Disappeared birds, a hiding pheasant and a recently badly mauled dog. Lisserbroek farmer Chris Clemens is at a loss because of what he calls ‘a real fox plague’. He even thinks that politicians should intervene. But is there actually a fox problem? NH looked into it.
“Blood was spurting out on all sides.” Arable farmer Chris Clemens doesn’t mince words when he talks about the fight between his dog and a fox on New Year’s morning. “We were walking around the backyard, and then I suddenly heard yapping and moaning. So I ran around the corner and they were already attacking each other.”
Both Chris’ border collie, Bollie Beer, and the fox emerged battered from the confrontation. “Bollie Beer had wounds on her legs, and afterwards she also had a fever. After all, such a fox has not been vaccinated against anything,” says Chris. The fox itself was still in his backyard on New Year’s Day.
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Chris therefore called in Sjaak van Ruiten from the animal ambulance to pick up the fox. He immediately saw that there was more going on with the animal. “He was shot in the leg, probably by a hunter. That’s what drove him into that backyard. Unfortunately, we ultimately had to put him to sleep.”
But according to Chris, one fox less is actually not enough. “We have seen for twenty or thirty years that the wild birds around our farm are doing less and less. Partridges, gone. Larks, nowhere to be seen. We named the last one in the area Gerrit, who has been sleeping every night for a long time. with us in the roof of the shed. Otherwise he is also the fool.”
Chris has an explanation for that. “I think those foxes have far too little to eat in the dunes and the nature reserves above Lisserbroek. So it is certainly not their fault that they are getting closer to us humans. They come this way from the Venneperhout and surrounding area. .There is no bird left because of that plague.”
Roest also sees that foxes are increasingly entering inhabited areas, but he does not want to call it a plague. “We humans leave a lot of food lying around and he benefits from that. There is no question of a plague, at most you can sometimes suffer from it, especially if you have built a rickety chicken coop, for example.”
Sjaak from the animal ambulance also sees no plague so far. “From what I’ve seen, it’s not too bad, this is only the second one I’ve caught in the Haarlemmermeer. But the fact is that you see them everywhere these days.” That first fox sowed earlier this year death and destruction in Badhoevedorp.
Farmer Chris nevertheless hopes that politicians will take action. “It is a broader problem, it is about policy. We humans create a problem, which puts those foxes in a tight spot. And a pheasant like Gerrit is the victim of this.”