Cinderella's Sisters (the other story)
The below story is fictitious and bears no resemblance to any characters living or dead.
My first encounter with the RSPCA. It all started way back, back as far as red no. 3...a heavily pregnant vixen. Back in those days I was just starting out and had no proper kit.....no catch pole so dispatch was not easy. Without going into specifics I managed to get the dispatch done but I was very inexperienced and only bagged the vixen in a single black plastic refuse bag. (Nowadays I double bag in heavy duty refuse sacks as a direct result of what happened next).
![[Linked Image]](https://trapperman.com/forum/attachments/usergals/2023/02/full-51448-167063-rsz_dsc00328.jpg)
stock photo
As it was at the start of the week and the refuse collection was not due until Friday, I decided to dispose of said bag in the local council bins in the next street around the corner which were fenced off to deter every man and his dog from filling up the bins which were supposed to be used by the residents of the adjacent flats.
The fence was substantial however I estimated that with a good swing and a bit of luck I could just about manage to toss the bag over and calculated that it would land in one of the green bins inside the fence.
Well that did not quite go according to plan. I made a lot of mistakes. One being the time of day....it was close to the school run so a lot of children would have been shortly passing by hence I had a sense of urgency associated with the task in hand. The other being the weight of the bag...possibly close to 10 kgs. Another being the blood, there was some bleeding during dispatch.
I took 3 really good swings to get going and finally when I thought I had enough momentum I gave a last almighty heave and let the bag fly.... and fly it did but only to catch the top of the spiked fence on the way down on the inside, The bag ripped and the head popped out splashing blood everywhere and it was stuck just above the green bin. I started to panic. The school kids would be coming at any moment.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5090338,-0.415045,3a,47.8y,35.78h,82.75t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sPHc3Mqn5s6motRVA_iUOeg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
I rolled up my sleeves and stuck both arms in between the gaps in the fence and managed with great effort to maneuver the bag which was leaking wet blood all over the place into the green bin. I was so pre occupied with getting the bag out of sight that I failed to notice until after, that I had fox blood all over my hands, my arms, my face and in my eyes. I went home and thoroughly washed, changed all my clothes and started to pray that the critter did not pass anything on to me.
2 days later my worst fears came to pass...I got one of the worst cases of flu I ever had (and I recently had 3 cases of covid in 2020...one of which nearly killed me). This flu that I had was as bad as that....(I called it fox flu) Honestly I thought I was dying...I am not religious but having being brought up as a Catholic until I left the church at age 11, I suddenly started praying to Jesus again....oh dear Jesus if I survive this I swear I will never harm another fox again as long as I live....
On the second day of my infection I heard a knock on the door. It was a heavy security door that had no spy hole so I just opened it, I was sweating profusely and very weak from the effects of the meds. I had been living in West London for near on 20 years at that time and there at my doorstep were 2 of the most beautiful women I had ever seen, both of whom were 25-30 years younger than me.
They were from the RSPCA and they were unbelievably polite....It took a few moments for me to notice what they were saying I was so captivated by their beauty and I started to become aware of my image...sweating buckets and barely able to stand up.
I then started to listen to them and they introduced themselves and said they had a report of a fox in distress in my garden. I said I was very surprised to hear that and that I heard nothing and that I was sick and on meds (which was very true). After a bit more small talk , they thanked me very much for taking time to speak to them (heck, I would have spoken to them all day but they perhaps started to get worried that I might have something contagious) and started to walk away. I called them back saying I had one other thing to say...."can you do me a small favour please?" I asked. "Yes certainly what is it?" they replied. "Can you tell whoever reported me to mind their f oo king business?" The look of shock on their faces ...it was priceless. In hindsight that was uncalled for as they were so polite and so beautiful but I was angry that someone had reported me.
Anyway I recovered a few days later and after that RSPCA visit I reneged on my prayer to Jesus and said ce sera sera. I suspect it was my anti neighbour that reported me and as a direct result of that she was indirectly responsible for at least a further 60 foxes passing on to the afterlife.
Fast forward to red number 29. I overslept. I looked out the box bedroom window to see a fox in the snare (3rd pic above). The sun was well up. I thought, get dressed quick before Mary (not her real name) next door sees the commotion. I got dressed as quick as I could and got all the kit out (I was fully equipped at this stage).
