The long dark tea-time of the fox

Some time ago I blocked up the holes that a fox dug under the shed. Surpriingly, he did not decide to dig new holes to his under-shed hideaway. Instead my actions have forced the problem somewhere else and there have been some innocent casualties. The fox's new home is under the wire "compost" heap.
Sadly during his excavations he destroyed my rocket crop. This leaves me with a moral and maybe even legal dilema.

Here is my problem.

My considered reaction is to shrug my shoulders and say: We're all god's creatures. The fox was here first. What right do I have to destroy his home? Blah blah, delicate balance of nature, Blah Blah hug a tree, blah blah save a whale, blah blah. Does more good than harm. Blah Blah How would I like it...

What if this fox is keeping other more daminging pests at bay? What if he is keeping more foxes from coming into the site? I might look back on these first few relatively fox free weeks as a golden age. "Do you remember when all this wasn't foxes?" I might ask.

The darker part of me says: What kills foxes? Where can I buy some?

If a fox can casually destroy my rocket crop, what could he do if he really put his mind to it? The fox took exception to me blocking his entrance to his old home. The following morning I was treated to some decidedly pungent "calling cards" that, in my opinion, were suspicious in the accuracy of their placement. OK, they were not in a paper bag that was on fire, but they might as well have been. I'm not sure I want to be on the recieving end of a more hostile response.

OK killing is generally considered to be wrong. I take that on board. I can grow more rocket. I can be accomodating and live with my fox, embarce our diffences and learn to live with him.

It's not like I can call the local fox hounds to hunt him down. They are ex-directory.