0:00:02 > 0:00:07This programme contains some scenes which some viewers may find upsetting
0:00:07 > 0:00:09Love them... They really are adorable.
0:00:09 > 0:00:11..hate them... I will electrify.
0:00:11 > 0:00:14I'll put 20,000 volts there, if needs be. I'll fry it.
0:00:14 > 0:00:17..cuddle them... Want a little friend? Eh?
0:00:17 > 0:00:19They like company.
0:00:19 > 0:00:20They know we're helping them.
0:00:20 > 0:00:22..kill them...
0:00:22 > 0:00:24GUNSHOT
0:00:25 > 0:00:30..33,000 urban foxes in Britain.
0:00:30 > 0:00:32They're hungry.
0:00:37 > 0:00:38They do love a chicken dinner.
0:00:38 > 0:00:40Now look at the poor devil.
0:00:40 > 0:00:42Just for a fox to have a bit of fun.
0:00:44 > 0:00:50Fox haters, huggers and hunters - a nation divided.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58BARKING
0:01:00 > 0:01:03Every night, as the evening draws down,
0:01:03 > 0:01:06a little dance begins in suburban Britain.
0:01:16 > 0:01:18Our towns are providing rich pickings
0:01:18 > 0:01:21for an ever bolder fox population.
0:01:23 > 0:01:27I'll throw it round the lawn a bit cos then they'll stay longer,
0:01:27 > 0:01:29as they have to collect it.
0:01:29 > 0:01:31Looks like a fox feast.
0:01:31 > 0:01:32It is a foxy feast.
0:01:36 > 0:01:38There's quite a lot of food going out there, Louise.
0:01:38 > 0:01:40Not really. Not for four or five foxes.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45Foxes started colonising the newly built suburbs
0:01:45 > 0:01:47around our cities in the 1930s.
0:01:48 > 0:01:49You can see why.
0:01:51 > 0:01:55Others have a very different sort of evening planned.
0:01:55 > 0:01:58Tim's been a pest controller for the past 14 years.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02That's supposed to be like a rabbit squealing or an animal in distress,
0:02:02 > 0:02:05which then makes the fox come in a bit closer.
0:02:05 > 0:02:10This one's a bullet that's been adapted to...
0:02:10 > 0:02:12make a fox call.
0:02:12 > 0:02:13SQUEAKING
0:02:14 > 0:02:17An hour later, Louise's house.
0:02:20 > 0:02:22(They're on the path!)
0:02:24 > 0:02:25Ten o'clock with Tim.
0:02:26 > 0:02:27That's a big gun, Tim.
0:02:28 > 0:02:30Yes, it's nice and light.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33It's a .223 calibre.
0:02:42 > 0:02:47SQUEAKING
0:02:47 > 0:02:49GUNSHOT
0:02:55 > 0:02:58The urban fox ranges far and wide.
0:02:59 > 0:03:01He does love to leave his mark.
0:03:03 > 0:03:04It's the smell.
0:03:04 > 0:03:06Is it bad? Oh, God.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09I could ask you to put your nose into my bin there,
0:03:09 > 0:03:13but I think it might result in your dinner coming back up.
0:03:13 > 0:03:14Oh, it's appalling.
0:03:14 > 0:03:16I've never smelt anything like it.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19Trying to get into your cat's... My cat flap. Yeah, they broke it.
0:03:19 > 0:03:21It's broken the cat flap.
0:03:21 > 0:03:23Janet's neighbour Crystal.
0:03:23 > 0:03:25Tried to get through the cat flap.
0:03:28 > 0:03:30And the next door neighbour as well.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35I love my garden because it's my stress outlet.
0:03:35 > 0:03:39You know, it's sheer enjoyment to see what I've done over the years.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43Opening the front door in the morning and smelling it,
0:03:43 > 0:03:48and then having to come down with a shovel, wrapping it up in paper.
0:03:48 > 0:03:50How do you think I feel about it?
0:03:50 > 0:03:51So, whereabouts does it go?
0:03:51 > 0:03:54Well, I can tell you where it shits every day.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59As you can see by the state of the grass.
0:03:59 > 0:04:02And it's just gone on like this since last August.
0:04:02 > 0:04:05I went online and Googled answers,
0:04:05 > 0:04:09and I got some wonderful answers from America.
0:04:09 > 0:04:11"Get yourself a double-barrel shotgun, honey,
0:04:11 > 0:04:14"and blow it to smithereens."
0:04:14 > 0:04:19I mean, I will electrify. I'll put 20,000 volts there, if needs be.
0:04:19 > 0:04:20I'll fry it.
0:04:21 > 0:04:23It's war.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26It's a war between the fox and me.
0:04:27 > 0:04:31War needs weapons and war needs waiting.
0:04:32 > 0:04:33So...
0:04:33 > 0:04:37You're going to sit here tonight... Yes. ..with your pole.
0:04:37 > 0:04:38With my pole.
0:04:38 > 0:04:43And if I can hit it unconscious, I will then put it in a dustbin,
0:04:43 > 0:04:47I think, and drive it down to the nearest tip.
0:04:47 > 0:04:50This is what it's driven you to. Oh, yes.
