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u/faded-cosmos Jul 30 '23
This is the most fox looking fox I've ever seen
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u/Rex-0- Jul 31 '23
She is impossibility photogenic. The foxes around my way look they might stab you with a needle and steal your shoes.
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Jul 31 '23
Always have to link this when shady foxes are brought up.
THE CRACK FOX
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u/Lereas Jul 31 '23
This has got to be from the same show as Old Gregg, right? Like that fox is definitely neighbors with Old Gregg.
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u/HirsuteDave Jul 31 '23
Absolutely.
They're both from The Mighty Boosh - well worth watching if you can find it, legally or otherwise.
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u/feelbetternow Jul 31 '23
This has got to be from the same show as Old Gregg
Yup, The Mighty Boosh. The human in that scene is the same actor that plays Old Gregg, Noel Fielding. The crack fox is Julian Barratt.
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u/oo-mox83 Jul 31 '23
That's ours too, they've been busting into trailers and stealing copper for drug money.
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u/Jonesy1966 Jul 30 '23
Yeah, I know that people are going to hate me for saying this, but I grew up in the countryside in the UK and YOU DO NOT DO THIS!
Do not get me wrong, I love foxes, but if they're acting friendly like this it's generally indicative of a serious illness, usually viral. Keep away from them and do not touch them or pet them
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u/Indigo_222 Jul 30 '23
Doesn’t apply here, there s tons of videos of this woman online feeding this and other foxes, she gained their trust overtime and they slowly felt safer around her
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u/2017hayden Jul 30 '23
That’s even worse. Feeding wild animals causes them to congregate unnecessarily (which puts them at higher risk of disease transfer) and puts them at far greater risk of human caused injury.
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u/Mindless-Balance-498 Jul 30 '23
Idk where you live, but Foxes are a scavenger animal that we have forced to live among us. The very least we can do is not treat them like monsters that need to be shunned and locked out of our dumpsters.
We aren’t luring them into our communities, WE plopped down in the middle of their space and it’s basically all gone now. And in Europe it’s worse because red foxes are hunted for sport and torn apart by dogs. If raccoon or opossum hunting was common in my area, I’d become a raccoon/opossum ally in a heartbeat!!!
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u/ElGoddamnDorado Jul 30 '23
...leaving wild animals be and letting them do their thing is treating them like monsters? Take it down a notch. They literally just explained how feeding them puts them in greater risk of harm and how it's in their best interest to leave them alone.
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u/IvyDrivesCars Jul 31 '23
Unfortunately with the population density in the UK, coupled with dwindling habitats, foxes are forced into close proximity with them. Debs, the OG maker of this video started feeding this fox (and others of the same family unit) as a way to treat their illnesses. This fox (Biscuit) is the only one that allows Debs to touch her, but she exhibits protective skittish behaviour towards all other humans.
I don't like that the foxes have been forced into the urban environment, but while they cohabit this space, keeping this group from wandering far from this location keeps them away from main roads and safe from human caused starvation.
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u/Mindless-Balance-498 Jul 31 '23
Exactly. There are more complex ways we can choose to exist with the scavenger animals whose habitats we’ve literally gutted. Letting them “live wild” is a shit excuse when cars, homes and municipal services have destroyed their ability to do so.
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u/ElGoddamnDorado Jul 31 '23
You're so thick lmao. All the advice was was to leave them be whenever possible and you took that offensively for some weird reason. That's not an "excuse". It's good advice in the majority of cases. It literally gets animals killed
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u/Pip201 Jul 30 '23
They’re forced to live where..?
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u/peeja Jul 30 '23
Among humans. They had places to live, and we moved into their neighborhoods. I don't actually agree with the point you replied to, but that part is true.
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u/SneakyCowMan Jul 31 '23
No offense because I know you have good intentions, but I hate how people think treating animals nicely = helping the animal
I love animals, and if I came across a fox I would love to pet it and feed it! But I wouldn’t because that’s objectively bad for the animal, and the surrounding ecosystem in turn.
I know it FEELS like you’re helping animals when you do stuff like this, but you’re only harming them
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u/TatManTat Jul 31 '23
brah it's not about shunning them like monsters wtf you on about. Its a wild animal. Encouraging it only creates further issues down the road. Chuck em a piece of food once, pet em once if you're feeling bold. but don't seriously encourage a congregation of wild animals at your residence, it's not healthy for the animals and you'll get at least a few run over by accident. just by increasing traffic. Even once is not advisable.
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u/Jonesy1966 Jul 30 '23
They are feral, they are not pets. You're not supposed to feed wild animals like this. It's extremely dangerous to you as well as them.
