The Urban Fox

The fox has become just another part of urban life.
You see them if you drive home late, you wake up to find they’ve torn apart your bin bags, you lie in bed listening to their howls.
Foxes almost always make completely amenable neighbours.
They are among the least aggressive mammals you could share your environment with.
They will only bite if distressed and cornered and this is incredibly rare.
You are more likely to be bitten by a dog.

Most people think that the urban fox population has rocketed in recent years.
But the experts disagree that their numbers have increased.
They say there are 225,000 rural foxes and 33,000 urban foxes in Britain – totals which they claim have remained largely unchanged for decades.
Foxes first colonised British cities in the 1930s, and by the late 1940s were common in London.
Researchers at Bristol University say while there may be more foxes in some areas, sarcoptic mange, an affliction caused by mites and passed on by dogs, has severely reduced numbers.

Urban foxes prefer medium to large back gardens which provide the food, cover and den sites that they need.
They will eat almost anything – worms, beetles, dead cats and pigeons, rats, mice, even hedgehogs.
If a fox comes into the garden, clap your hands or squirt it with water and chase it off.
They will not attack you, they are afraid of you.

Foxes are highly territorial.
In central London a pair of foxes will have a territory of around 60 acres.
They dig a den to have cubs, but prefer to sleep above ground.
If you move or destroy a fox, another will take over its patch.

In Chinese culture, foxes are powerful spirits known for their cunning.
They often take on the form of women to seduce men.
Foxes have even helped give us part of our language.
In Aesop’s fables, ‘The fox and the grapes’, tells of a thirsty fox failing to grab a bunch of grapes just out of his reach.
He gives up and walks off saying, “I’m sure they’re sour anyway”.
The origin of the saying “sour grapes”.

In the 18th century more foxes were imported for hunting.
They were brought here from Russia, Belgium and other European countries and sold in Leadenhall Market for 2/6d (12 ½ p).
The British government’s extermination project was abandoned in the 1980s after 40 years when it was proved it had no effect on the fox population.
Research shows that unless you kill over 70% of foxes and maintain that figure for many years, it’s pointless killing even one fox, or relocating them, as all you do is create a new opportunity for another pair of foxes to take over the empty territory.

An increasing number of foxes are being found dead or suffering extreme distress, or being close to death from poison put down by brainless morons.
They can be a nuisance, they are destructive, noisy and often leave a very unpleasant, smelly calling card.
The foxes can be a nuisance as well.
Foxes are now a part of urban life and are here to stay.
Unfortunately, the brainless morons are here to stay as well.

The poison these pea-brained cretins are putting down are killing more cats, dogs and birds than it is foxes.
How many dog or cat owners have found their pets sick, or distressed, and then been presented with a huge vet bill and told their animal has been poisoned?
How many of these pets die?
God forbid a small child roaming around their own back garden and comes into contact with poison that has been dropped there by a fox or a bird.

Baiting or poisoning foxes is illegal, so if you know any of the bone-headed creeps who do this, please report them to the police and the RSPCA.

Cruelty is the worst of human sins.
Once we accept that a living being has feelings and suffers pain, then by knowingly and deliberately inflicting suffering on that creature, we are guilty.

Toads Can Predict Earthquakes ..
Toads can predict earthquakes five days before they hit, scientists say.
They use their inbuilt early warning system to detect tiny changes in the Earth’s electro-magnetic field and electrical currents to hop it.
Researcher Dr Rachel Grant said: “Our study is one of the first of its kind and suggests toads detect pre-seismic cues such as the release of gases and charged particles and use these as an early warning system”.

I don’t consume animal products because my plate is not a morgue and my stomach is not a graveyard.
( Rose Winfold )

Ignore the disrespectful morons who make a mockery of the suffering and the brutal slaughter of billions of animals by comparing them to plants.

When I was young, I loved zoos.
Now I hate zoos because I love animals.

What the meat industry figured out is that you don’t need healthy animals to make a profit.
Sick animals are more profitable.
Factory farms calculate how close to death they can keep animals without killing them.
That’s the business model.
How quickly they can be made to grow, how tightly they can be packed, how much or how little can they eat, how sick they can get without dying.
We live in a world in which it’s conventional to treat an animal like a block of wood.
( Jonathan Safran Foer )

The Speed Of A Falcon ..
Within seconds a falcon will reach its terminal velocity of 200 mph.
The force of air would explode its lungs if it was not for the baffles in its nostrils.
A design so effective it is used in jet engines.

The Heart-Beat Of A Cheetah ..
As it sets off into a sprint, a cheetah’s heart goes at 250 beats a minute to send extra blood and oxygen into its leg muscles.

The Heart-Beat Of A Nile Crocodile ..
During its long spells of mid-drought, underground hibernation, the Nile crocodile’s heartbeat slows down to just two beats a minute.

