Thanks for the pic Mad Max, the cubs I saw were half this size, very young. A foot note or paw note to my tale and indeed to your comment, the next day one of the cubs was dead on the road, hit by a car, not mine.

I hope the others make it but in true farmer speak 'KEEP ORFF MY LAND ' !

Well I don't think it's a woman thing Spacey, a love of all God's creatures is fine and noble. However I have to disagrre with you on your comment that 'no wildlife is vermin', rats, mink, mice, foxes, rabbits, pigeons........and many others are vermin. OK some are cutesy to look at but they are still vermin.

 

Now as to a proper chicken house, yes of course I have one, ditto my ducks. However surely my poultry have the right to free range during the day time ? it's an urban myth that foxes etc. only hunt at night . I could of course enclose my birds in a confined space with little or no scratching areas or access to dust baths or pond. I prefer to give my birds a modicum of freedom and as they provide me with eggs ans occassionaly meat it's a fair contract.

 

The fox gives me nothing. To some he provides sport but that's another issue. As to sheep kills by dogs via foxes or rather lamb kills, foxes don't kill sheep, dogs kill both, I know in Ireland the incidence of fox's taking lambs is serious enough for the I F U (Irish Farmers Union ) to pay a bounty of £10.00 a tail for evey fox shot. ( or whatever that is in Euros now ). The bounty is paid for by sheep farmers and I can assure you they don't put money into anything that does not give them a return on investment.

 

I find foxes attractive creatures and admire their cunning, but if they come on my land I shoot them without a second thought, and I sleep easy at night.

 

So we must agree to disagree, but it's nice to debate differing views.

Pats Spaceys head, sorry if that sounded patronising, don't worry your pretty little head about it my dear . LOL

 

OK that should piss of the feminists as well as you or are you both, so better point out I was joking.

 

Very interested in your comments on rabbits in Glosc, ditto game birds, now at the risk of hair splitting , or should that be hair splitting *groans*, whilst I live in Oxon, my post code is Glosc. I travel a lot in Glosc. work wise. The incidence of rabbits on the verges at night means either your friends efforts are paying off or the little beggars were more resilient than first thought. The smaller game birds are sadly like many other birds in decline but pheasants are plentiful.

 

Our village has loads of em, we even have one that sits on our fence and demands to be fed when we feed the ducks and chickens. We call him Donald ( Donald Pheasants, film buffs wil se the joke) and whilst still a wild bird he comes to us every evening for an easy meal. Now as to your point about killing for killings sake, I really don't. My original posting was exactly about this. I will kill to protect those creatures that provide me with food, and assist me in keeping down slugs and snails etc. without the need for chemicals. However I won't go out and shoot anything just because it is there or for target practice, and to me that is the essential difference.

 

As to wandering away from the sublect that is one of the joys of this medium *smiles* hey we may even find we agree on some points.