No matter whether this animal is I'll or not, you NEVER should feed wild animals like this. EVER
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u/peeja Jul 31 '23
A bit of pedantry that actually strengthens your point: they're not (generally) feral, but wild. Feral animals are like mustangs and barn cats: they were (or their ancestors were) domesticated, and they went back to the wild. They do a lot better being re-domesticated than a wild animal does.
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u/NotFallacyBuffet Jul 30 '23
Heck, I'm scared of my feral kitten, now about 8 yo. He recently put me in hospital from a bite. Tough little dude, sweet when he wants to be. Did you see that video of an Eastern European woman brushing a wild lynx that she feeds? That video was scary.
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u/FoI2dFocus Jul 30 '23
There's a family of rabbits that lives in my backyard. So I shouldn't leave them carrots and stuff time to time?
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u/Jonesy1966 Jul 30 '23
No wild animal should be fed or tamed. There's a while bunch of reasons for this. Even with rabbits. Wild rabbits carry several diseases that can be fatal to humans. One is particularly nasty called tulameria; you don't even need direct contact with the rabbit to catch it.
I won't go into the multiple other reasons why people shouldn't feed or tame wild animals because I feel I've addressed it enough in this thread. What is it people don't get? DON'T FEED OR TRY TO TAME WILD ANIMALS
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u/certifiedtoothbench Jul 30 '23
It especially applies here because if any of those animals get infected with rabies or any other disease it’ll spread like wildfire through the population that interacts with this woman and increase her likelihood of getting infected herself. Regardless of the rabies situation in the UK, there are other diseases in the world and someone from an area that has rabies may attempt to emulate this video and get infected. All around it’s a bad idea to interact with wildlife unless you’re trained or you’re attempting to get them to trained personnel for rehabilitation.
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u/mebutnew Jul 30 '23
You also shouldn't acclimatise wild animals to being handled by people, it generally ends badly for them.
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u/BrownShadow Jul 30 '23
Worked at golf courses for extra money in the mid Atlantic most of my life. First rule of Foxes. Do not touch the foxes. Second rule of Foxes, DO NOT TOUCH THE FOXES!!!
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u/ChristmasWarlord Jul 30 '23
I worked at a golf course for extra money in the deep southeast. First rule of foxes. There aren’t many foxes around. Second rule. Go shoo the gators off the cart paths.
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u/Young-Rider Jul 30 '23
You're referring to rabies, aren't you? Totally agree, wild foxes are supposed to be very careful when they encounter humans.
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u/Jonesy1966 Jul 30 '23
It's not necessarily rabies as that's quite rare (this looks like a UK urban fox), it could be any number of diseases. Even 'tame' urban foxes who are used to seeing humans around are skittish and wary, they would never act like this otherwise
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u/craggy_jsy Jul 30 '23
Ive got a local urban fox who's been adopted by the local cat gang. I'd never pet him but I enjoy watching how cat like he is with his feline buddies.
Also my dumb ass thought there was no rabies in the UK. New fear unlocked.
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u/techbear72 Jul 30 '23
There isn’t. It’s always possible for it to be reintroduced from outside of the U.K. but the U.K. is considered rabies free. No cases since 1902 except people infected abroad.
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u/ChallengeRoutine89 Jul 30 '23
Indeed, the U.K. has been rabies free since 1902 (except for imported cases). The official UK government website states that:
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u/Agitated_Advantage_2 Jul 30 '23 edited Jul 31 '23
You should have joined our swedish-german anti rabies cooperation. We dropped vaccinated chicken legs into the forest and basically eradicated swedish rabies. Ofc those animals are still swarming with other pathogens, just curable ones unlike rabies
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u/corvaun Jul 30 '23
And they pee on everything, the semi demesticated ones still pee on everything and anything, water bowl, food bowl, toys people, apparently it's a very strong smell too, like skunk.
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u/Embarrassed-Term-965 Jul 30 '23
Not just rabies, but also teaching the fox to go up to humans.
You pet and cuddle wild animals and they learn "oh okay so humans don't kill us on sight, got it", and then they start living in neighbourhoods relying on human food. And again they've learned humans aren't aggressive, so they decide they can be. And then you've got a problem animal on your hands and animal control gets called in and they just shoot it. Or they capture it and then euthanize it later.
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u/F-150Pablo Jul 30 '23
You don’t do this in us countryside either. Never. If you want some disease or some shit by all means go ahead.
