Cul-de-sac cull of foxes called off after protests

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Property management company Nightingale Chancellors, who look after Roehampton Close in Roehampton, had warned people to keep their pets indoors at night so that marksmen could kill foxes on the private estate.

Residents had complained that a large number of urban foxes were fouling the paths and digging holes in the grounds. But Nightingale Chancellors were warned by police that campaigners were planning to stage a protest if the cull went ahead.

A spokesman for the firm said: "We've been saturated by emails from people who know nothing about it. Apparently there's a West Sussex Wildlife Protection Group.

"The amount of fuss this has created is quite ridiculous, I can't believe people haven't got better things to do."

Bruce Lindsay-Smith, from County Pest Control, had been booked to take marksmen to the estate and shoot the animals.

He insisted shooting foxes was still the best way to get rid of them, adding: "If rats were running round they would exterminate every one of them, but because foxes are seen as cuddly and cute — as they are portrayed in the media and books — then obviously people's feelings are stronger against anything being done.

"You can't kill foxes without using live ammunition, it's like you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs."

There are about 250,000 foxes in Britain. Shooting them in urban areas is legal if the hunter has a licence.

Klare Kennett, a spokeswoman for the RSPCA, said: "Killing should be very much a last resort. It tends not to work any way as foxes are territorial so you kill one and another will come and take its place."

Resident Matthew Woodcock, 26, said: "If there's a man in a residential area with a rifle and night vision goggles, it doesn't look good. It's an instant reaction from people to think, We don't want this to happen in a residential area'."