0:04:50 > 0:04:52At the end of my tether,
0:04:52 > 0:04:55and never cross a Welsh woman when she's at the end of her tether.
0:05:02 > 0:05:06This is definitely Dad's Army. No guns. A curtain pole.
0:05:14 > 0:05:17This is Brookside, suburban north London,
0:05:17 > 0:05:21a street in a ferment about foxes.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24We can't put poison down, can we? Cos we can't afford to kill cats.
0:05:26 > 0:05:28It came in just from next door.
0:05:28 > 0:05:30Because we saw them in the winter,
0:05:30 > 0:05:32now the kids won't go in the garden on their own.
0:05:32 > 0:05:36Yeah. Other people up and down the road say they see them as well.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39We used to have our rabbit down on the decking
0:05:39 > 0:05:41and then the foxes came.
0:05:41 > 0:05:43We're a little bit worried,
0:05:43 > 0:05:46thinking the rabbit might have a heart attack or something like that.
0:05:46 > 0:05:50Hundreds of foxes have invaded this street over the past few years.
0:05:50 > 0:05:53She's standing, shouting, "Fox! Fox!"
0:05:53 > 0:05:55In Polish language...
0:05:55 > 0:05:56SPEAKS POLISH
0:05:57 > 0:06:01This is... The rabbits' grave, where Tommy and JJ are buried.
0:06:01 > 0:06:04They managed to get out and the fox got them.
0:06:04 > 0:06:05I hate them.
0:06:06 > 0:06:08An ever bolder fox population has sparked
0:06:08 > 0:06:12newspaper headlines about foxes even coming into people's houses.
0:06:14 > 0:06:16Hello, foxy.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19I first saw him behind that white bench there.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22Not everyone in Brookside is a fox hater.
0:06:22 > 0:06:24Three doors away, a man used to...
0:06:24 > 0:06:27A man was feeding them.
0:06:27 > 0:06:29I think there's a chap down the road that puts out food for them.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32He puts out cat food and bits and pieces.
0:06:32 > 0:06:36In the middle of Brookside lives Nobby.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39He favours a more laissez-faire approach to gardening
0:06:39 > 0:06:41and to the animals in his garden.
0:06:43 > 0:06:45If you don't like living near a nature reserve,
0:06:45 > 0:06:49go and live in a flat. How long have you lived here for?
0:06:51 > 0:06:53In New Barnet?
0:06:53 > 0:06:55Since 1945.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58Do you want to show me where the fox comes from?
0:06:58 > 0:06:59I don't know where her den is,
0:06:59 > 0:07:01but I'll show you where she comes through.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04You've got to do a bit of climbing.
0:07:09 > 0:07:12Over there, under that blue thing.
0:07:12 > 0:07:15How long has she been coming for?
0:07:15 > 0:07:16Five years now.
0:07:18 > 0:07:20I just like animals.
0:07:20 > 0:07:22You name it, I've had it.
0:07:22 > 0:07:25I used to collect butterflies and stuff like that,
0:07:25 > 0:07:26and bird's eggs...
0:07:27 > 0:07:31All my life, it's all I've done... and work.
0:07:31 > 0:07:35I do the lottery occasionally and if I ever won millions,
0:07:35 > 0:07:38I'd just buy as much land as I could, put a big fence around it
0:07:38 > 0:07:41and turn it into a nature reserve, and keep everybody out.
0:07:43 > 0:07:4720 houses downwind of Nobby lives Sofia.
0:07:47 > 0:07:49Due to the recent increase in fox numbers,
0:07:49 > 0:07:54she's had to take extreme measures in order to protect her hens.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58If a fox killed my chickens, I would be absolutely devastated.
0:07:58 > 0:08:00I would... I don't know what I'd do.
0:08:00 > 0:08:02I'd probably start shooting them myself.
0:08:02 > 0:08:04What kind of things have you tried?
0:08:04 > 0:08:05So...
0:08:05 > 0:08:09I've tried human hair, the barbed wire to stop them jumping on top.
0:08:09 > 0:08:13I've got this pack called Fox Solutions and the alarm.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16Bit of a random request. My mum went to the hairdressers, like,
0:08:16 > 0:08:18"Can I have a bag of hair?"
0:08:19 > 0:08:22That is the hair. Let's have a look.
0:08:22 > 0:08:26I've wedged it in certain places and foxes have pulled it out.
0:08:26 > 0:08:28I think there is something about the smell that,
0:08:28 > 0:08:30I don't know whether it angers them, they like it not,
0:08:30 > 0:08:32something about the territory.
0:08:32 > 0:08:35On the forum, I've heard that a male urinating around the garden
0:08:35 > 0:08:37is another really good deterrent,
0:08:37 > 0:08:40again, because of the territory thing. Have you tried that?
0:08:40 > 0:08:44No. My brother wasn't up for it and my dad was like, "Don't be silly."
0:08:48 > 0:08:51Evening brings out Brookside's other population.
0:08:51 > 0:08:55Mrs Fox want her dinner? Come on in, girl.
0:08:55 > 0:08:56Come on then.
0:08:56 > 0:08:59Come and have your din-din. Come on then.
0:08:59 > 0:09:01Nice dinner, come on. Come quick.
