A MAN who shoots foxes for a living says he "doesn't have a problem" with the animals and that he actually quite admires them.
Tom Keightley, 56, sparked an outrage when he wrote in the Advertiser's letters page last week that he was available to kill up to eight foxes per customer, in a bid to combat their proliferation in urban areas.
Mr Keightley said he has had "loads" of requests for jobs in Croydon and is expecting a busy period as the fox population increases five-fold during the breeding season.
He said: "There are an awful lot of foxes in Croydon. The vixen tends to stay underground and the male comes up and does his work at night mainly so that's when I do most of my work.
"I tend to shoot them because it's quicker and kinder really. Some people trap them first and then shoot them but they might be in the trap for hours, which isn't very humane.
"Most of the time I shoot from one of the bedroom windows and they don't know I'm coming."
Mr Keightley, a grandfather who lives in High Hurstwood, East Sussex, said he understands his work does not make him popular in some quarters.
"I appeared in a documentary on the BBC and I did get a few abusive phone calls. Not everyone is going to be happy about it – but I'm just doing a job," he added.
"Sometimes, when I'm leafleting, people get a bit upset and have a go but how could I know they would be offended if I don't know who lives there?"
Peter Rafferty was one of those who disagreed with Mr Keightley's choice of profession.
He said: "Foxes are not vermin – they are sentient creatures that have the same basic instincts and emotions as cats, dogs and humans."
But Mr Keightley insists that while his work may seem somewhat gruesome, it is all above board.
He said: "It is legal. Foxes don't have the same protection as, say, a badger.
"I always let the police know when I'm going to shoot a fox. I have a firearms certificate as well.
"This has nothing whatsoever to do with fox hunting. They're urban foxes so it's completely different. You're not going to get a bunch of hounds running through a London suburb."
Mr Keightley, who also deals in insect pest control, has been shooting foxes for more than 40 years.
He added: "I fell into this job really. I've been shooting foxes since I was 15 but it became a career when I got into pest control. I used to do things like sales but I always knew I wanted to do something outdoors.
"I haven't got a problem with foxes, I quite admire them really.
"If they were in danger of becoming extinct I wouldn't kill them. I wouldn't like to be the one to kill the last remaining fox, put it that way."
