General Chat

HI Guys

I am hoping for your imput to this i do lunchtime supervisor at our village school.
Today we where out on the school playing field when the children said miss there's a fox under the porter cabin (after school club).
We got them away and when lining up it came out veery scared and ran down the field and out.

School says there is not a problem.

How dangerous are they? I suspose like any other animal they
could bite if protecting themselves! I am right in this thought.,

Cheers for your input

Kate

I am sure they would bite if scared. Surely the school need to take some sort of action.

Granny

Hi Granny

you would have thought.

Headmaster says it's gone.

210 children and 4 ladies will beg to differ

Kate

never never trust a fox, they kill for the joy of it, thats why they was hunted.

Foxes carry rabies, mange, distemper and all sorts of other antisocial and unpleasant diseases but will only bite if you manage to get hold of it.

A healthy fox is unlikely to let you touch it, so I wouldn't worry on that score. They dont attack!

But they are wild animals so the best course is to just leave them alone to get on with what they do best, which is being a wild animal. Unless they are causing problems. In which case opinion is divided on what to do with them.

I know what I do, but it may not be to the taste of others :-)

HI

My main concern is that the children play on the field sit and roll on the ground they was their hands before eating but what if the children put hands in mounth before and the foex has been there before..

Kate

I wouldnt worry about that, there will have been plenty of other things there before the fox, like rats, mice, other dogs, etc. Old basil is probably the least of your worries on that score!

Foxes in the UK don't carry rabies, so that's one less thing to worry about. And like Ian said there will be plenty of other things roaming round where the kids are, especially bird excrement. Wouldn't worry about it.

Great minds and all that Rosalind! :D

Foxes In the U.K do not Carry Rabies.

their only interest is to find food,they are shy creatures and are not interested in humans.

Absolutely wrong

The UK is NOT rabies free.

In 2003 it was recognised that UK bats may carry a rabies-like virus, European Bat Lyssavirus 2 (EBL2). A man who was a bat handler died from EBL2 infection probably acquired in Scotland.

May carry, not definitely then and Rabies-like is NOT the same as rabies.
That's like saying a Snickers bar is Mars bar-like. Similar, yet totally different.

Plus the fox population does not carry rabies otherwise the farmers etc would be up in arms hunting the little critters to extinction.

errr...hellooo? lol

Farmers kill foxes...?

Never in a million years!

lol

google rabies UK

Unusual for a fox to be around at that time of day.Maybe it was unwell or hurt and had tucked itself away

This from the defra site:
The viruses carried by bat species native to the UK are not classical rabies virus, the rabies strain carried by animals such as dogs, cats, foxes etc. EBLVs very rarely cross the species barrier from bats to other animals or humans. There have been no recorded cases of rabies in UK wildlife or pet animals. .

So when was the last time you heard of anyone being bitten by a rabid,animal,Ian?
Even In spain its very rare!

Bats do carry a virus(some) but its very,very rare for them to pass it on.
and as you said its a type of rabies virus,A type!

Thank you,Sally;-))

There are loads of them roaming the streets of London nowadays, living on estates and scavenging for food in the rubbish - they are so commonplace now that nobody seems to take any notice of them.

They are as bold as brass, too - they don't just come out at night - they roam the streets in broad daylight now. I've never heard of anyone being hurt by them, though (although one "friendly" fox took a fancy to my daughter one time and followed her for ages - she ended up running to try to lose him but the fox ran after her until she ran into a shop! Was probably because she was eating a hot pasty at the time and he could smell it!). I don't think they are seen as a real threat to anyone, though.

Like others have said, there are other things that children are more likely to come into contact with like cat/dog/bird/mice/rat excrement that can harm them, rather than anything from a fox.

Athena

Never heard of any foxes carrying rabies in the UK recently, but foxes are the main carrier on the continent. I see lots of rabies when I am in africa as well.

Personally, I wouldnt take the chance of getting bitten by a fox and rabies is just one of the issues.

Again, personally, I wouldn't tolerate one anywhere near me, not least cos I cant stand the smell of a dog fox, lol, but apart from that, they cause too much damage to small livestock.

Well meaning people can tolerate them, but not me. Not at all.

But one things for sure - mention fox and the fighting starts, lol