0:09:05 > 0:09:09You must talk to animals, otherwise they don't respond to you.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14She's about five years now, that one.
0:09:14 > 0:09:17She'll go off and she'll bury it.
0:09:17 > 0:09:19There's a lot of people round here saying,
0:09:19 > 0:09:22"You and your foxes are making a noise, and they're digging holes
0:09:22 > 0:09:24"in my garden and they're doing this",
0:09:24 > 0:09:27and I just tell them to go to boil their head. Takes two to tango.
0:09:27 > 0:09:30If she wants... If she wants to be friendly...
0:09:32 > 0:09:37I'll be friendly. But if she wants to by skittish...
0:09:37 > 0:09:38like the one in the front.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41Who are we talking about? The foxes or the neighbours?
0:09:41 > 0:09:43Oh, the neighbours, I don't give a shit about them.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54Foxes can live for up to 14 years,
0:09:54 > 0:09:59but most urban foxes live only two years due to traffic accidents.
0:10:01 > 0:10:05Give that a bang and that's... Makes him come.
0:10:05 > 0:10:09RATTLING
0:10:14 > 0:10:17Your attitude to foxes tends to be different
0:10:17 > 0:10:20when you find your happiness in rearing livestock.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23How long have you been here for?
0:10:23 > 0:10:2514 years now.
0:10:25 > 0:10:27It's a little bit of heaven.
0:10:27 > 0:10:29It's the best bit of heaven.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33It's small, it's handy, it's close, and nobody knows it's here.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44That's where the fox leaves when he comes visiting.
0:10:50 > 0:10:54He didn't take any. He killed 36.
0:10:54 > 0:10:57If he was hungry and he killed one, I'd say, "Good luck to you."
0:10:57 > 0:11:02But he killed 36 and never took one, so that is just a pure killer.
0:11:03 > 0:11:06A flock like this costs around ?300.
0:11:06 > 0:11:09It's money which Tony can ill afford.
0:11:09 > 0:11:12That's what you see when you come in first thing in the morning.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21That's a lovely healthy hen - she's fat.
0:11:21 > 0:11:23She was laying every day.
0:11:24 > 0:11:26Now look at the poor devil.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33Just for a fox to have a bit of fun.
0:11:33 > 0:11:35And what do I do with these?
0:11:35 > 0:11:37Tell one of these people that love foxes,
0:11:37 > 0:11:40tell them put these in the sack now and what do I do with them?
0:11:43 > 0:11:45The fox doesn't really just kill for the sake of it.
0:11:45 > 0:11:48He'll be back for the chicken carcasses...
0:11:48 > 0:11:50and Tony will be waiting.
0:11:56 > 0:11:58He'll pay.
0:11:58 > 0:11:59It may take time, but he will pay.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07There are seven times as many foxes in the countryside
0:12:07 > 0:12:09as in urban areas.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12Controlling their numbers provides a steady living
0:12:12 > 0:12:14for pest controllers like Lee.
0:12:17 > 0:12:18I'm coming up.
0:12:21 > 0:12:25The world looks a bit different from up here, doesn't it?
0:12:25 > 0:12:28I'm in my 17th year now...
0:12:28 > 0:12:30in pest control.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34So... But I've always been into countryside,
0:12:34 > 0:12:37ever since I left school at 16.
0:12:37 > 0:12:39You don't need a licence to kill a fox,
0:12:39 > 0:12:43but you will need someone with a gun licence to kill it humanely.
0:12:43 > 0:12:48With fox control, you are literally just controlling foxes.
0:12:48 > 0:12:50You're not out to... You know, make them extinct.
0:12:50 > 0:12:53That is not the point of it. It's just about keeping a balance.
0:12:53 > 0:12:56I mean, the problem being now, when you're getting into the cities
0:12:56 > 0:12:59and that, you are getting people in the cities that are trying
0:12:59 > 0:13:02to do country things, like bringing chickens into the garden.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05And...that's the problem now.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08And then you get people that feed foxes,
0:13:08 > 0:13:12which obviously bring them closer and obviously they get tame.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15And then you're getting this problem now where they're
0:13:15 > 0:13:18coming into people's houses. You know, that's not a natural thing.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21You'd never ever ever get that happen in the countryside.
0:13:30 > 0:13:35MAKES KISSING NOISES
0:13:38 > 0:13:40GUNSHOT
0:13:44 > 0:13:46Not all pest controllers think
0:13:46 > 0:13:49you can only control foxes by shooting them.
0:13:49 > 0:13:54Meet Fox-A-Gon, who expound their own theory of humane pest control.
0:13:54 > 0:13:58What these nasty people seem to forget is that all this that we see
0:13:58 > 0:14:01around us at the moment, this beautiful landscape
0:14:01 > 0:14:05with its vast variety of flora and fauna,
0:14:05 > 0:14:07all runs in balance and harmony.
0:14:07 > 0:14:11And if you start taking out what you don't like - the squirrels,
0:14:11 > 0:14:16the foxes, the badgers - then you end up with nothing.
0:14:16 > 0:14:20The team are one of the few humane pest controllers in the UK.