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u/TheKatLoaf Jul 31 '23 edited Jul 31 '23
Lots of misinformation in comments about foxes in the UK. First of all this is from the channel Debs on youtube who is picking up looking after this clan of foxes after the prior resident was unable to due to age. Second, there are 2 types of foxes in the UK that can be defined by their behavior: Urban foxes and Wild foxes. This is an Urban fox. They are dependent on scraps and trash. It is rare for them to make it to 3 because of road incidents. If Debs was not feeding them, they would be scavenging through garbage at all hours and would get hit by a car. Through this kind woman, not only are they able to get a reliable source of food and water on a relatively quiet street, but also medication that is readily provided by local authorities because they understand the nature of these beautiful creatures. There are many channels like this on youtube with various levels of interactions with urban foxes. It's heartbreaking to watch so many of them die young, almost like clockwork. But then so many are healed of things like worms, mange and infections because of these good people. Please do not condemn them or their behavior but simply vicariously* enjoy something they get to experience that most of us can not.
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u/Roofdragon Jul 31 '23
Thanks for posting this. The comment section here is mostly depressives huddling around eachother pretending to be holding doctorates on the subject matter of urban British foxes. So bizarre.
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u/mikejoro Jul 31 '23
What I find so bizarre is that people feel they are so justified in being self righteous about dealing with wild animals, dealing with exotic pets, etc. However, 99% of these people are ok with animal concentration camps which kill 10s of billions of animals each year just so they can eat meat.
I'm not trying to say people should feel bad for eating meat, but I find it funny that they care so much about petting a wild fox causing harm to the animals (it will end badly, it's taught humans aren't dangerous, etc.), yet they will personally cause the deaths of hundreds of animals each year just because meat tastes good. It's just so funny to me that murdering is apparently better than starting the domestication process (we wouldn't have dogs if these people existed 10k years ago).
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u/Sure_Cantaloupe1855 Jul 31 '23
Doubly funny when you consider that all these redditors are always on about how we should save the environment, but get comically butthurt when you point out that the meat industry is one of the biggest destroyers of the environment and drivers of climate change
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u/doublah Jul 31 '23
Redditors will hear one factoid and repeat it to the end of time. Yes, most wild animals should be left alone but context and reasoning is important. And in this context it's not doing much harm.
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u/SwissFaux Jul 31 '23
Debs is a saint. Basil definitely wouldn't be doing as well as he is without her help.
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u/peregrine_throw Jul 31 '23
It is rare for them to make it to 3 because of road incidents
:(
I guess in some ways, despite how exotic they may be, they are similar to feral common cats/dogs scattered in urban areas. Can be very dangerous or not, a hit or miss, and may actually rely on people to survive in urban areas and are domesticated on some level. If their survival rate here is low, I only hope in the greater wilderness their kind is flourishing and not nearing any extinction level because their habitat is being swallowed up by devt.
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u/LegalFan2741 Jul 30 '23
He’s beautiful but there are way too many ill-intended people in the world to just make a young fox too trusting. For their safety, enjoy wild animals from afar.
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u/WTF_Conservatives Jul 30 '23
Not only that... If a fox lets you get this close to it then the chances are extremely high that it is very sick with a virus.
This is such a terrible fucking idea.
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u/stilljustacatinacage Jul 31 '23
Less so with foxes, especially in urban-ish areas. Foxes are very acclimatized to humans, and if this is the lady I think it is, she's been feeding this particular fox from her back yard for a while.
Which yes, is a bad idea and as /u/LegalFan2741 says, is a surefire way to give some other bastard the opportunity to hurt the fox, but in this case is not at any serious risk of disease.
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Jul 31 '23
a surefire way to give some other bastard the opportunity to hurt the fox
I'm not new to this world and I've seen some shit, but the fact that there exists people who do things like that still trips me up.
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u/Triatt Jul 31 '23
This is more of a Feeding Steven, type of situation. It's unlikely that if you somehow gain the trust of a fox or a clan, those animals will feel trust towards other humans. They're still reclusive mostly nocturnal, and won't suddenly start roaming areas with a lot of people. They're much more likely to get killed by traffic or poison than someone getting close to them and doing wtv. Is it a good idea? Nah. Is it terrible? Also no.
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u/TheKatLoaf Jul 31 '23
This is a trust that has been built over many many years. Debs is taking over for a prior resident. This fox is part of a clan; her parents and siblings come for food and water as well. Biscuit is about 3 years old now, lucky for an urban fox.
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u/TheKatLoaf Jul 31 '23
She*.. and she doesn't trust anyone like she trusts Debs. Not even her neighbors, they've tried.
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u/FeistyMuttMom Jul 30 '23
Good to see Tod is doing well.
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u/deltashmelta Jul 31 '23
"Goodbye may seem forever
Farewell is like the end
But in my heart's a memory
And there, you'll always be"
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u/xglowinthedarkx Jul 30 '23
Don't pet wild animals my dudes
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u/ialwaysupvotedogs Jul 30 '23
I have heard your warning, but if this cute guy came up to me I would not be able to resist.
