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Not much to tell! Shot and killed a coyote off of the back porch with an AR (chambered in .223) while growing up. Probably at 75 yards? It had come up to steal a chicken. This was a not-infrequent occurrence back on the farm, and we've killed a variety of predators though a variety of means, but the AR-15 was our typical go-to because it's reliable, relatively light, didn't require cycling a bolt for a follow-up shot, and of course it's easy to put whatever sight or other attachments (such as a flashlight) on there that you want. Plus, of course, if you had to you could grab the same gun for a defense against a (human) home invader.
I'm not going to pretend I couldn't have done that with another weapon, but a semi-automatic "sporting" rifle in a small caliber like .223 is ideal for dealing with predators like coyotes and foxes.
Hunting rifles are overkill – they are often heavy, use a larger and more expensive round with more recoil, and you typically mount optics on them that might be more suited to longer ranges and actually hinder target acquisition at closer ranges (this depends entirely of course on your property layout – on a ranch you might prefer a scoped weapon.) Also, I think I prefer the pistol grip on the AR rifle if I am shooting standing. But a less powerful round like a .22 is not generally considered powerful enough to reliably kill a predator, particularly at longer ranges.
An AR is cheap, reliable, and lets you get the first and second shot on quickly. It's also very modular, meaning you can easily adapt the same gun for different situations (so for example I used the same lower but a different upper receiver chambered with a larger round to kill a deer while hunting). This can save you a few bucks, and also it's cool.
Obviously it's not the only option, but for that specific threat (predator, relatively close, say expected at 200 yards or within) I would want a rifle with the same characteristics: small and fast rifle round with a flat trajectory, iron or red dot sight, semi-automatic. And that's a very similar problem to the one the military is trying to solve (especially for dismounted urban combat) so the design convergence is natural.
I admit that the English solution for foxes is less convenient ;-)
More seriously, I think in the UK we would usually use a shotgun. Even rural UK is much more dense than the US and people worry about a missed shot or ricochet killing someone in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Not that sticking to non-rifles keeps things safe… In a quite staggering display of insouciance both of my grandfathers managed to shoot a friend or significant other at some time in their lives, thankfully causing little damage in both cases.
I have nothing against shotguns (used one recently against a raccoon) and with a slug or buckshot they can be effective at the 75 yards or so that I was shooting at for sure. But compared to a small caliber rifle, they have some disadvantages:
Of course – with sufficient practice, almost anyone could have made the shot I made with a smoothbore musket, or a bow. The reason the AR and similar platforms are popular is because it's versatile and easy to use, not because it's the only possible solution.
Now if I was marketing to English gentleman, I would consider making a double-barreled .410 shotgun with slugs that could accept a red dot sight (...is that legal?) to get a lot of the same functionality for pest hunting as an AR.
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Certain vice presidents have had trouble with shotguns too. Similar incidents have happened to a number of other celebrities over the years too.
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