0:14:20 > 0:14:24Terry and Graham specialise in evicting and moving on foxes,
0:14:24 > 0:14:26rather than destroying them.
0:14:26 > 0:14:30People do have a perverse like of killing animals...
0:14:30 > 0:14:32for whatever reason.
0:14:32 > 0:14:36And conventional pest controllers shoot them on a regular basis,
0:14:36 > 0:14:38shoot five and six a day.
0:14:38 > 0:14:42We worked out that, not last year, but the year before,
0:14:42 > 0:14:47we probably saved, indirectly, the lives of 500 foxes.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52A call comes in from west London.
0:14:52 > 0:14:55Foxes have built a den under a garden shed
0:14:55 > 0:14:57and are kicking up a racket at night.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01Big garden shed, full of belongings.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04They're going in down the front edge, coming out at the back edge.
0:15:04 > 0:15:08Well, obviously, in London you see foxes around all the time,
0:15:08 > 0:15:10so it hasn't been a great shock
0:15:10 > 0:15:12to see them in the garden.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16I suppose the first thing we noticed, really, was just
0:15:16 > 0:15:20that there is quite a lot of ground moving from underneath the shed.
0:15:20 > 0:15:23He's come underneath the slabs...
0:15:23 > 0:15:26scraped all the earth out...
0:15:26 > 0:15:29Yeah, I've got blinking eyes in here.
0:15:31 > 0:15:33Guys, he's just here.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38That may have been one trying to come back in and gone out again.
0:15:38 > 0:15:40What, just now? Yeah.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43One went that way. Look, he's just there.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55A fox tends to have about five cubs a season.
0:15:55 > 0:15:57Terry and Graham's approach is to encourage them
0:15:57 > 0:16:00to move somewhere where they're not being a nuisance.
0:16:26 > 0:16:28Come on, little man.
0:16:28 > 0:16:29Little boy.
0:16:34 > 0:16:37Poor thing. I'll give him flea treatment,
0:16:37 > 0:16:42but I haven't seen a fox cub with this many fleas ever.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45He's absolutely... See them up on my skin?
0:16:45 > 0:16:48Absolutely riddled with them.
0:16:48 > 0:16:50Literally, when they get picked up like that,
0:16:50 > 0:16:52they normally wet themselves - I don't know if that one did.
0:16:52 > 0:16:54And they're scared, they're very scared,
0:16:54 > 0:16:57but the idea is we get them undercover as quickly as we can.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00When they get into darkness they become a lot more relaxed.
0:17:00 > 0:17:03He'll calm down and he'll just go and lie in a corner.
0:17:03 > 0:17:07All the pest controller will do is trap and shoot...
0:17:07 > 0:17:10and won't even fox-proof the shed again,
0:17:10 > 0:17:13which means, five to seven days in the London area normally,
0:17:13 > 0:17:16the other foxes start to encroach in.
0:17:16 > 0:17:19So, it's not resolving people's problems
0:17:19 > 0:17:22and although it hurts me to evict foxes,
0:17:22 > 0:17:25it is the lesser of the evils, as it were.
0:17:27 > 0:17:29Each vixen, when she gets pregnant,
0:17:29 > 0:17:31will have four or five places like this to go to
0:17:31 > 0:17:34and she will quite simply move her cubs on.
0:17:36 > 0:17:38So, I've just given it a small dose of that.
0:17:38 > 0:17:40Terry and Graham have blocked off the shed.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43Their hope is the mother will collect the cub
0:17:43 > 0:17:45and take it to a more remote den.
0:17:45 > 0:17:46As soon as we're finished,
0:17:46 > 0:17:48we're going to release it back in the garden.
0:17:48 > 0:17:50It will probably run back up the back of the shed for now...
0:17:50 > 0:17:52and then start calling again tonight.
0:17:52 > 0:17:54You think it's been abandoned then?
0:17:54 > 0:17:57We're not sure. No way of knowing at this stage.
0:17:57 > 0:17:59Hopefully not.
0:17:59 > 0:18:00Erm...
0:18:00 > 0:18:03But, as with all the things we do,
0:18:03 > 0:18:05as we go, we'll find out what's happening.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09We've got to crack on.
0:18:09 > 0:18:13If this cub's mother doesn't come back for it over the next couple of nights,
0:18:13 > 0:18:16the team will arrange for the abandoned cub to be rescued.
0:18:21 > 0:18:24He's been in that carrier for a few hours.
0:18:24 > 0:18:27He's now got somewhere where he's going to feel a little bit secure.
0:18:27 > 0:18:30It's going to go quiet, he's going to calm down and, hopefully,
0:18:30 > 0:18:31that's the end of the job.
0:18:41 > 0:18:46Janet's night-time vigils have proved unsuccessful.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49Coming back from holiday, her nostrils are twitching.
0:18:52 > 0:18:54I suppose I'd better go and check,
0:18:54 > 0:18:56and see what the little darlings have left for me.
0:18:56 > 0:18:58What are you expecting, Janet? A lot.
0:18:59 > 0:19:04You know, just because I've been on holiday, they won't have been.
0:19:06 > 0:19:08Oh!
0:19:09 > 0:19:11Don't step in it.
