Sir, – Gerry Sheedy (April 25th) is concerned about the potential dangers posed by foxes in urban areas. He is worried about the spread of disease or about attacks on humans. I am not aware of any diseases that are spread from foxes to humans and I am only aware of a single case of a fox attacking a human.
By contrast, our urban areas have very large numbers of dogs and cats; mainly domesticated, but some feral. The former do regularly attack humans and farm animals and these attacks are sometimes fatal. The latter are major predators of wild birds in urban areas. Both are also capable of spreading diseases to humans, through their excrement.
The great majority of dog and cat owners seem to behave very responsibly in keeping their pets parasite-free, under control and in properly removing their faeces. A small minority, however, seem unwilling or unable to control them or clean up after them. An appalling recent trend is for owners to pick their faeces up in plastic bags which are then flung in hedges. In comparison to all this, foxes are extremely well behaved. – Yours, etc,
DES HIGGINS,
Castle Park,
Monkstown, Co Dublin.