The Anonymous Widower

More On Hedgehogs and Foxes

In this post I mused on the decline of hedgehogs and felt that foxes were to blame.

I’ve just found this article on the web from the Epping Forest Hedgehog Rescue.  They are in no doubt, that foxes are cutting the number of hedgehogs.

I can also think back to the 1980s and 1990s, when I used to live in East Suffolk, just north of Ipswich.  In that area, foxes were not a common sight, and I never actually saw one, although I did smell them, just as I smell them on my doorstep here in Hackney.

When I moved to Newmarket, foxes were much more numerous and hardly a day passed, without seeing one on the stud.

So what is the difference between East and West Suffolk.  In the east, they used to hunt hares with hounds, whereas in the west, they hunted foxes.  So I suspect that any fox in East Suffolk, got short shrift from farmers and gamekeepers, as they knew the hunt wouldn’t do anything about them.

As I said in the previous post, I never saw a hedgehog in West Suffolk, but in the East, I at least saw the occasional one.

Thinking about the problem more, you don’t see much traditional fox food in London.  There are no rabbits or hares, so that just leaves hedgehogs and squirrels. Even scavenging round here isn’t a good idea, as we all have wheely bins.

So I suppose, once the foxes learned to kill hedgehogs, it was just passed on through the generations.

I believe, that must do something about foxes, if we want to save the hedgehog.

January 30, 2013 - Posted by AnonW | World | Animals, Fox, Hedgehog, Suffolk