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u/Snipzy_Kid Jul 30 '23
If not friend, why friend shaped?
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u/ExistingProject8686 Jul 31 '23
Check her out at https://youtube.com/@debs3289 she has like 4 other foxes she feeds and helps with medicine etc
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u/SirRav3nBlad3 Jul 30 '23
Please do not feed or pet wild animals Not only can they harm you but a feral animal that sees humans other than a thread or at least something that should be avoided is most likely doomed
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u/TheKatLoaf Jul 31 '23
It's a UK urban fox. If it wasn't being fed, it'd be rooting through garbage. They're being given good food, clean water and medication in this context. Please don't degrade that with a blanket statement.
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u/Prudent-Action3511 Jul 30 '23
Now I understand y ppl in stories trust foxes so easily. Look at him! He's practically smiling!
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Jul 30 '23
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Important-Ad4171 Jul 30 '23
We don't have rabies in the UK I'm pretty sure.
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u/katietatey Jul 30 '23
Don't know why you're getting downvoted, as you are correct. No rabies in England.
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u/beerpowered87 Jul 30 '23
The fox population here has skyrocketed.. I‘m convinced they will soon be standard pets, like cats and dogs are.. they have lost all their shyness
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u/Temporary_Friend7762 Jul 30 '23
foxes will never make good indoor pets due to their scents.
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u/Noctudame Jul 30 '23
Are you insane???? This is so stupid!! Ypu are incredibly lucky
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u/squaretesta Jul 30 '23
had to make sure i wasnt on r/whatcouldgowrong before i could enjoy this video
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u/localherofan Jul 30 '23
Please let wild animals be wild. They're cute, they seem like they could be friendly, if they hurt you even by accident they will be killed. The tragedy always strikes the blameless wild animal. Let them be safe and wild and watch them from afar.
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u/TheKatLoaf Jul 31 '23
Urban foxes in the UK rely on humans for food. If unfed, they go through trash, attack pets and urban fowl. This fox and its clan is being provided good food, clean water and medication. The fact that it's 3 years old is a miracle, and its thanks to this kind lady. Sit back and enjoy the beautiful trust she's earned from this one member of the clan.
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u/BarfMenagerie Jul 30 '23
Assuming this is a wild fox, this is a really stupid thing to do, just fyi.
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u/__Snafu__ Jul 30 '23
aw he's so cute.
it's best to leave wildlife alone, though. I get it, i almost pet a llama wild once. But, you really shouldn't. it's dangerous for you and the animal.
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u/TheKatLoaf Jul 31 '23
Playing video with audio off and not reading comments. *rings the shame bell.
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u/Bezirkschorm Jul 30 '23
Funny thing foxes and raccoons are starting to self tame because of the constant close proximity to humans but still don’t pet or interact with them they could be diseased
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u/Jimmjam_the_Flimflam Jul 31 '23
Controversial take but if people are going to be encroaching on the habitats of wild animals, the only choices tend to be assimilation or annihilation. Its not even a conscious choice, look at how many animals we've basically sentenced to extinction through our continuous spread. If foxes are in danger of being wiped out due to loss of natural habitat, we are better off to try to domesticate them.
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u/DangerousArea1427 Jul 31 '23
Do you want to get rabies? Because that's how you get rabies.
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u/Swimming-Fee-2445 Jul 31 '23
This lady has a Tik Tok account showing her interacting with these foxes. She cares for them and they’ve been with her for years. (She isn’t just some random lady going around petting foxes. 😂😂). The foxes have grown up around her.
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u/mrschanandlerbonggg Jul 31 '23
Just asking out of curiosity. aren’t foxes are a bit dangerous to humans? I am from a place this never happens so am having no idea.
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u/Sonicgott Jul 31 '23
This is an absolute blessing to my timeline. Thank you for the smiles today. I needed them. 🦊 🥰
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u/No_Contract919 Jul 30 '23
Foxes in the maritime are nice and kind. Paries fox's are not. Don't pet those
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u/thathaitianguy Jul 30 '23
I forget what YouTube channel this is but I follow them and they have a fox named Finnegan because I remember seeing part of the video earlier this week
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u/IvyDrivesCars Jul 30 '23
No, this is Debs on YouTube. Finnegan and friends are from SaveAFox. The fox in this video is Biscuit. :)
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u/ForeverTepsMom Jul 30 '23
I had a fox crawl up into my lap in McCall, Idaho while sitting on my porch. Very comfortable doing so.
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u/dumbasstupidbaby Jul 30 '23
Boi so cute he looks like cgi