Camden New Journal - News: Foxes are making a meal of park ducks

Publications by New Journal Enterprises

Home

Archive

Competition

Camden New Journal - by DAN CARRIER
Published: 23 August 2007

Foxes are making a meal of park ducks

FOR a duck dinner, it was certainly expensive.
Served uncooked and eaten al fresco, the £1,000 bill would put off even the most extravagant gastronomes.
But for a fox that has taken to swimming across a lake in Regent’s Park and taking his pick of the rare birds that nest there, his lunch of a rare long-tailed duck was on the Friends of Regent’s Park.
According to the group, the fox has killed at least 20 ducks this year, including the male long-tailed duck, one of three donated to the park by the Friends.
Costing £1,000, the rare ducks, bought from a specialist breeder, will now have to be replaced.
The presence of the fox on the small, man-made island in the middle of the Long Bridge Sanctuary Lake has also been blamed for smaller broods of ducklings – according to the Friends, its raids put many off nesting.
Friends chairman Malcolm Kafetz said: “Foxes do not normally like swimming.
Long-tailed ducks are rare and very pretty things. We saw the fox prints going down to the water’s edge and now the ducks are too scared to go on the island.”
But there is little the park can do to stop any further attacks, he conceded.
Mr Kafetz added: “We couldn’t put a fox-proof fence up round the island – it would look horrible. And if we were to put a fence up in the water, it would impede the ducks swimming there.”

Comment on this article.
(You must supply your full name and email address for your comment to be published)

Name:

Email:

Comment:

Your Comments: