FEEDING WILD ANIMALS
Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council (DLRCC) states that the public should not feed foxes as this can result in increased populations, with foxes becoming familiar with human contact. Once familiarised, they may be more confident in approaching humans / visiting gardens when looking for food. This can create increased risk for the fox and can also be unwelcome behaviour from the perspective of some householders. As they are wild animals they should be allowed to live with minimal interference where possible.
They are an important part of the natural ecosystem with their food source being insects, rats, mice and carcasses of dead animals. Foxes cannot be relocated to other areas such as the countryside as they would be vulnerable in a territory unfamiliar to them.
DLRCC have a very informative Garden Wildlife Booklet on their website (garden-wildlife-booklet-web-17mb.pdf)
REDESDALE
... Redesdale House is the oldest one in the Stillorgan area. [ read more ] It was built in the early 18th century and was the country home of Sir Michael Smith who was born in 1740.
He was a very distinguished person. He was Called to Bar in 1769 and elevated to the Bench as the Baron of the Exchequer in 1793. Later on he became Master of the Rolls.
He married Mary Ann Cusac of Coolmines, Co. Dublin, and his son and grandson carried on his great tradition; both in turn adorned the Irish Bench. (Ball, p133)
In 1799 he sold the house to Sir John Mitford, Speaker of the British House of Commons who had come over to Ireland about the time to take up the post of Lord Chancellor, on the death of Lord Clare. For him, this move was quite unexpected. He happily thought he would live out his life in England. However, the promise of substantial rewards for his services in Ireland proved the deciding factor. So he surrendered his Speaker’s Mace, and in return was presented with the Chancellor’s Great Seal of Office, and a Peerage. He took the name Lord Redesdale, an old family name. His town was in Ely Place, Dublin, but he considered Dublin too dusty to live in, seven days of the week. He looked around for a country residence and subsequently found, and bought a house and a farm of sixty acres out in Kilmacud. He made a lot of improvements to the house, which he called Redesdale House, and he grew to love it dearly. In 1803 he married Frances, the seventh daughter of Lord Perceval, Second Earl of Egmont.