Sainsbury’s commits to humane wildlife deterrence following public pressure

Animal Aid had written to CEO Mike Coupe in order to urge him to adopt a policy of humane deterrence in the future. In addition to this, more than 40,000 people signed a petition demanding Sainsbury’s use only humane methods to deter foxes in future.

As a result, Sainsbury’s have issued a statement on their website confirming that three male foxes were killed at their Crayford store, and two females were released. Their statement concludes: ‘In the extremely rare event there are issues with foxes in the future, we can confirm that we would only use humane deterrents.’

Animal Aid telephoned Sainsbury’s who then confirmed this policy relates to all stores.

Animal Aid Campaigner, Tod Bradbury says:

‘We are delighted that Sainsbury’s have made the decision to use only humane methods of deterrence for any future urban fox conflicts. Culling urban foxes is not only cruel, but completely pointless. This is because once territories have been made vacant, new foxes will quickly move in – this will result in an endless cycle of trapping and killing. As such, the government recommends the use of non-lethal deterrence instead.

‘We thank Sainsbury’s for making this compassionate and sensible decision, and we hope that they can serve as a positive example to other companies in similar situations.’

Notes for editors

• The culling of the foxes at the Crayford store was reported by Kent Online on 7^th June 2017
• For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact Tod on 01732 364546 ext. 223
• A copy of Animal Aid’s original letter to Mike Coupe is available on request.

If you are having any issues with foxes or other urban wildlife, there are humane methods of deterrence available and most of the time these are very simple and easy. You can download our humane deterrence fact sheets.