0:19:11 > 0:19:12Three, four.
0:19:13 > 0:19:18I've tried to block every, you know, access point.
0:19:18 > 0:19:19Oh!
0:19:19 > 0:19:21If the wind's in the right direction...
0:19:21 > 0:19:24I think I said to you once before, you can open the front door
0:19:24 > 0:19:27and, if the wind is blowing...
0:19:27 > 0:19:32in this direction, it just makes your eyes water.
0:19:37 > 0:19:40We decided to help Janet out to identify
0:19:40 > 0:19:44the offender by setting up motion cameras.
0:19:44 > 0:19:48I'm just hoping that when you put the motion cameras up...
0:19:48 > 0:19:50maybe we can find how it's getting in.
0:19:57 > 0:20:01Tony's also been unsuccessful with his nights with the gun.
0:20:01 > 0:20:06We waited seven days, and on the eighth day we had a night off,
0:20:06 > 0:20:10and on the eighth night he came back and took eight chickens.
0:20:10 > 0:20:12This isn't killing. This is murder.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24He's decided to burn his oppressor's food.
0:20:27 > 0:20:29A lot of waste, isn't it?
0:20:29 > 0:20:31Just so that little fox wanted something to kill.
0:20:31 > 0:20:33He wanted some sport one night.
0:20:47 > 0:20:50A chicken roast, but not in a good way.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06Fox hunters like Tim increasingly
0:21:06 > 0:21:08have to follow foxes into urban gardens.
0:21:10 > 0:21:12So, what gun's this?
0:21:12 > 0:21:16It's a .22 Rimfire. Erm...
0:21:16 > 0:21:21We use this in urban situations simply because it's dead silent.
0:21:21 > 0:21:23We should see some foxes tonight. This guy's had a serious problem.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26They killed his chickens, they killed his rabbits,
0:21:26 > 0:21:30they've killed all of his animals. They've ripped the cages to bit.
0:21:30 > 0:21:34You have to kill a wild animal like a fox humanely,
0:21:34 > 0:21:37that means either trapping it and putting it to sleep or
0:21:37 > 0:21:40calling in someone with a gun licence like Tim.
0:21:40 > 0:21:45I am an animal lover. I don't necessarily like shooting foxes.
0:21:45 > 0:21:49I think a fox is a nice animal, but in an urban situation
0:21:49 > 0:21:53it's generally got worms, carries all kinds of disease.
0:21:58 > 0:22:01Yeah, it's only to...
0:22:02 > 0:22:03..slow the foxes down,
0:22:03 > 0:22:07in case they come out and they run across from one side to the other.
0:22:07 > 0:22:08Just so we can get them
0:22:08 > 0:22:11so their head is down and we get a correct shot on them.
0:22:12 > 0:22:16We actually shot six here one evening...
0:22:16 > 0:22:16and four the next.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19Ten foxes in two days.
0:22:19 > 0:22:24We've shot threes and fours and fives since then,
0:22:24 > 0:22:28but... It's one of those places they just keep coming.
0:22:37 > 0:22:41MAKES SQUEAKING NOISE
0:22:48 > 0:22:50GUNSHOT
0:22:56 > 0:22:57A job done.
0:22:57 > 0:22:59Yeah, we've done the job.
0:22:59 > 0:23:01Very good night.
0:23:19 > 0:23:24Urban foxes often live off a diet of food scavenged from dustbins
0:23:24 > 0:23:25and discarded takeaways...
0:23:28 > 0:23:31..none of which are in Sofia's garden.
0:23:34 > 0:23:36I didn't know whether it was a happy cluck or a scared cluck.
0:23:36 > 0:23:39Usually, they cluck a lot when they lay an egg.
0:23:39 > 0:23:40They were scared, so I ran to the window
0:23:40 > 0:23:43and the fox was just sitting there, looking at them.
0:23:43 > 0:23:46Although there are already an abundance of foxes,
0:23:46 > 0:23:50I think feeding them makes them less scared of humans.
0:23:50 > 0:23:53How do you think you would feel if you lived next door to Nobby?
0:23:53 > 0:23:56I think I'd call the council.
0:23:56 > 0:23:59I... Yeah, I'd definitely do that.
0:23:59 > 0:24:00Yeah, I'd be upset, I think.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06If you're going to be silly enough to have chickens
0:24:06 > 0:24:09and you're not going to have them well locked in or what have you,
0:24:09 > 0:24:11you deserve something to take them.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20Mrs Fox, do you want your dinner?
0:24:20 > 0:24:24The sights and sounds of suburban Barnet.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27RATTLING
0:24:38 > 0:24:42The urban fox provides hours of harmless entertainment
0:24:42 > 0:24:44for thousands of suburbanites.
0:24:44 > 0:24:48Oh, they're adorable. They really are adorable.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53And how anybody can hurt them, I will never know.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05This is where Chris and Dee live...
0:25:05 > 0:25:09and they feed the foxes from the top of their steps.
0:25:09 > 0:25:13Normally the foxes come out about nine-ish...
0:25:13 > 0:25:16in the evening and then just run all over the place.
0:25:16 > 0:25:21All normally get round the bowl together, if they can.
