UKC

We often have foxes sleeping in our garden. No idea why. They normally scarper when you get anywhere near them, but the other day, one that looked to be a young adult wasn't budging.

I spotted him in my lunch break, and mistakenly, decided to leave him and checked on it at the end of the day. No improvement. He was completely docile, you could touch him and he didn't react. Slightly laboured breathing with no obvious signs of injury.

We called a local wildlife rescue, who wanted to help, but advised us not to touch him, and they would try and send someone to collect him. After a couple of hours, they were struggling with availability, so we decided sod it, I'll wear all the leather I own and put him in a box and take him to them. The leather was unnecessary, he didn't react to be picked up at all.

We found out the next day he died a few hours after we dropped him off. No idea if reacting quicker would have changed the outcome or why he died.

Any thoughts on why this fox was so poorly he came to our garden to die? I was under the impression that typical rat poisons need huge concentrations to kill a dog or a cat, but maybe different less common varieties will result in this outcome. 

They eat out of bins a lot round our way, so I was also wondering what we might be throwing away that could kill a fox.

Antifreeze is the common cat killer, not nice at all.

Just to let you know, on the continent you get taught form primary school to never go near a docile fox - it's a common symptom of rabies. 

In this case I suspect your fox just eat something that it shouldn't have.

Foxes have a very high mortality rate. Could have been anything from too high a parasite load, poisoning, parvo, or avian influenza. If you come across animals like this, be careful handling them as these issues can pass to your pets or you and other humans.

Pest control poisons can be really dangerous, even in small quantities. Many are banned, but keepers often still have access to them. May sound dramatic, but I'd consider heavy gloves, face mask and eye protection if you are uncertain of the cause of death

Just wondering if like we had with a hedgehog, internal parasites maybe?

It could be natural cause, genetic or otherwise, accident (like being hit by a vehicle) or any disease that can affect all animals. It could be a gun pellet has caused it if a deliberate act. Lots of things won’t show externally by casual observation even gun pellets. 

If this is a one off and there are not other animals dying unexpectedly, I wouldn’t try and think through why personally.

I once came home to find a big ginger tomcat lying on my path. I'd never got near it before. It was dead; hit by a car. Fortunately, its owners came looking before the binmen came.

It does appear to be a one off. I don't know if foxes do this, but I'm convinced I've got more foxes turning up now looking for him.

Very sad.

Foxes are social animals and can live in extended family groups. It is quite possible therefore searching will take place to find the missing fox.

Sometimes, with some species, it is better to let them find a dead member of their family group before removal. Other times not.

If you do find more foxes or other animals dying or with not obvious deaths, best to report it. However, as others have said do take care of handling any dying or dead animal.

Are you suggesting that you would have bunged it in the bin rather than trying to find out who owned it?

No.

I shed tears for that poor cat, so you can piss off.

Why so aggressive? I likewise wondered if you'd have put ginger Tom in the bin. When I lived on a busy road we found several dead cats and always made an effort to find the owners. I think a disappeared pet is probably more distressing than a dead one. The only time we didn't find an owner he got buried in the garden with our own.

Was the reference to the binmen just a piss poor attempt at a poor taste joke then?

Because it upset me at the time, and those feelings came back. I sat and talked to the lifeless thing, and stroked its fur one last time. I tried all the houses in what seemed a reasonable range. It was the height of summer.

When a flyer was dropped through the door, I was very pleased to retrieve Rufus from the bin (where he was in safe keeping from scavengers), and return him home. I couldn't speak for tears when I handed him over, empathising with their loss. They brought flowers and a card over next day to thank me, and say they were sorry it had upset me.

So tim's comment, in his usual smug style, pissed me off good and proper.

It was  a simple straight question prompted by your odd reference to the binmen.

Maybe you should read what is written rather than making assumptions based on sweeping snotty judgements of other people?

I get it. I re-read your original comment understanding the situation and it now reads completely different. Just a simple misunderstanding.  

A beautiful gesture; cap doffed.