Quick Poll. Dog injures a Fox, do you…

A: take it to the vets

or

B: dispatch it cleanly?

The dog or the fox?

What’s the injury?

C. Hand yourself in to the rozzers for illegally hunting with a dog

Did you ask? What did the fox say?

A.

That could be pretty grim if all you have is a multitool and a pump.

The injury would be “ragging”, and you would have a means of dispatching it. Just wondering who would do what

Dispatch it, if able to.

Hand yourself in to the rozzers for illegally hunting with a dog

Its not an offence if it happens by accident.
Most dogs will need a visit to the vet if they catch a fox and dont kill it pretty quickly.

As above, “A person commits an offence if he knowingly permits a dog which belongs to him to be used in the course of the commission of an offence under section 1.”

I had a fox turn up last year with a missing leg. Chewed it off to get out of a snare . That was very grim.

Beat its head in with a jack handle/big stick/hammer/weapon of choice. If a dog has managed to get at it then it’s probably old or got mange. They are vermin so why would you bother a vet with it? Fair enough if it was an owl/otter/bird of prey but not for a fox

If a dog has managed to get at it then it’s probably old or got mange

Or you have a fast dog.

Beat its head in with a jack handle/big stick/hammer/weapon of choice.

Ever been near an injured, cornered fox?

I’d take it to the vet

I’d take it to the vet

How?

Get back on your horse and rejoin the hunt to go and have a few more tipples at the local watering hole.

Tally Ho 🙂

In answer dispatch it, for everyone in front of you there is probably another ten watching on.

Ever been near an injured, cornered fox?

Well I rarely miss so usually don’t have to shoot them again.

Is letting the dog finish the job, not a possible answer?

Mattock ftw.

If a dog has managed to get at it then it’s probably old or got mange

Or you have a fast dog.

Fast dogs (eg. pointer 😳 ) can catch foxes fairly easily.
When mine er someone’s I know caught one and wouldn’t let it’s neck go until it stopped moving, I he went back later and the fox had gone..
I think nature has a way of clearing these things up.

Whippet vs Fox. Wasn’t worth the risk once separated. In case it showed a sudden turn

Whippet – now that… Is a fast dog. 🙂

50 grams of BB shot.

I’d take it to the vet

good luck with that.

Depends on injury really, I think you’d be hard pushed to despatch it humanely without a rifle or shotgun. Bashing a skull in is harder than you think, and it’s grim work, and you’d likely as not get injured in the process.

I’ve seen the results of a whippet catching a fox, the fox won. My lurcher caught one by the leg once but let go pretty sharpish when it turned round and tried to bite her face off.

Make this compulsory viewing for your pooch asap

I once had a client pick up a fox that had been clipped by a car. It was unconscious when they put it in their boot.

I arrived at the surgery having been called out on a Sunday evening to find 2 people standing nervously outside their car which was rocking wildly as the now conscious fox tried to escape from it.

Managed to use the dog catcher ( loop on end long pole) to retrieve it but their boot was very trashed. Still could have been worse, could have been a badger!

so what did you have to kill it then?

strangulation with a dog lead never looked like a great option.

I showed it all the threads started by hora. It simply lost the will to live.

I suggest keeping it alive until the tories are in power. They are going to allow a free vote on fox hunting so you will be able to feed it to a pack of hounds to humanely finish it off.
Go Cameron! Yeah!

🙄

Just out of interest, of the people that would take the fox to the vet would you expect to pay for the cost of treatment or euthenasea? Or would you expect the vets vets practice to fund the treatment of a wild animal?

In my experience most wild animals brought in for treatment either would have been better left alone (e.g. Young animals with mild problems taken away from the own environment and mother) or require euthenasea due to severity of injuries which people usually expect for the vets to undertake and dispose of the remains at our own cost.

^that.
Kill it.

No way could I beat an injured fox to death, even if it was the most humane thing to do.

What does the fox say?

Shoot it, run it over or smash its head in. If none of those possible then leave it as it’s probably going to be dead by the morning anyway. Any other option is out of the question unless you are a naive townie with childlike views of wild animal husbandry and want to take it home and lay it on a bed of cotton wool with a dish of milk until it makes a miraculous recovery.
Good luck with that, let us know how you get on.

Nice.

Would you take a rat/pigeon/squirrel to the vets? No, they’re vermin – same as foxes.

I would leave it, I’m not man enough to smash it’s head in due to it’s size, which is psychological as when my dog catches rabbits and rats I have no issue killing them if he hasn’t already

What’s the point of taking an injured wild fox to the vets, it’s a wild animal and should be left to die if you’ve not the stomach to finish it off. If the vet fixes it up it would be illegal to release it back into the wild so it’ll be off to a sanctuary some place to die of boredom.

It’s not illegal to hunt foxes with dogs (hounds) but they are not allowed to kill, you have shot the fox once you have flushed out. In England and Wales you are limited to two hounds, in Scotland there is no restriction which has proven to be a better approach to the control of fox numbers.