By Steve Barten, DVM
One of the charms of living in Tower Lakes is that we are blessed with an abundance of wildlife. Most people enjoy being able to see the wildlife, but there are always two sides to every story. Deer are beautiful and their new fawns are adorable, until they eat your garden. Raccoons are awfully cute until they burrow into your attic. Chipmunks are delightful as long as their burrows don’t undermine your walkways and retaining walls. And flying squirrels – did you know we have those? We do – are the most charming animal there is until they get into your house.
Make no mistake, wildlife is here and it’s not going away.
Last fall there was neighborhood concern about the local coyotes, with the fear-inducing term “coywolves” being bandied about. Remember what happened? Nothing. This spring the controversy seems to involve red foxes. I would be so happy if the foxes chose my yard for a den site, and can think of nothing cuter than a pack of fox kits playing with each other and exploring their new world. Any fear of foxes arises from a simple lack of knowledge about their basic biology. After all, isn’t a fox just a small coyote, which basically is a small wolf, so doesn’t the presence of foxes imply that we have a pack of wolves yearning to carry off our pets, attack our children and spread diseases?
No. No it doesn’t. Let me explain why.
Keeping Pets Safe
Red foxes only weigh 8 to 15 pounds, about the same as an average cat.1 Their natural diet includes mice, voles, shrews, plus the occasional chipmunk, squirrel or rabbit. They also eat birds, bird seed, plants, garbage and carrion.1, 2 Dogs and cats are usually too big for diminutive foxes to target. On the other hand, coyotes target foxes, and both kill foxes and drive them from coyote home ranges. Foxes have learned to live between coyote pack territories, and the presence of foxes indicates a lack of coyotes. Coyotes pose a risk for your dogs and cats, not foxes.
Cats are very good at self-defense, and have been observed chasing off foxes. For that matter, you can find videos on YouTube of cats chasing off bears and alligators. Because of this, and also the fact that foxes and cats are the same size, foxes are unwilling to take on a cat. The best way to prevent your cat from interacting with a fox is to keep it indoors, or supervise it directly when outdoors. This is something you should be doing anyway, as your cat is at far greater risk from being hit by a car, eaten by a coyote, contracting a virus like Feline Leukemia or Feline Immunodeficiency, or suffering a bite wound abscess from a stray cat, than having a problem with a fox.
Dogs also are not at risk from fox attack unless the dog is very tiny, or has threatened the foxes’ kits. Any mother animal will defend her young. Obviously such encounters are preventable by supervising your dog outside. Like cats, this is something you should be doing anyway to prevent being your dog from hit by a car, fighting with other dogs, raccoons, or coyotes, or turning over your neighbor’s garbage.
Keeping Children Safe
Foxes are not dangerous to humans. 2, 3 Dr. Todd Gosselink of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign said, “People should relish the opportunity to see foxes in urban and suburban areas, and not worry about living closer to them. Foxes … are shy and secretive. You’re not likely to find one sitting on your back steps.” He further stated, “A constant rule of thumb is to stay safely distant from any wild animal, and not attempt to handle fox adults or kits.” He concluded, “Foxes feel the same way as many people feel toward them. They don’t mind living near you, as long as they can keep at a safe distance.”
Diseases
Foxes are mammals and any mammal can carry rabies. However, rabies is uncommon in Lake County, and most positive cases involve bats, not foxes. In over 30 years as a practicing veterinarian in Lake County I have not seen a single case of rabies. In parts of the country where foxes do carry rabies, the fox strain rarely transmits to people, and post-exposure treatment is 100% effective.
More commonly, foxes are subject to sarcoptic mange, a skin disease caused by microscopic mites. Left untreated, this can be fatal to wild foxes. It is potentially contagious to pets, and rarely people, but requires direct contact – which is unlikely – for transmission, and is very easily treated.
Foxes often are seen out during the day, as their prey is active during daylight hours. However, if a fox shows weakness or paralysis, is circling or acting drunk, is mutilating itself, or is unnaturally aggressive or tame, a local animal control agency should be contacted.
Nuisance Foxes
Fox kits are born in March or April, emerge from the den at 4 to 5 weeks, and begin hunting with parents at 9 weeks. If a fox den is on your property, consider letting them stay until the kits are old enough to follow the parents. Foxes are shy and often move from one den site to another if they are disturbed.
Never feed foxes, as this can both attract them and cause them to lose their fear of humans. Feed your pets indoors, clean up fruit fallen from trees or spilled bird seed, and secure your garbage cans.
Close off openings under decks and sheds. Foxes in their dens can be humanely harassed by the presence of humans, loud noises (banging pots), motion-sensitive water sprinklers, capsicum based animal repellant or mothballs near the den, smelly objects (urine-soaked kitty litter, old sneakers) near the den, packing leaves, soil or mulch in the opening, or placing mylar balloons near the den.
Foxes are protected in Illinois as furbearing mammals. If foxes are causing a problem, they may be trapped and removed if an IDNR District Wildlife Biologist issues an animal removal permit. Some people hire a Nuisance Wildlife Control Operator.5 Problems are things like taking poultry, not simply existing.
Conclusion
Red Foxes are beautiful animals that are part of our natural ecosystem. They live in Tower Lakes and will always be here. They don’t pose a threat to your pets or families, and the risk of disease transmission is negligible. We should learn to appreciate their grace and beauty, thank them for removing a vast quantity of rodent vermin, and adopt a policy of live and let live.
Resource Citations
- Illinois DNR Red Fox, http://www.dnr.state.il.us/orc/wildlife/furbearers/red_fox.htm
- Humane Society of the United States, Solving Problems with Foxes, http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/foxes/tips/solving_problems_with_foxes.html
- Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, Red Fox. http://www.ct.gov/deep/cwp/view.asp?a=2723&q=326072
- Illinois DNR, Foxes have moved to cities in search of a better life, http://www.dnr.state.il.us/orc/wildlife/virtual_news/releases/070104_red_foxes.htm
- University of Illinois Extension, Living with wildlife in Illinois. http://web.extension.illinois.edu/wildlife/directory_show.cfm?species=redfox