|
|
 |
| |
Foxes may be handsome, but think of the tortoises
• SOME animal lovers may welcome the intrusion of foxes into our urban environment (In praise of urban foxes, November 22) for sentimental reasons.
They may argue that cats, for instance, have only themselves to blame if they get in the way of these handsome and playful creatures and their young.
Tortoises, however, generally keep themselves to themselves (though ours has been known to see off a squirrel on his patch). So it was distressing one morning to find our Toby upside down in the middle of the garden with his
end-piece bitten off and a scratched shell.
Fortunately he survived the trauma but others have been less lucky.
Friends’ tortoises have lost limbs and heads, clearly victims of our furry friends.
Now, during the summer, we bring Toby indoors at night but will feel nervous about leaving him to roam free in the daytime next year.
In this area we are plagued by the cries and excavations of a family of foxes which visit most nights, though many are often observed in the daytime, too.
Early risers commonly see them brazenly meandering in Agar Grove and thereabouts before the traffic gets heavy.
So, for some of us, foxes are an unwelcome and pestilential presence and we would like to see their numbers controlled in some way.
We have received a recommendation of a man in deepest Surrey who would come with a gun and shoot any which obligingly visit at the right moment, at our expense.
Is there a humane way in which the council or some other authority can deal with this nuisance?
Michael J Campbell
Agar Grove, NW1
Please spare a thought for our feelings
• Your report that cats are being maimed and killed by foxes on Savernake Road bears the headline The cats are getting creamed! (November 22)
This slang verb derives from the cooking procedure of beating something to a puree. It is most often used for violence in a lighthearted context, such as in an animated cartoon, or for a defeat in a sport or game, in which violence is mild or non-existent. It is a strange choice for a story about beloved pets suffering terrible agonies. The exclamation mark is also, to say the least, odd, indicating gleefulness or, at least, lack of anguish. The headline therefore sounds like the outburst of a boy happy about these exciting events.
Your reporter, in the use of such phrases as “the roll call of missing and maimed moggies,” writes with a jaunty air that is not out of keeping with the headline.
Would you please in the future try to do less violence to the language and our feelings.
RHODA KOENIG
Roderick Road, NW3
|
 |
|
| |
|
|
|