0:25:21 > 0:25:26They go across to Bob and Joyce's over the road... OK.
0:25:26 > 0:25:30They go there between nine and half nine-ish in the evening
0:25:30 > 0:25:33and get their supper from there.
0:25:35 > 0:25:37Every night, fox frolics.
0:25:40 > 0:25:42Entranced householders.
0:25:52 > 0:25:54They each have their own little personalities.
0:25:54 > 0:25:56You know, there's the one who sits at the back
0:25:56 > 0:25:59and waits till the other ones are finished
0:25:59 > 0:26:01cos he's a big scaredy cat. Scaredy fox.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04And you can tell the other one is a bit more male alpha
0:26:04 > 0:26:07and he's sort of like, "I'm having that. Get out of the way."
0:26:07 > 0:26:09I just think... They're just lovely.
0:26:09 > 0:26:11..animals are just fascinating to watch.
0:26:11 > 0:26:13They just need feeding, like anyone.
0:26:13 > 0:26:15Yeah. You can't ask them any questions.
0:26:15 > 0:26:17You can only learn from watching what they're doing.
0:26:22 > 0:26:24At number two, fox TV.
0:26:32 > 0:26:36So, you sit here most nights just watching the camera?
0:26:36 > 0:26:38He does. I watch the television.
0:26:38 > 0:26:42He watches them. He watches that more than he watches that.
0:26:42 > 0:26:44Half the stuff on telly's not worth watching anyway.
0:26:44 > 0:26:46I came home the other night and I said,
0:26:46 > 0:26:48"What's the matter with the television?"
0:26:48 > 0:26:50He said, "Nothing on. It's more interesting watching the foxes."
0:27:01 > 0:27:02Come on, babies, let's have you.
0:27:10 > 0:27:12Right. I'm just going to get it organised.
0:27:12 > 0:27:15Terry doesn't just run Fox-A-Gon,
0:27:15 > 0:27:17he also volunteers at the Fox Project,
0:27:17 > 0:27:20a charity dedicated to rescuing foxes.
0:27:22 > 0:27:25The fox cub from under the west London shed was never
0:27:25 > 0:27:28collected by its mother, so was brought here.
0:27:28 > 0:27:32We see a high percentage of sickly cubs
0:27:32 > 0:27:36because they're the ones that Mum leaves behind and people find.
0:27:37 > 0:27:41So he was rescued by one of our volunteers and brought in.
0:27:41 > 0:27:45It's eating, which is a good sign, and...
0:27:45 > 0:27:47I expect it to fully recover.
0:27:47 > 0:27:48What's this?
0:27:50 > 0:27:53You want a little friend? Eh?
0:27:53 > 0:27:55They like company, that's why...
0:27:55 > 0:27:57The only reason we put these in there is
0:27:57 > 0:27:59because they're on their own without siblings.
0:27:59 > 0:28:02So, they fare much better if they've got something in there.
0:28:02 > 0:28:05Although it's not warm and it's not another fox.
0:28:07 > 0:28:09Gives them something to hide underneath,
0:28:09 > 0:28:10like they do their siblings.
0:28:11 > 0:28:13Come on, little girl.
0:28:15 > 0:28:19They tend to take treatment in their stride.
0:28:19 > 0:28:20It's almost as if...
0:28:20 > 0:28:23they know we're helping them - not all of them -
0:28:23 > 0:28:24but the majority of them.
0:28:25 > 0:28:29The fox has always been demonised...
0:28:29 > 0:28:30I don't know why.
0:28:30 > 0:28:35It manages to live amongst us quite successfully without causing us...
0:28:35 > 0:28:39any grief, really. Occasionally it might make a mess in our garden.
0:28:40 > 0:28:44How is it treating a fox like that? How does that make you feel?
0:28:44 > 0:28:48Like I'm some use, I suppose. Erm...
0:28:48 > 0:28:52Being able to treat something that you know wouldn't otherwise
0:28:52 > 0:28:56have gotten any medical help when it's got a serious condition.
0:28:56 > 0:28:57Erm...
0:28:57 > 0:28:59Makes you feel like you're doing
0:28:59 > 0:29:03something useful in society, I guess. Pleases me anyway.
0:29:15 > 0:29:17A garden under surveillance.
0:29:19 > 0:29:21Just don't get a whiff.
0:29:22 > 0:29:24He's done that last night.
0:29:24 > 0:29:26You can smell it as you come down the stairs.
0:29:29 > 0:29:32God, I don't want to spend the rest of my life doing this.
0:29:32 > 0:29:34We've got some footage to show you.
0:29:34 > 0:29:37We'll go and have a look at it in a moment, shall we? Please.
0:29:40 > 0:29:43We wound the cameras back to show Janet the footage.
0:29:50 > 0:29:52Next door's cat, our ginger moggie.
0:30:04 > 0:30:06Is he going?
0:30:09 > 0:30:11It's the cat!
0:30:18 > 0:30:21So, it's not a fox - it's the cat.
0:30:21 > 0:30:23Wow.
0:30:23 > 0:30:25It's got to be.
0:30:27 > 0:30:30But I didn't think a cat could give out...
0:30:30 > 0:30:32big lumps like that.
