Animal lovers’ stinging criticism of West Sussex academy after it orders the killing of four foxes

A West Sussex school has defended its decision to shoot four foxes following a backlash from residents on Facebook.

TheLittlehamptonAcademy made the decision to shoot a fox and three cubs after fox faeces and a den were found on the school field.

A spokesman for the school, in Fitzalan Road, confirmed the academy had decided ‘to have the foxes destroyed’.

They added the school had seen ‘increasing amounts of damage’ caused to the playing field including an ‘increasing prevalence’ of fox faeces that represented a ‘danger to the children’ who attend the academy.

They also mentioned a den was found in an area intended for educational use.

Brandon Pragnell, from Littlehampton, was unhappy about the incident. He said: “Personally I think it’s cruel and barbaric to even think of killing themletalonetheiryoung.They didn’t even try to relocate them, there are so many different things they could’ve done to move them on off the school property but instead they inhumanly shot them.

“Having three-and-a-half years experience working and rehabilitating wildlife, I hear of this so often, selfish people just going out of their way to destroy innocent creatures for no reason.

“The foxes weren’t doing any harm to the students of the school.”

The school spokesman said theacademyhadexploredother options but the ‘choices were limited’.

They added: “We did look at trapping them as an option but, once trapped they would be destroyed, and on balance we felt that allowing them to be trapped and held in cages for a period before being destroyed was a worse option.

“This is not something we decided on lightly but I hope that you can see that as an educational establishment with over 1,300 children on site we have a responsibility to ensure their safety and health, and so we took this difficult decision.”

The government guidance states that when foxes are on private property, landowners may use cage traps and snares to catch foxes and ‘humanely kill’ any fox caught while in the trap or snare.

The guidance mentions people should not relocate or release captured foxes as it will cause them stress transporting them to an unfamiliar environment.

The government website also states that people may shoot foxes ‘using a suitable firearm and ammunition’.

Fox Guardians, a West Sussex charity, wrote an open letter to the school. It read: “We were shocked to be informed by extremely distressed local residents and parents of children who are pupils at your school that on the night of the 4th of August a much-loved vixen and her three cubs were shot and killed on the grounds of the Littlehampton Academy by paid marksmen you had employed.

“The foxes’ only ‘crime’ was that they soiled your playing fields. This natural behaviour was enough to condemn them to their death.”