Here in the uk foxes are hated by many people. Especially the country types, farmers and such. But the past few decades has also seen an increase in urban populations too, so even town people with rabbit hutches or chicken coops in their gardens are also fair game for these opportunistic nuisances.
The reason they are hated so much is due to their "style" of killing. If one gets into a chicken coop it will kill ALL the chickens and take what it can carry in its mouth, typically one!! An extremely wasteful and devastating method of killing. I lived on a small farm as a kid and on occasion i witnessed this devastation first hand.
For the record though I love foxes, but if I decided to get some chickens in my back yard for eggs, or a couple of pet rabbits for my son, then in time, i'm sure I would come to hate them too.