Why should foxes be scary?

The background to the Wimbledon Guardian's vote represents urban foxes inaccurately. Yes, it's true, foxes can take poorly housed pets, but they are no threat to our domestic cats and dogs.

Foxes don't threaten dogs, it's the converse. Cats and foxes co-exist in our gardens every night. It is so rare for a cornered fox to attack a person that this makes the headlines. Compare this with the real risk of being attacked by someone else's pet dog. Foxes suffer from the same diseases as do dogs, but there are very many more dogs than foxes in London and much more contact between dogs and people. If there is a disease risk we need to deal with dogs!

The London fox population has been stable for many decades and is certainly not increasing. There is no need to feed foxes, as there is plenty of natural food for them. Because most fox activity is discreet and no problem, most people don't even realise their garden is visited regularly at night.

The only significant problem with foxes in London is the untidiness that they bring to gardens near to their earths and when they open rubbish sacks.

They can also eat vegetables in dry summers when fewer earthworms, their staple diet, come up to the surface at night. Rubbish is readily protected by keeping rubbish sacks in a bin.

Responsible pest control organisations can advise on moving untidy foxes on from those very few gardens that have a real problem. Some people will suffer from irrational fears, but let's not feed these with distorted reporting.

DR DAVE DAWSON Home Park Road Wimbledon Park