TALES of Fantastic Mr Fox and his wily ways may be the stuff of a loveable Roald Dahl children's story, but they won't wash with these angry gents.

Allotment holders at the Green Lane council allotments in Acomb, York, have long since run out of sympathy for stories about a foxy gentleman with the red coat and bushy tale.

Attacks on poultry at the allotments have seen one of the predators kill more than 100 birds in the last month alone.

Ducks, hens and geese have all fallen foul of an intruder which has scaled 6ft high chicken wire fence pens designed to keep out unwanted canine visitors.

Ken Cooper, 81, has had an allotment there for over 15 years and until recently kept seven ducks there both for their eggs and to breed.

He returned to his plot one morning to find all seven had been savagely killed. He said: "It got in over this fence somehow and killed all seven in one go - it's absolutely devastating.

"Some people are talking about laying traps to catch it."

Amos Sturdy, 67, and allotment stalwart for more than two decades said this was the worst instance of fox attack he could remember.

He said the fox was coming in the early hours of the morning and killing as many birds as it could catch in the pens before eating one bird and making off with as many as it could carry.

Mr Sturdy said: "I have had about 30 birds taken over a number of nights - it's heartbreaking really."

There are 60 plots being worked at Green Lane and of those 25 pay an extract fee to keep poultry.

Allotment secretary Phil Wright, said he thought it might be a fox feeding cubs as attacks had really stepped up in the past few weeks.

He said: "I have been secretary now for over 20 years and it's never been a real problem until recently.

"The attacks have become far more rampant over the last few weeks which makes me think it might be feeding cubs.

"Whilst the council may be reluctant to do something about it these people pay extra rates to keep livestock and now some of them have been wiped out. I think the council should be more sympathetic."

A council spokeswoman said: "Clearly it's very upsetting for the allotment holders who have been affected by this. Our allotment officers are taking advice from our pest control team and from the RSPCA to see what can be done."

Updated: 10:47 Tuesday, April 26, 2005