Urban Foxes

[1] Illegal firearms, while very common in DC, are mostly used on other humans.

The closest I've been to a fox - and a rural one, too - was when I was on a camping holiday as a teenager. I sneaked off into some woods to *cough* get to know myself better *cough*, and was fully occupied when I heard something in the undergrowth. I turned round, and saw a fox stalking something, only about six feet away. He didn't see me until I moved a foot slightly; when he heard the rustle, he turned, saw me, and scarpered.

Even better was a black fox that lived along the Lee Gulch trail in Littleton. When I first saw it I thought it was a dog, but as I got closer I realized that it was a fox. Very cool.

Foxes are kind of fascinating to me, their posture is sorta feline.

Had an interesting encounter with one about a year ago. Was cycling home in the dark when I saw a sizeable lump lying across the cycle lane right next to quite a busy bus stop. I slowed down and saw it was a fox and I could see it was still breathing, so I jumped off my bike to have a look at it. It didn't look great, so I turned to the bus queue - there must have been about 10 people there - and asked if someone would help me move it out of the road. I sort of had visions of the poor thing being pulped by the Number 25 when it turned up. Anyhow, they all totally blanked me apart from one bloke who told me he'd seen it get chased out of the park by a dog and run into the road where it got hit. Then everyone just kind of shuffled away from me like it wasn't really dying there in front of them.

Not really knowing what to do, I bent down to take a closer look. The fox looked pretty stunned and scared, so shielded it from the heavy traffic with my bike - not wanting it to get up and run back into the cars. I was a bit fearful of handling it and the sight of all the blood dribbling from it's mouth didn't really help, but then I just thought fuck it, got someone to watch my bike, picked the poor thing up and carried it back across 5 lanes of traffic and put it down under a bush. At which point it got back up on it's feet and wondered off into the night.

Nick B is a good guy. One day a fox may even save HIS life.

http://animals.timduru.org/dirlist/fox/redfox_Snow_BeautifulCuteFoxie.jpg

Get me a horse and some hounds, and we shall sort this nonsense out!

Yeah, but that's just part of their charm....

Apparently they make such a racket when they're at it because the foxy willy has little backward-facing hooks on it that make sure they stay coupled long enough to ensure conception. And you can imagine what that feels like for the lady fox. Hence the yowling.

Supposedly fox-hunting made little difference to actual fox population in the countryside. It surely wasn't that frequent and widespread in order to cause this increase in population of urban foxes anyway?

Matt saw one on our street the other day, which is unusual as we are in a very built up area where none of the houses even have back gardens, and right next to the seafront. Maybe it was a sea fox.

I don't really see this as a problem as such. Go foxes, says I (I put out some left-over cheesy pasta last night, after I saw the old fox over the fence).

I can't believe nobody helped you with that injured fox Nick

I know. I think it was being pissed off with everyone that gave me the courage to pick the thing up (cos I'm a lightweight with handling beasties normally). It was actually pretty docile though, but that was probably shock.

Since it’s the breeding season the dog fox will shadow the every move of the vixen, she is only receptive for a period of about 3 days. From the dog fox's point of view he must ensure he is there when she is ready. Several attempts to mount the vixen will be rebuffed, sometimes quite aggressively. However, when she is ready she flirts around the dog fox. Caution at this stage is thrown to the wind, and many people will observe the foxes in the process of mating. When the vixen is ready the dog fox will grasp her from behind with his front two legs and start to mate. It is said that at this point the dog fox’s penis is not totally erect until he has actually entered the vagina, when it becomes completely erect and the base of it begins to swell. Also, the vixen's vagina will constrict. This swelling and constriction will cause the pair to lock together, commonly called the 'tie'. When the dog fox ejaculates he attempts to dismount, but as they are still locked together he brings one of his back legs over the vixen’s back and there they stand, back to back, for the duration of the tie, possible for hours.

No barbs anywhere, and appears to be more painful for the male fox than the female.

so really it should be called 'foxing' not 'dogging'

The nearest I've been is when a friend of mine used to work at the driving range doing security at night. Over a couple of years he managed to befriend and eventually hand-feed a couple of young foxes.

I wonder what happened to the foxes after he died, not everyone likes to encourage them.

Hmmm, I don't see foxes as being particularly unhygenic creatures. So they apart the odd bin bag, but maybe people shouldn't leave their rubbish on street so much. And sure, there's the odd outbreak of mange every now and again, but most of the urban foxes you see seem to be in pretty good nick. I think that a lot of what they eat consists of mice and rats and pigeons, so they're probably doing quite a service.

Noise-wise, it sounds like it's just a seasonal thing (and all the posts here complaining about it are from late December/early January!), so if it's any consolation, it won't go on for very long.