![[Linked Image]](https://trapperman.com/forum/attachments/usergals/2023/02/full-51448-167058-dsc00281.jpg)
the trick is to place the broom handle (the one in this pic was well chewed) through the loop and the fox will bite it and you can then safely slip the loop around the fox's neck
I was out in the garden and decided I had to do the dispatch there and then on the spot. Just after the first swing I heard a voice...It was Mary approaching at the other side of the hedge...Is that a fox? Is it dead? (not yet but thanks for asking I said in my head or some other words to that effect) I said nothing...took another swing and finished the task in hand (or so I thought). Mary scuttled off back into her house. I quickly bagged up Red no. 29, weighed it and cleaned up the kit and the site...removed all parts of the snare from the hedge and brushed up the earth.
My Mrs was walking the kids to school so I said hang on a minute and I'll join you, planning to dispose of the evidence (black bag job in the above mentioned council bins). As we were walking down the alley,
![[Linked Image]](https://trapperman.com/forum/attachments/usergals/2023/02/full-51448-167059-h52pic1.jpg)
There is plenty of food for foxes in the form of rubbish and vermin
I remembered I forgot my wallet so I left the black bag on the wall in the alleyway and told my Mrs to wait for a sec and I'll nip back to get my wallet. About a minute later I was back and my Mrs was in a state of shock panicking blabbing on about how she thought the bag moved. Don't be silly I said and we waited a minute...crikey it did move....turn away I said. Finally I put Lazarus to sleep for the second time before chucking him in the bin.
Thanks again Mary! If Mary had not disturbed me I would not have been distracted and would have done a clean dispatch the first time around. What a morning. An hour later when we returned home I noticed some commotion going on in the garden in the house next door. I went upstairs to look out the back bedroom window to see 2 guys in hasmask suits bent down around the site of where the trap was and they were taking forensic photos of everything. I knew they were part of the RSPCA team.
The site was spotless. It was fortuitous that I did a thorough clean up earlier. They were there for a good half hour. They left , I said nothing to my Mrs. She then went off to work. About an hour later there was another knock on my door.
This time is was Cinderella's sisters...from the RSPCA...middle aged and the word I would describe both of them would be the complete opposite of the word beautiful. They were not happy nor were they very polite but I was well up to the task of dealing with them. I was plain rude to them from the start and I gave them no info...(their powers are very limited). They asked my name... I said "none of your business". They said they had a report of a fox being killed in my garden. I said "nonsense". They asked if they could come into my garden to look. I said "no you cannot. This is private property. Go away and come back with a search warrant if you can". They were both furious but I was in their faces on my doorstep in my property. They quickly realised they were not going to get any co operation from me. They left my property and sat in their parked car for 3 hours making calls or writing their reports or whatever they do. They finally drove off. A few days later I bumped into John, (not his real name) Mary's husband and he apologised profusely to me for the fact that Mary called the RSPCA. John is a sound guy and not an animal rights activist like Mary. I always saluted John whenever I seen him after that but Mary always hid away from me after that incident.
Considering that I have been a great neighbour to Mary in the past , watering their plants when they used to go away , looking out for their house and even dealing with a pair of angry ex tenants that tried to break into their house when John was working abroad (and Mary was inside the house), it is perhaps not surprising that Mary to my knowledge never contacted the RSPCA again.
Although another even more plausible explanation would be that Mary and John both have very strong beliefs about not informing on people as both of their parents experienced and survived the holocaust. John did tell me that Mary called the RSPCA while the fox was still alive and subsequently she would most likely have withdrawn any co operation that the RSPCA might have thought might have been forthcoming.
No evidence, no witnesses, no case.
Needless to say after that, there were no more favours from me, like watering Mary's plants. Mary and John managed to sell up before me...we were both trying to sell up. I managed to sell up and escape a year after John and Mary. Life is full of twists and turns.
F.E.
anyway to prevent a similar incident occuring again I decided the best solution would be to have an alarm to alert me when there is a fox in the snare. I had a mini brainwave a couple of days ago and drew upon my fishing experience. I invented a simple alarm that involved a childrens tamboree and some 12 lb breaking strain nylon fishing line.
![[Linked Image]](https://trapperman.com/forum/attachments/usergals/2023/01/full-51448-166987-rsz_red_29_08_02_2018.jpg)