0:30:34 > 0:30:37The two neighbours think it could have been a fox in the past,
0:30:37 > 0:30:39but for now it's a cat on camera.
0:30:43 > 0:30:47While the urban fox makes a fine living out of dustbins,
0:30:47 > 0:30:51the rural fox is more red in tooth and claw.
0:30:51 > 0:30:53In the countryside, you've got a very cunning
0:30:53 > 0:30:55and wile animal in the fox.
0:30:55 > 0:30:58It's different from a town fox and there's nothing realistically,
0:30:58 > 0:30:59apart from dispatching of a fox,
0:30:59 > 0:31:01you can do to sort the problem out.
0:31:01 > 0:31:04We've lost one lamb, which has obviously been taken by a fox,
0:31:04 > 0:31:06and picked up a sort of dismembered lamb,
0:31:06 > 0:31:07which was half-eaten by the fox.
0:31:07 > 0:31:12So, I've got no option but to get someone in - a responsible person -
0:31:12 > 0:31:14to sort this problem out.
0:31:14 > 0:31:18Come nightfall, Lee has an appointment with the fox.
0:31:18 > 0:31:22Just... Just get a bit of clothing cos it's gonna be cold, I reckon.
0:31:24 > 0:31:28We're going to see if we can recall this problem fox.
0:31:29 > 0:31:32Lee's not someone to glory in shooting foxes.
0:31:32 > 0:31:36For him, it's a job...one which he does as efficiently as possible.
0:31:36 > 0:31:38If you're shooting at something live, you want to kill it.
0:31:38 > 0:31:40You don't really want to wound it.
0:31:40 > 0:31:45You want to make something as humane as possible...
0:31:45 > 0:31:48so, that's what we do.
0:31:48 > 0:31:50Have the right kit for the job.
0:31:50 > 0:31:54It's a very essential piece of kit, the night vision.
0:31:54 > 0:32:00We shot hundreds of foxes where you will just not shoot them on a lamp.
0:32:01 > 0:32:04You can't even drive into the farm without the fox -
0:32:04 > 0:32:07on the other side of the farm - without any lights.
0:32:08 > 0:32:10MAKES KISSING NOISE
0:32:20 > 0:32:22GUNSHOT
0:32:22 > 0:32:25In the last ten years, which I was doing it serious,
0:32:25 > 0:32:28I've probably shot...2,000.
0:32:31 > 0:32:352,300 in the last ten years.
0:32:36 > 0:32:39Good shot. Very good shot.
0:32:39 > 0:32:42Lee's exceptional with a rifle.
0:32:42 > 0:32:45That must have been looking straight at Lee, that must have been,
0:32:45 > 0:32:48cos he shot is straight in the neck, sort of face on.
0:32:48 > 0:32:51We'll take this one back and see if we can spot a few more.
0:32:51 > 0:32:54I expect we're going to see a few tonight.
0:32:54 > 0:32:59Hopefully get the one that keeps killing our lambs.
0:32:59 > 0:33:02He's just texted us about half an hour ago to say that he's just
0:33:02 > 0:33:06checked the lambs before he's gone to bed and he's seen one out there.
0:33:06 > 0:33:10So, hopefully he's not scared it and we'll get it for him.
0:33:10 > 0:33:14It can cost up to ?200 per fox kill,
0:33:14 > 0:33:16but it's not easy money for the hunter.
0:33:16 > 0:33:19It can take many hours of stalking through the night.
0:33:19 > 0:33:22This is the most important fox of all.
0:33:22 > 0:33:26This is where we've just seen a fox, across here somewhere.
0:33:31 > 0:33:36This... This is, literally, where the lambs have been attacked,
0:33:36 > 0:33:40literally sort of 250 metres down here. Right.
0:33:41 > 0:33:45We've just seen a fox laid out in the corn down the bottom here.
0:33:46 > 0:33:48Which...
0:33:48 > 0:33:51We're going to see if we can get a little bit close to it.
0:33:58 > 0:34:01Half an hour later, the target is sighted.
0:34:15 > 0:34:19MAKES KISSING NOISE
0:34:30 > 0:34:32GUNSHOT
0:34:32 > 0:34:36There you go. Did you hear the strike? Yeah. Brilliant.
0:34:36 > 0:34:39Could that be the problem one?
0:34:39 > 0:34:42It's very close to where the...lambs are.
0:34:47 > 0:34:52I think what divides everybody between liking foxes
0:34:52 > 0:34:58and hating them is, obviously one thing, they look nice.
0:34:58 > 0:35:00Nice and red, cute and cuddly...
0:35:02 > 0:35:04..and that's what people do see.
0:35:04 > 0:35:08But a lot of people don't see the actual destruction
0:35:08 > 0:35:10that they do sometimes.
0:35:10 > 0:35:14You know, it's only people that live in the countryside or...
0:35:14 > 0:35:17You know, people in London now are starting to have chickens
0:35:17 > 0:35:19and stuff like that, so they then realise that,
0:35:19 > 0:35:22so they then realise what actual damage they do.
0:35:22 > 0:35:25Cos if they went into a chicken pen and just took one chicken,
0:35:25 > 0:35:27it wouldn't be a problem...
