I took part in a BBC Radio interview this morning. Apparently foxes have been digging up a bowling green in Bognor. My suspicion is that they are using a bonemeal fertiliser on the grass which is attracting the foxes as they are digging up to 30 holes a night to find out where the bones are hidden!!
The bowling green maintenance team may want to install an electric fence – this will work provided that it is the right height and the gates are left closed...normal rabbit fencing would also work – this is a mesh fence with a ‘skirt’ at right angles on the outside that the foxes will not be able to dig through (they dig right next to the fence to burrow underneath).
The old-fashioned repellent of male morning urine isn’t always practical when you have a large area to cover, and it can upset the lady members...there are branded repellents on the market (Scoot mimics the scent marking of foxes, Roar is dried lion dung) but again a large volume is needed and it would have to be regularly applied (and would it be strong enough to deter a fox who thinks that bones are hidden somewhere..?)
Scarecrow is a system that detects movement and then sends out a strong jet of water in a wide arc...there are some good reports coming out about this system although as a company we haven’t tried it yet...trapping and humane destruction is a last resort and by no means guaranteed – other foxes may well very quickly move into the vacant territory (you can’t relocate foxes – they will then simply be intruders on another foxes territory and will not survive). So – lots of things to try....!