Fox attacks increase

I was not surprised to read of the attack on an elderly lady in Edinburgh by a fox. Urban foxes show no fear of domestic animals or people.

When asked to comment on the incident, Lynda Korimboccus, the campaign manager for Advocates for Animals, stated: "Foxes generally run away from people. It’s virtually unheard of for a fox to attack a person. If it turns out that it is true, the animal must have been provoked in some way to do what they lady says it did. It’s extraordinary."

This is typical of the rhetoric from the animal rights fraternity - sympathy and excuses for the fox and no comment on the lady’s injuries.

Attacks by urban foxes are on the increase. Last year, a man in the Knightswood area of Glasgow was attacked by a pack of six foxes while trying to rescue a cat.

In England, a four-year-old girl and a 14-week-old baby were also bitten.

It has been stated that the Scottish Parliament’s ban on fox-hunting has led to the increase in the urban fox population, in fact the reverse is true. Scottish mounted hunts have now formed gun packs whereby the hounds flush foxes to waiting guns. All the Scottish packs now report an increase in the number of foxes being killed. Prior to this ban, hunts did not shoot foxes, they were either caught and killed outright or escaped unharmed.

WILLIAM O’DONNELL

Rutherglen

Glasgow