Gardeners warned over animal which ‘sounds like woman screaming’ at night | UK | News

Experts are urging people not to approach ‘screaming’ foxes which let out ‘blood curdling’ noises that sound like ‘a woman screaming’.

Urban foxes are increasingly being seen wandering into people’s gardens and through cities and towns as new build estates, development and the loss of green spaces leads foxes further into residential areas to find food.

But experts are warning that you shouldn’t approach foxes or try to tame them because you could end up doing more harm than good – and not to be alarmed if you hear them ‘screaming’ at night.

Foxes come out all year round, but usually at night, and they can be seen a lot in summer months like August and September and are often caught on garden night vision cameras.

A-Z Animals Blog says: “It can be a bone-chilling sound if you are out after dark. You may wonder if someone or something is injured or getting ready to attack. for those unfamiliar with the noise, it can sound like a woman in distress. Rest assured, foxes scream as a method of communication, they are not fighting or calling for help.”

Lancashire Wildlife Trust says: “If you’ve ever heard a pained cry in the dead of night that sounds like a woman screaming, then you’ve probably heard a female fox (or ‘vixen’) letting a male (or ‘dog’) fox know that she is ready to mate. These screams are often answered by the ‘hup-hup-hup’ bark of the dog fox.”

“The mating season takes place in January, and if you feed foxes in your garden you may have noticed that their visits have stopped, with mating taking priority.”

Increasingly, foxes are finding their way into our gardens and in many areas can even be seen trotting casually around streets in the daytime, tame to human contact.

Because of the destruction of green spaces, the areas where foxes can live is constantly under threat. As a result, residents are seeing more and more foxes in towns and cities while rural fox numbers have declined by 35% since 1995.

Despite that, people are being urged not to feed foxes and not to leave food out for them. If you do, they could become overly tame and unable to rely on their own hunting to find food.

BBC Wildlife says: “Do not try to make foxes tame. While it is a great thrill to have wild foxes coming to take food from your hand problems arise because urban foxes are now so tame that they approach strangers in the expectation of being fed.”

The Woodland Trust adds that feeding foxes can be done, but you need to be careful. They also advise against feeding foxes by hand or trying to touch them and advise people not to put out excessive amounts of food that could make foxes ‘over-reliant’ on you.

But they add: “Avoid putting out food that they can take away. Offering something they can eat on the spot discourages them from digging up neighbours’ gardens.”

“Avoid leaving out food uneaten by foxes that could attract unwanted visitors like rats.”

But you can leave out some cooked or raw meat, tinned dog food, peanuts, fruit or cheese if you want to help the foxes as long as you do so carefully, the Trust adds.