Last year I posted a photo of a vixen in Argyll which was attracted to cars and liked potato crisps.On our second visit later in the year, it was still there. This year, news was that it had been shot.

Apparently it had been hand-reared as a cub and released. Late last year it nipped someone who was feeding it by hand. It was reported to the 'authorities' along with hysterical fear of rabies or TB and of course, the police had no option but to react by getting a marksman to shoot it.

Some points of opinion emerge:
It is selfish to want to interact directly with wild (or even semi-wild) animals. (Yes, that includes consorting with gorillas)
Rearing young abandoned or orphaned animals is also selfish, unnatural and is likely to do nothing to enhance the animal's life. A wish to avoid death is a human affliction and should not be extended to the natural world.
Woe betide any wild animal that is unlucky enough to become directly involved with the human world.

some people unfortunately want to own wild animals and it nearly always ends in disaster,we feed foxes with any spare food (mostly generated from our 6 cats) but we have only ever seen them a few times from a distance and we know that most of the people that back onto the field behind us feed them but thats as far as it goes .........and actually nobody speaks about them as we have some in the neighbourhood who hate all animals strangely rural people for generations......................can anyone explain that one?

I think hand-feeding goes beyond what is sensible with wild foxes. In many years now of watching and photographing them I've encountered some very friendly foxes, and others who are impossibly shy (often within the same 'group'). I've had plenty of chances to 'touch' but have always resisted, though cubs have occasionally nibbled at a camera strap if they get close enough.

I think the police over reacted there. The person feeding was taking unacceptable risks (I wouldn't hand feed a dog I don't know, let alone a wild animal) and should have been told not to be so stupid. The fox wasn't being a danger to anyone who left it alone, so what was the risk? They don't flatten cliffs if someone strays to the edge and slips a few metres, so why shoot a fox for a nip.