Best time to feed foxes?

debs64

Hi all, we have spotted a vixen with a single cub on our allotment and want to feed them, I have some food rejected by my fussy cats and was planning to leave it for them. There are rats on the allotment too, I don’t mind them but maybe shouldn’t encourage them so is there a good time to feed the foxes when rats are less likely to take the food? Hope someone can help. 

Pete.8

My neighbour feeds the local foxes at dusk every night - throughout the year and for all the 30+ years I've lived here!
They wait under bushes in their front garden to be fed.
When they go on hols I get given a box of dog biscuits, a pile of cooked sausages and lumps of cheese to feed them...
I have no strong views on feeding them but they usually leave a little thank you on my drive that I don't appreciate.

Dovefromabove

Please don’t feed wild foxes. It just encourages them to live in areas which cannot really sustain them ... this leads to over-population and the development of pockets of infection such as mange ... which is miserable for the foxes and which can spread to domestic pets living in the area. 

Feeding foxes also encourages them to be bolder around humans leading to them breaking into chicken runs etc. The sight of a family’s beloved chickens or pet rabbits slaughtered and scattered in their back garden is very upsetting. 

Foxes are beautiful wild creatures ... please let them remain as such and don’t join those who are turning them into loathed urban scavengers. 

Sorry, I know you mean well but please think again. 🙏 

Pete.8

Very wise words Dove!

B3

Never.

TenN

It's a nice idea but we can't make wild animals reliant on us, she needs to teach that cub how to feed itself. In the wild they only have to worry about morons in red coats but in cities they have the risk of cars, dogs, transferable disease, plastic ingestion, and rat poisons.

steephill

The foxes will eat the rats and mice around the allotments so don't offer easier food.

GemmaJF

Best time to feed any wild animal, never. Enjoy them for what they are. I know it is nice to feel you have a special bond, but really it is not doing the fox any good at all.

AnniD

Sorry Debs, but l have to agree. I know where you're coming from, but they are wild animals. 
They may well help with the rat problem though! 
Bit of info here
https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2019/08/what-foxes-eat/

Hostafan1

Another vote for " Never" 

Fairygirl

Never.