I did read with interested the letter from L Smith of Meadow Road, Hailsham, in last week's Gazette letters page.
L Smith is absolutely right that foxes are killers, the same way that all carnivores/omnivores are, including humans. No animal kills or causes suffering to other animals as much as humans so I am not sure we have a right to complain. What foxes do in this country is no different to what lions and tigers do out in Africa and other countries. It surprises me that farmers who make a profit out of killing animals in mass over-production of meat feel they have any right to criticise foxes and other wild animals or birds for killing their natural prey. The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has called the damage which foxes cause 'financially insignificant'. Unlike a number of animals and birds in this country, DEFRA has never classed the fox as vermin as a result of this lack of impact on farming.
Foxes will only gain access into a chicken run if the run is badly constructed or poorly maintained. If chickens are poorly protected and a fox can get in to the chicken run they will attempt to kill numerous chickens. It has been proven that a number of the chickens will have died of shock and fright rather than actually in the jaws of the fox. There have been a number of studies on fox behaviour by several universities and organisations. It has been shown that what they are doing by killing the chickens in one go is, in effect, no different from us humans killing chickens in one go at a slaughter house and sending them off to the supermarket to be sold. If the dead chickens are left in the run, the fox will come back and take them individually over a period of time (several days or more depending on the number of chickens killed) as and when needed. The fox will think the chicken run is an ideal storage cupboard for the chickens and no fox has a big enough den to store more than a couple of dead chickens, so why move them? The fox will use the chicken run as we humans would use a freezer – there is no difference.
Humans are supposed to be the more intelligent animals but I am frequently amazed at how we so easily blame wildlife for what is our own inadequate planning and lack of foresight in looking after prey species and protecting them properly. It is all too easy to blame the foxes when if we protected the chickens properly the foxes wouldn't be able to get to them.
Of course foxes will take lambs, especially ones which are not protected by their mums – which are normally the ones which have problems or are weak. The mother does not want to waste time looking after a sickly lamb – it's survival of the fittest. A fully grown female sheep is more than a match for a fox. When you study foxes you notice that sheep do not run away from foxes when a fox passes through a field – this is because they are not frightened of them as they know they are not a risk to adult sheep. However, a mother looking after a lamb will stand up to a fox and have a go at it.
In the old days shepherds used to watch over flocks of sheep. When lambing the shepherds used to look after the lambs. These days many fields do not even have shelters and the shepherds are not present anywhere near as much as they used to be. I have come across poorly lambs in fields and when approaching the farmer I have been rudely told on occasions to leave the lamb alone, been told that it will probably die anyway, it costs too much to treat, and just leave it for the foxes.
L Smith wants us to kill foxes for doing what comes naturally to them. If I applied L Smith's logic to humans I would be asking paramedics and doctors to kill all meat eaters which need help. When humans advocate the killing of another race of people this is called racism. So what do you call it when people advocate the protection of one animal but the killing of another – speciesism?

On a different note, could anyone driving along the back lane between Exceat and Litlington keep an eye out for the toads which have started to cross the lane in their annual migration season. Please take care and try and avoid crushing them to death.
We have also had a continued flow of oiled guillemots coming in this week, so please keep an eye out for them.

East Sussex WRAS is a voluntary organisation which relies on donations. We do not receive funding from government nor the RSPCA. Anyone wishing to make a donation should contact WRAS's treasurer Peter Mortimer at Ash Cottage, 73 Friday Street, Eastbourne, BN23 8AY. www.wildlifeambulance.org 24-hour rescue line: 07815 078 234.