Kirrawee grandmother Joanna Lange is warning shire residents to look out for their small pets after a fox or foxes got into her backyard and killed all her chickens last week.
It was the second attack since October.
“I’ve had chickens for 52 years and it has never happened before,” Mrs Lange, 82, said.
“Now it has happened twice since October.”
The first time foxes got into her yard and killed five chickens. The second attack she lost seven chickens.
“They took four chickens and left the bodies of the rest,” she said.
“We heard a noise in the night and thought it was possums. It was absolutely distressing when I went outside in the morning and found them all dead.”
Mrs Lange said she went to the council to complain and was told nothing could be done.
“I asked if I could have a trap and they said no. There was nothing they could do,” she said.
A Sutherland Shire Council spokesperson said, “Council has received no reports of fox attacks in the Kirrawee area in the past six months”
But Mrs Lange said this was not good enough.
“I think the council should look into it. Foxes are feral animals.
“It’s very difficult that after 52 years that this happens for the very first time. That’s what I don’t understand.
“I want people to know if they give their children little pets for Christmas to look after them.
“My life is involved with animals. Over the years my children had dogs, cockatoos, kookaburras. We even had a kangaroo for five-and-a-half years.
“My backyard was always a bit of a zoo.
“Now the back garden is dead.
“A chook is not a pet but you learn to live with them and love them because looking after them is a lot of fun.
“After the first attack I had to go and get more chickens. These were just 14 weeks old. They are very shy when you get them and after a while they get used to you.
“I don’t know what I can do, whether I can get a trap. And if I trap a fox what do I do with it?
“It is still upsetting when I walk out into the backyard.
“But I definitely will be getting more chickens in the new year.”