'They attacked him with their beaks': Fox in Franc
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Posted On: 10/15/2021 2:06:57 PM
'They attacked him with their beaks': Fox in France pecked to death by 3,000 chickens
Ryan W. Miller
USA TODAY
A young fox got more than it bargained for when it entered a chicken coop and ended up reportedly being pecked to death on a French farm.
Students found the dead fox one morning last week during a routine checks of the henhouse of Le Gros Chene, an agricultural school in Brittany, according to French news agency Agence France-Presse.
"There, in the corner, we found this dead fox," Pascal Daniel, the Pontivy, France, school's head of farming, told the AFP. "There was a herd instinct and they attacked him with their beaks."
Daniel told French newspaper Ouest-France the fox didn't appear sick and was probably surrounded by the 3,000 chickens housed in that part of the coop.
Daniel told the newspaper the school has 6,000 chickens. The henhouse has light-controlled doors that close after dark each day, according to the AFP. The fox, no more than 5 to 6 months old, is believed to have been trapped inside once entering at dusk.
The hens live on a free-range, organic farm and enter the coop, where they've been housed since July, at night and to lay eggs, according to the AFP.
Daniel says he believes the animals have learned to defend themselves in that time. He told Ouest-France that devoured pigeons are often found in the henhouse, too.
When a different fox came into the henhouse more than a year ago, the school's hens at the time didn't fare as well, Daniel told the AFP.
Follow USA TODAY's Ryan Miller on Twitter @RyanW_Miller
Ryan W. Miller
USA TODAY
A young fox got more than it bargained for when it entered a chicken coop and ended up reportedly being pecked to death on a French farm.
Students found the dead fox one morning last week during a routine checks of the henhouse of Le Gros Chene, an agricultural school in Brittany, according to French news agency Agence France-Presse.
"There, in the corner, we found this dead fox," Pascal Daniel, the Pontivy, France, school's head of farming, told the AFP. "There was a herd instinct and they attacked him with their beaks."
Daniel told French newspaper Ouest-France the fox didn't appear sick and was probably surrounded by the 3,000 chickens housed in that part of the coop.
Daniel told the newspaper the school has 6,000 chickens. The henhouse has light-controlled doors that close after dark each day, according to the AFP. The fox, no more than 5 to 6 months old, is believed to have been trapped inside once entering at dusk.
The hens live on a free-range, organic farm and enter the coop, where they've been housed since July, at night and to lay eggs, according to the AFP.
Daniel says he believes the animals have learned to defend themselves in that time. He told Ouest-France that devoured pigeons are often found in the henhouse, too.
When a different fox came into the henhouse more than a year ago, the school's hens at the time didn't fare as well, Daniel told the AFP.
Follow USA TODAY's Ryan Miller on Twitter @RyanW_Miller
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