0:35:27 > 0:35:29or less of a problem.
0:35:30 > 0:35:34There's a certain blood-for-blood justice in the night hunter.
0:35:34 > 0:35:37The dead fox laid on top of the lamb it slaughtered.
0:35:37 > 0:35:42The farmers like to stroke, basically, to touch or see,
0:35:42 > 0:35:43makes them feel better.
0:35:43 > 0:35:47Knowing it's... ..dead, basically.
0:35:57 > 0:36:01There are 16 foxes for every square mile in London,
0:36:01 > 0:36:02the more the merrier for Nobby.
0:36:02 > 0:36:05So, Nobby, what time of night is it at the moment?
0:36:06 > 0:36:08Do you know? I don't know.
0:36:08 > 0:36:10HE LAUGHS
0:36:10 > 0:36:16I don't know. I guess it's about half past three, but I'm not too sure.
0:36:16 > 0:36:18What's that then? A few bones?
0:36:18 > 0:36:21No. That's tuna dog food...
0:36:21 > 0:36:27Er...a packet of cat food, some cat biscuits...
0:36:27 > 0:36:29and some dog biscuits.
0:36:32 > 0:36:36For Nobby, the foxes are companions through the lonely nights.
0:36:36 > 0:36:40Yeah, I've always been a night owl, always have been.
0:36:40 > 0:36:43I'll be honest with you now.
0:36:43 > 0:36:45If I got up at nine o'clock in the morning,
0:36:45 > 0:36:48or eight o'clock in the morning, I find the day's too long.
0:36:50 > 0:36:55Because there's not much I can do to fill the day in.
0:37:04 > 0:37:06Who's going to win in the end then, do you think?
0:37:06 > 0:37:09The people or the foxes? Oh, well, the foxes will win.
0:37:10 > 0:37:11What can they do about them?
0:37:11 > 0:37:14They can't shoot them and they can't poison them.
0:37:16 > 0:37:17They...
0:37:17 > 0:37:21You can't drive them off because...
0:37:21 > 0:37:22more will come in.
0:37:24 > 0:37:27And they just have to live with them, I'm afraid.
0:37:37 > 0:37:40Sofia is moving out.
0:37:40 > 0:37:44She won't miss Nobby's companions and their attentions.
0:37:44 > 0:37:47At her new house, she's already setting up defences.
0:37:47 > 0:37:51Erm, I just want that everything matches the security
0:37:51 > 0:37:52like my old house.
0:37:56 > 0:37:58No, I don't miss the foxes at all.
0:37:58 > 0:38:02I don't miss the smell they leave in the garden and the poo.
0:38:02 > 0:38:04It's nice just to be able to, like, not worry
0:38:04 > 0:38:08so much about foxes being in the garden.
0:38:09 > 0:38:11You can't really stop foxes - they're everywhere -
0:38:11 > 0:38:13and it depends on the area.
0:38:13 > 0:38:17There's only certain things that people can do to stop them,
0:38:17 > 0:38:20but you can't really go out there and shoot them all.
0:38:20 > 0:38:22Put up with it or move house.
0:38:22 > 0:38:24Omelettes for breakfast every day.
0:38:24 > 0:38:27Contented chickens, heads intact.
0:38:31 > 0:38:34It's one of Terry's volunteer days at the Fox Project.
0:38:34 > 0:38:38Today, he's releasing a fox they've nursed back to health.
0:38:38 > 0:38:41He's put on a lot of weight and his coat's lovely.
0:38:41 > 0:38:44This is the best chance he's got, really.
0:38:46 > 0:38:50So, you've released the fox back in the same place you found it? Yes.
0:38:51 > 0:38:53Give or take...
0:38:53 > 0:38:55Bear in mind, wherever you find it,
0:38:55 > 0:39:00it's an almost certainty that is part of its territory.
0:39:00 > 0:39:03But the choice for us was either put him to sleep,
0:39:03 > 0:39:07which none of us really want to do with a healthy fox...
0:39:07 > 0:39:12or put him back and give him a chance to carry on with his life.
0:39:12 > 0:39:17Fox Project's probably now getting on to 10,000, maybe even more.
0:39:18 > 0:39:22So, that's my task done for now. Let's hope he survives well.
0:39:22 > 0:39:26In all honesty, you get one that touches your heart, I suppose,
0:39:26 > 0:39:28and you like to follow it through.
0:39:34 > 0:39:39Good news for Tony - new chickens in the hen house...
0:39:39 > 0:39:41and a new security system.
0:39:41 > 0:39:43All this work just to keep him out.
0:39:46 > 0:39:49God, that's beautiful. They're good friends...
0:39:49 > 0:39:52and they're not fox food either, not this lot.
0:39:52 > 0:39:55Every night, the dance continues.
0:39:55 > 0:39:58He's gone where that other one went.
0:40:01 > 0:40:03Fox huggers...
0:40:05 > 0:40:09..haters with the latest in deterrent technology...
0:40:09 > 0:40:12Take that. Arg!
0:40:13 > 0:40:17Vulpes vulpes, the red fox...
0:40:17 > 0:40:19our ever bolder suburban neighbour.
0:40:39 > 0:40:41Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd