sure enough, over
successive nights, a fox has returned until every carcass had been
removed. Most recently, just such a case was recounted by Martin
Hughes-Games during an episode of the BBC’s Springwatch.

Ponds can be an important source of
freshwater for animals and can attract foxes to your garden. Using a
repellent in the pond isn't possible, so perhaps consider placing some
netting over it at night or, if practical, fencing it off. Similarly,
compost heaps can be fenced or replaced with plastic compost bins
(above, right).
Nonetheless, if one of the main attractions in your garden is other
animals, whether small pets (e.g. rabbits, guinea pigs, rats
etc.) or livestock (e.g. chickens and ducks), then the attraction must
be put out of reach of the fox. The easiest way to do this is to ensure
they are locked away in a secure coop/run at night and, because foxes
may be around during the day as well as at night, only allowed free
range of the garden while you're there to supervise.
Securing pets and livestock
Ducks, geese, chickens, rabbits and
guinea pigs should be put away at night in secure hutches or cages. When
thinking about what constitutes a “secure” compound, it is exceedingly
important not to underestimate how resourceful and persistent foxes can
be. Hutches with simple twist closures are insufficient to prevent a fox
gaining access, each door must have at least one -- ideally two, one at
the top and one at the bottom -- bolts that latch in place. Pets should
be shut away at twilight – most fowl will begin to settle down for the
night at twilight, and my experience suggests that it takes only a
couple of days of being ushered into a hutch for the night for them to
realize this is where they should sleep (although I know chickens
sometimes rebel!).
 
Small pets, such as rabbits (above,
left) and guinea pigs (above, right), can be at risk from foxes, but the
danger can be mitigated if the animals are securely housed.
Securing a flock of chickens for the night is more involved than
securing a pet rabbit or duck. In their book Ducks and Geese at Home,
Michael and Victoria Roberts present three practical alternatives to
sitting outside the chicken coop all night with a shotgun. The first --
and most elaborate -- method involves building a two metre (6 ft) high
wire fence around the chickens, with electric wires running around the
perimeter of the fence at the top and bottom. The second method involves
a two metre (6 ft) fence with an overhang at the top, slanted out at
about 45-degrees and wire at the base of the fence running out to about
60cm (2 ft). The third method is the same as the second, but with a one metre (just over 3 ft)
plateau at the top to stop the fox climbing up and over the fence. It
seems that the most important factor to remember is that foxes will dig
as well as climb, and so netting should be dug into the ground or laid
flat on the ground around the fence in order to prevent the fox from
digging its way under. In her 2014 book A Family Guide to Keeping
Chickens, Anne Perdeaux notes that, if the run is a permanent
fixture, you can pave the floor and cover the slabs with wood shavings
or hemp bedding. Anne points out, however, that the chickens’ persistent
scratching means that they may start digging themselves out of
permanently sited runs, which is why people often opt for movable ones. The wire mesh should be buried 30cm/12 in. (ideally 50cm/20 in.) into
the ground, or a secure floor (wooden, metal, paving slabs, etc.)
included in the design. In most cases, placing paving slabs around the
perimeter of the enclosure, either burying the mesh into the ground or
having it run out under the slabs, is sufficient to prevent the fox
digging under the fence. Ideally, to do away with lips and over-hangs,
the roof of the run should be covered by mesh thus completely enclosing
the residents. When thinking about what to construct your run/coop from,
the frame must be either metal or treated wood (which will, over time,
still rot) with sturdy fixtures.

It is important to ensure your hutch
is secure. Most are sold with simple twist catches, but they can be
easily (and cheaply) secured by the addition of some small latching
bolts at the top and bottom of each door. The example above housed our
pet ducks and, despite having the twist catches and roof chewed by a fox
on the first night, it was never broken into.
Perhaps the most important point to remember when constructing (or
purchasing) a house for your livestock is that chicken wire is not
sufficiently strong to keep a fox out and foxes can easily bite through
it - it was designed to keep chickens in, not to keep predators out. Fences should be composed of
strong welded mesh, the lower the gauge the better -
choose 12 or 14 gauge for maximum security. However you construct your
coop/run, it is important that you regularly check it for weak spots
(signs of digging/scratching/biting, rust/rot, loose fixtures, and so
forth) and repair them as they arise.
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When choosing netting and
un-electrified fencing, it is important to remember that an adult fox
can easily make it through a hole 12cm (5 in.) in diameter, meaning that
stock fencing is no barrier at all (above, left). They can also chew
through chicken wire and low gauge welded mesh and the image in the
middle shows the damage to 16 gauge mesh done by a vixen while
escaping from a rehabilitation pen. Consequently, a strong steel wire -- such as the 3cm (1 in.)
diameter mesh shown above (right) -- is required.
(Note: If you are planning on
using a lower gauge wire, select a mesh size of 1.3cm x 2.5cm
(0.5x1 in.) as this will be much more difficult for a fox to get
its teeth around.) |
Cats can be vulnerable to fox predation, and there have been
suggestions that cases have increased in recent years. I appreciate that
statistics offer no comfort to someone who has lost their cat, but
incidents are still generally considered rare and there are no data suggesting
that foxes in general pose a significant to cats (see
Q/A). It is obviously
not possible to lock your cat away in a hutch at night, but keeping it
in at night will reduce the likelihood of it encountering a fox; it may
also benefit the local wildlife as cats tend to do most of their hunting
in the early hours.

Fox-proof fencing: The above
schematic shows probably the most popular construction for
non-electrified fences to keep foxes and poultry apart. An alternative
is to bury the wire at a 45-degree angle, rather than at the 90-degree
angle shown above, or pave around the perimeter with the mesh running
under the slabs. The need for an overhang can be eliminated and the
security of the run increased by covering the top with mesh, thereby
completely enclosing the residents. The 'secret' to a fox-proof fence is ensuring the fox
cannot jump over, or dig under, it. (Illustration not to scale).
Ultimately, I think it is fair to say that foxes can cause problems
for people, although it remains unclear how much is actually fox-mediated and
how much is assumed to be foxes. In order to
resolve the problem, we need to employ a common sense approach. Remove
or disguise, as far as possible, the temptation that draws foxes in and,
where this isn’t possible, repellents and fencing can be extremely
successful in ameliorating the problem. Remember, foxes are individuals
and will vary in their response to repellents; there are many different
deterrents available, so if one doesn’t work, try something else – don’t
give up, persevere. If you need step-by-step advice on building
fox-proof enclosures, or on any aspect of fox deterrence, The Fox
Project operates a deterrence helpline on 01892 826222.
Fox Deterrent Links:
British Pest Control Association - The body
representing the Pest Control industry
The Fox Project Deterrent
Helpline - Free advice on the application of repellents and pet security
Fox
Repellent Expert - Reviews of deterrents as well as blogs and FAQs
on keeping foxes out of your garden.
Fox Solutions - Advice and online shop for fox deterrents and repellents
FoxWatch Ultrasonic Deterrent
Nite Eyes Predator Deterrent
Home and About - Selling various repellents, including a spray
repellent to deter foxes.
Agrisellex
Electric Fencing - Information on, and sales of, electric fencing. This
page contains details on the exclusion of foxes using such fences.
National Fox Welfare
Society: Fox problems - Information about common fox nuisance
problems and how to address them.
Check-a-Trade - A reliable,
rated searchable database including various pest control companies from
across the UK.
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DISCLAIMER: Links are provided for the purposes
of information and further research only - their inclusion here is not
an endorsement of the product(s).
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