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The fox in the garden |
Was it the fox that done it?
The coop is empty and there’s a fox in the corner – but is there more to this fowl mystery?
THIS was the dramatic moment a Kentish Town printmaker came face to face with a fox believed to have killed his chickens.
Captured on film yesterday (Wednesday), the resting beast was seen just feet from an empty coop once home to three Bantam birds.
At first unaware of the fox’s presence, Paul Askew had been leading a New Journal reporter into his Lady Margaret Road garden to survey the empty cage.
He believed his feathered trio – lavender Pekin Bantams Lonnie the cockerel and his mate Beauty, as well as their Dutch white friend Delphine – had been snatched.
As he prepared to make an appeal for their return, he suddenly caught sight of the fox.
“That’s the one that did it,” he said, visibly shocked. “My first thought was that they were stolen but the mere fact I’ve gone out and found a fox there... I think the fox ate the chickens.”
As he took in the situation, Mr Askew seemed resigned to accept the cruel blow dealt by nature.
“I’ve been following the New Journal’s coverage about foxes and this expert you interviewed who said ‘you can’t do anything about them’,” said Mr Askew, commenting on a recent spate of cat killings in Hampstead. “I’m upset with the fox but I do understand – they’re wild animals. It’s just a shame they have to live on Kentucky Fried Chicken. They only come here because there’s food.”
But as he surveyed the scene in his garden, question marks began to emerge.
Not only were there no bird remains, neither was there any evidence of scattered feathers – a tell-tale sign the birds had been attacked.
The mystery deepened when Mr Askew shouted at the mangy fox.
Unable to move at first, the animal then limped off – only to return minutes later.
“There’s no way that fox could have chased my chickens around the garden, let alone decimated them,” he reflected.
However, un- able to determine whether or not they are dead, the fate of his missing birds remains uncertain.
Recounting the previous 12 hours, Mr Askew remembered shutting the coop door but not checking on the birds – who could have already gone. In an appeal to readers, Mr Askew said: “If anyone’s heard the distant crowing of a lone cockerel – call the Camden New Journal. Why would anyone take them? I can’t believe they would try and eat them. It’s possible but I would be surprised if this was so.”
He said his 14-year-old daughter, Lydia May, currently on holiday in St Lucia with her mother, will be “gutted” when she hears the news.
“She loves coming home from school and playing with them,” he said. Chickens are the best pets ever. The expression ‘henpecked’ – the way the chickens engage with each other – is a microcosm of people getting on and falling out.
“I used to make jokes about putting Lonnie in a pot but the truth is I’m very fond of them. I’m gutted they’ve gone.”
Mr Askew took pity on the fox and allowed it to stay in his garden.
• Anyone with information should contact the New Journal on 020 7424 3261 |
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