Are urban foxes cute or destructive vermin?

SHOULD actress Kate Beckinsale feed a fox (Mail)? Yes! Especially in London, where you’re said to be often just six feet from a rat. The diet of urban foxes, like that of their country cousins, includes rats and mice. If you want to discourage rodents, encourage foxes.

T. A. OBEE, Epsom, Surrey. I SYMPATHISE with Mark Palmer. Foxes have ruined my garden, too, destroying plants, defecating and spraying everywhere.

It’s crazy that local authorities seem to encourage them. It’s time they were rounded up like stray dogs.

STEVE ELLIS, Portsmouth, Hants.

MARK PALMER says ‘turning a fox into a pet is the act of a reckless fool’. Why judge Kate Beckinsale for something she finds enjoyable?

B. CHANNING, Pembroke. I LIVE in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, where there are thousands of foxes. I have discouraged them from trashing my garden by buying a jet spray that attaches to the garden hose and is activated by motion detectors. The foxes don’t know what’s hit them and don’t stay around for long.

MARK HOTSON, London SE18. I AM horrified that Sarah Vine calls foxes disease-ridden urban pests.

These beautiful animals should be enjoyed and protected. Maybe Sarah could invest in bins that are more easily secured.

GLYN JONES, Birmingham. I LEARNED a lot when I raised an orphan vixen cub.

Foxes are to be respected for their guile and intelligence. They have survived all we’ve thrown at them: hunting, shooting, snaring, gas, strychnine and fast-moving traffic. And as Kate Beckinsale has found, they are very good at knowing where their bread is buttered.

DONOUGH McGILLYCUDDY,

Grantham, Lincs.