The Starlings In The USA ..
All 200 million starlings in the USA are descended from 100 released in New York in 1890 by an eccentric who wanted to introduce every bird Shakespeare mentioned.

Someday we will die and leave this earth behind.
But on all the other days we won’t.
So live all the other days like the precious gift they are.
And allow all the animals we share this earth with to do the same.
( Rose Winfold )

The ‘meat’ on your plate came from an animal that was…
Confined by force, fed by force, impregnated by force, had their babies taken by force, transported to the slaughterhouse by force, and had their life violently and brutally ended by force.

What you eat is your choice until the what becomes a who.

Chickens Never See Sunlight ..
Chickens in the USA are raised and slaughtered in just 49 days.
That is half the time it took to raise a chicken 50 years ago, yet the 49 day-old chickens are twice as big as the birds in 1950 when killed.
People like white meat so chickens have been re-engineered to have bigger breasts.
The chickens never see sunlight.
It is an assembly line with mass production and mass murder.
A lot of the internal organs and bones can’t keep up with the rate of growth, so many of the chickens can only take a few steps and then they fall down.

When you feast on their flesh, spare a thought for the suffering they have endured from the day they were born.
( Rose Winfold )

Would you agree to put a living newborn chick inside a grinding blender?
Because that’s what the egg industry do every time a male chick comes into the world.

The UN special envoy on food called it a ‘crime against humanity’ to funnel 100 million tons of grain and corn to ethanol when almost a billion people are starving.
So what kind of crime is animal agriculture, which uses 756 million tons of grain and corn per year, much more than enough to adequately feed the 1.4 billion human who are living in dire poverty?
( Jonathan Safran Foer )

If we can’t tell our children what really happens to farm animals, maybe what we are doing to them is wrong.

If you look into the eyes of an animal long enough, you will realise you are looking at a young child who just wants to be alive.

The problem is not how we kill animals, the problem is that we kill them.
It’s not how animals are used, it’s that they are used.
( Wilfred Soon )

All farm animals live in fear from the moment they are born.

Inflicting unnecessary violence and brutal death on animals is the most widely accepted social injustice.

Turtle Doves Are Disappearing ..
Turtle Doves are in danger of disappearing from the British countryside, scientists have warned. Numbers have declined by 88% since 1970, largely due to the loss of certain seed plants they feed on.
And it is feared they could vanish altogether if the ConDems cut environment schemes in the countryside.
The RSPB has launched a project with farmers to try to boost the numbers by sowing rich seed crops on land across East Anglia.
RSPB scientist Dr Jenny Dunn said: “Turtle doves were once widespread but are now mostly found in East Anglia”.

The Largest Spider Ever Found ..
The largest spider ever found was a male goliath bird-eating spider found in Venezuela in 1965, with an 11 inch leg span.

Peregrine Falcons At Risk ..
Protected peregrine falcons are being put at risk by sick thieves.
Raiders are stealing newly-hatched chicks which can be worth up to £500 if sold to foreign collectors.
It follows the theft of eggs from nests and a horrific catalogue of attacks on the birds of prey.
Peregrine falcons, which can swoop at up to 240mph, making them the fastest creature on the planet, were an endangered species in the 1970s but numbers have improved greatly since.
There are currently around 1,400 breeding pairs in the UK and between 12 – 25,000 in Europe. But areas such as East Yorkshire, North Wales and Northern Scotland have seen a decline recently.
Some are killed by pigeon fanciers who fear the falcons will eat their birds.
Traps are set and people even lace pigeons with pesticides to get at the falcons.

Numbers Of Goldcrest In Decline ..
Britain’s smallest bird has seen its population cut in half following harsh winters.
The tiny Goldcrest, which weighs less than a 10p coin, has been seen in 48% fewer gardens, with declines reaching 60% in Scotland, the South West and the East of England.
Dr Tim Harrison of the British Trust for Ornithology said Goldcrests were unable to carry much food so were vulnerable to starvation.
He warned: “There could be a distinct downward trend in the wider population”.

If you give thanks for what life has given you, don’t do so by taking everything from another life.

The meat industry’s greatest weapon is ignorance.
Truth and knowledge are the meat industry’s greatest enemy.
( Rose Winfold )

Veganism is simply a way of living which seeks to exclude, as far as is possible and practicable, all forms of animal exploitation and cruelty for any purpose whatsoever.

Their lives are in our hands.
We are their guardians.
We are their voice.
We must not cause them harm.
Humans are not the only animals with a loving heart.

When we walk around thinking we have a greater right to eat an animal than the animal has a right to live without suffering, it’s corrupting.
I’m not speculating.
This is our reality.
Look at what factory farming is.
Look at what we as a society have done to animals as soon as we had the technological power.
Look at what we actually do in the name of “animal welfare” and “humaneness,” then decide if you still believe in eating meat.
( Jonathan Safran Foer )