Police: Fox nears chickens; man shoots fox
By Peter Salter
Click here for updates on this story
LINCOLN, Nebraska (Lincoln Journal Star) — A woman called Lincoln Police at about 10:15 a.m. Sunday: She’d heard a gunshot and then watched her neighbor retrieving a dead fox.
Officers responded to the 5300 block of Sumner Street, just a couple of blocks from Bryan East Campus and across the street from Holmes Elementary School.
They talked to a 39-year-old man — “and found evidence that he shot and killed a fox in the backyard near his chicken cage,” said Officer Erin Spilker.
Police believe he used a .22-caliber rifle to kill the fox, and he was cited on suspicion of discharging a firearm when unsafe to do so, a misdemeanor, Spilker said.
He could have been charged with more. Lincoln Animal Control could have suggested he face an animal cruelty charge. But it likely won’t, said manager Steve Beal.
The man was simply trying to keep his chickens safe.
“At this point in time, Animal Control will not be charging this person with animal cruelty because he was protecting his personal property,” Beal said.
His office has been fielding an increase in urban fox sightings for several years, but this is only the second time he can remember one of the animals threatening chickens, he said. A couple of years ago, a fox jumped a 6-foot fence and found its way into a chicken coop, killing a half-dozen birds before escaping.
“Foxes will pursue their prey, but we don’t have that on a regular basis,” Beal said. “Most people are good at keeping their chicken huts and coops fox-proofed.”
And the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission could pursue wildlife violations — and seek what it calls $75 in liquidated damages, the state-appointed value of a fox — but it likely won’t, said Duane Arp, assistant chief of its law enforcement division.
The state allows farmers and ranchers to protect their property from predators, and based on what he knows about this case, the same principle could allow a city-dweller to protect his poultry, he said.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
