Britain’s top fox hunter was once hired by the Royal Family after a fox pooed on Prince George’s toys and chased King Charles’ dogs.
Bruce Lindsay-Smith said business is booming as councils have given up trying to control the furry fiends.
And he once counted the royals amongst his clients as he was called in to sort out their vermin problem.
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He said: “They were fouling on little George’s garden toys and what have you,” he said.
“They didn’t want the children running around on the grass with fox mess all over it. You can’t blame them.”
(Image: Getty Images)
Bruce, 63, said he has only had 10 nights off in the past two years and averages five kills per job.
The shooter, who goes to work with a silencer-fitted .22 Long Rifle with infrared and thermal telescopic sights, is in demand as councils no longer have the resources or personnel to tackle the vermin.
Bruce, who has been shooting since going rabbit-hunting with his dad as a youngster, said there are currently 150,000 urban foxes in the UK – more than almost any other country.
He has an open firearms certificate – which means he can open fire where he sees fit – has done a safety assessment and informs local police of his presence in case neighbours are spooked by the sight of his sniper rifle.
(Image: Getty Images)
“I don’t feel any remorse for shooting a fox,” he said.
“There are more than ever. When I go to look at people’s places they’ve been wiped out of chickens. I’ve even been asked to bury people’s cats.”
Lindsay-Smith has killed as many as 13 in a single garden. His overall record for one night is 36 on a golf course.
He has shot them for pop stars and business tycoons and worked at large football and rugby stadiums.
Yet bizarrely he has a pet fox called Charlie which he found as a cub being pelted with stones by yobs.
Rather than kill him he raised him alongside his Jack Russell dogs.
“I do find them very interesting animals,’’ he said. “You can learn things from them – their capabilities, their preferences.”
“But I’ve never got too friendly with Charlie. He’s never been a friendly fox.”
(Image: PA)
But his job has been blasted by critics who say we should be looking at ways to live with urban foxes rather than killing them.
Trevor Williams, founder of the Fox Project and a leading figure in the animals’ conservation, believes that “nothing you can do will create a permanent fox-free zone”.
His body has moved on to medical care and the project treats about 1,200 foxes a year, funded by charitable donations.
People call in regularly if they find foxes ailing in their sheds or trapped in a garden football net.
Veterinary nurse Denise Humphries, who works with the project, said: “I obviously adore foxes.
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“I find them such interesting animals – they have so many different personalities and you can tell quickly what they’re like, much like dogs.”
She points out that foxes are one of the few predators we have to keep mice and rat populations down: “We’d end up with another problem if we got rid of them.”
In her view, the foxes “have as much right to exist as we do” and humans ought to learn to live with them, instead of destroying anything that bothers us.
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