{"id":714735,"date":"2026-01-23T06:35:40","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T06:35:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/714735\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T06:35:40","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T06:35:40","slug":"fox-deaths-increase-as-londons-gardens-prove-to-be-fatal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/714735\/","title":{"rendered":"Fox deaths increase as London&#8217;s gardens prove to be fatal |"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Across London\u2019s boroughs, urban foxes are experiencing increased threats to their existence and charities have urged people to act responsibly.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/foxproject.org.uk\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Fox Project <\/a>covers a large part of London\u2019s South East Boroughs, and has cited a growing number of calls for their aid, despite it not being breeding season.<\/p>\n<p>Trevor Williams, The Fox Project Founder, said: \u201cWe need to get back to a situation where we care about our environment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t just lob stuff into the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.selondoner.co.uk\/tag\/environment\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">environment<\/a> and leave it there.<\/p>\n<p>Williams explained that human carelessness was a common factor effecting foxes\u2019 welfare in the city.<\/p>\n<p>He said: \u201cThings like not tipping up your rubbish, not putting your recycling away properly, leaving jars and tins and bottles with food remaining in them, available to wildlife, which can get its head stuck in them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"457\" height=\"640\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/fox-1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-165771\" style=\"width:454px;height:auto\"  \/><strong>Credit: The Fox Project<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Williams founded the charity 35 years ago, but had no initial intention of it becoming a rescue group.<\/p>\n<p>He said: \u201cIt was important because there were no organisations you could go to, to find out about foxes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBearing in mind that they\u2019ve been present in London since the 1940s, and peaking in the 1970s, people have a right to know what the animal actually is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The charity deal with around 10 calls to foxes a day in the off-season, most being injured or killed by cars, other pets, or rubbish left lying around.<\/p>\n<p>And, as cub season approaches in March, they are continually raising awareness for one particularly big threat: football nets.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"457\" height=\"640\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/fox-5.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-165770\" style=\"width:451px;height:auto\"  \/><strong>Credit: The Fox Project<br \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>London\u2019s gardens continue to be a real problem for curious young cubs, who can find themselves tangled up inside these nets, often with devastating results.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking of one particularly harrowing case, Nicki Townsend, The Fox Project\u2019s fundraising and media manager and ambulance driver, said: \u201cThere was a sports centre and it wasn\u2019t the first time when it happened with them, so it was really disappointing that we had been there previously.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had educated them, and they hadn\u2019t cared, and they still left the netting down, and the poor vixen had been there overnight \u2013 she chewed her foot off trying to get out.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think for me, and her, it was just horrific because even on arrival, I knew that she would have to go to sleep.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s just heart-breaking and it\u2019s just so easily prevented.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The clip of the rescue can be found below, which contains sensitive content.<\/p>\n<p>The Fox Project runs two systems of rescue \u2013 if the fox is immobile then they use large nets, and if immobile then humane traps.<\/p>\n<p>Townsend said: \u201cWe always say we\u2019ll be there within the hour.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut more often than not, we\u2019ve got one of our volunteers that would be 10-15 minutes away.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While the fox population in London is still facing threats, public attitude towards the animals seems to be steering in the right direction.<\/p>\n<p>Williams said: \u201cIf we\u2019ve done anything at all over the years that I really am proud of, it is changing attitudes at council level.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd that\u2019s gone on to a national level as well, because our information and our research into fox deterrence is now part of deference and advice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo this day, we\u2019ve worked for every council in the country.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cExcept for the Isle of Mull, and the Isle of Mull doesn\u2019t have any foxes on it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"480\" height=\"640\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/fox-3.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-165769\" style=\"width:435px;height:auto\"  \/><strong>Credit: The Fox Project<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Fox Project hope that with increased awareness, more foxes will be able to live pain free in urban landscapes like London.<\/p>\n<p>When coming across an injured or unresponsive fox, the advice is always to call a rescue.<\/p>\n<p>Townsend said: \u201cJust stay with that animal, stand back slightly, so they\u2019re not too stressed, and call for advice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe always say never to cut an animal free yourself, ever.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Featured image credit: The Fox Project<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Across London\u2019s boroughs, urban foxes are experiencing increased threats to their existence and charities have urged people to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":714736,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,12450,11512,393,9382,4884,257,16,15],"class_list":["post-714735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-london","tag-britain","tag-charity","tag-city-of-london","tag-england","tag-fox","tag-great-britain","tag-london","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115943029200033649","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=714735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/714736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=714735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=714735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=714735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}