Or maybe I could borrow your ears sometimes so as to not be annoyed by their hideous hyena-like shrieking ever again.

But Steve, it's the call of the wild!

I suppose there is an argument that says that it's the cats and dogs that shouldn't really be there, so I wouldn't totally blame the foxes for that. Anyhow - tried earplugs?

ooh good tip...

I suppose there is an argument that says that it's the cats and dogs that shouldn't really be there

you mean people should never have domesticated cats and dogs? but then they'd be running wild as well, or maybe extinct. from a territorial point of view they were there 'first'. my neighbours dogs are fucked up anyway though - they run out into the garden every morning at 6.30am and yap their heads off, seemingly for no reason at all - and again several times through the day. i think fox scent is a big factor in this but the other one is they are complete mentalists.

earplugs are uncomfortable and do not block the sound properly (as they seem to be designed more to block nearer, quieter sounds rather than more distant loud ones).

basically the two combined are making me quite tense at night and i lose sleep because of all the noise. it's no fun.

There are 3 foxes in the 2 gardens to the right of mine. They all look good, no signs of mange, I guess probably the mangy foxes that lived there last year have died and these have moved in to take their place. Been watching them out the top window for a while. Not sure what they are up to - at first I assumed it was a male and a female and the third one was a rival male, it is mating season after all. But they all seem friendly with each other, and have been jumping between the 2 gardens, sometimes 2 in one and 1 in the other, but not the same pair all the time.

Fox! There's one wandering around my neighborhood today, confirmed by two neighbors. It passed me twice while I was working in the front yard, but I only caught a glimpse before I RAN IN THE HOUSE LIKE THE COWARD I AM. Just phoned the city and was told that wildlife is part of the city, and they won't do anything unless the animal's injured. "What should I do if I get home one night and find myself face-to-face with it?" "Uh...try to scare it away."

They're not dangerous, are they?

Unless it's rabid, you're in more danger from a domestic cat

Thanks--I skimmed through this thread, and that seemed to be the general feeling. If I disappear off this board, though, tell the world my story.

Is it OK if we snicker a bit as we tell it?

We've always had foxes in my neighborhood, but in the past year or so they've done particularly well. It used to be I'd just hear them in the distance if I was up in the middle of the night, but now I'll see one about every two weeks trotting home with a squirrel in its mouth if I'm out walking the dog at 7 a.m.

This has led to some hilarious posts on Facebook/Nextdoor along the lines of "just want to warn you to keep your dogs and cats inside - there's a fox in the neighborhood!" FORTUNATELY always educated by dozens of other commenters.

However, there's one person who swears up and down that they saw a coyote, which are a bit more rare around these parts and would be a good reason to lock up your dogs and cats. But a lot of the foxes have brownish coats so I'm guessing they just saw one of them.

a fox stole one of my daughter's school shoes off the front verandah one night--they'd been left out to dry after she jumped in mud etc--and ate half of it

Just saw this guy again through my window--he has apparently moved into the neighborhood.

They're all over the place in London, they're so common, and so visible, they almost don't even register as wild animals anymore.

Hate to say it, but I think what I saw this morning might have been a coyote. The one a few days ago, even though I only caught a momentary glimpse, was definitely orangey; what I saw this morning (I was inside and had a better look) looked more greyish, no orange, and wasn't a dog. It's a nice day, so, as always, people are out everywhere walking dogs and young children. I guess it's not a big deal--maybe it just goes its own way and avoids everybody.

I see loads of foxes where I live. The most startling thing I've seen in recent times is wild deers appearing in the local woods every summer. Last summer I thought the old guy who told me there was a couple of them wandering about on what is locally called the mountains (they are just big hills) that he must have been going senile, until I saw them with my own eyes.

(xp) Glad to say there are no coyotes in London! I don't know what size coyotes are but foxes are pretty small.

From their respective articles in Wikipedia:

Coyote males average 8 to 20 kg (18 to 44 lb) in weight, while females average 7 to 18 kg (15 to 40 lb), though size varies geographically. Northern subspecies, which average 18 kg (40 lb), tend to grow larger than the southern subspecies of Mexico, which average 11.5 kg (25 lb).

Red fox adult weights range from 2.2–14 kg (5–31 lb), with vixens typically weighing 15–20% less than males.

Definitely a coyote. My next-door neighbour says there have been two or three in our area as of late, caused by a nearby construction site interfering with their food supply. She has a small dog, so she's worried. I looked up this video on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB1V0YPIrSo

If it comes to that, I guess a shoe would be the nearest thing to throw--the yelling and screaming part would come easy for me. (You're talking about someone who, when I was teaching out in a portable once, got the teacher next door to come in and kill a dragonfly for me--something she was kind enough to bring up at my retirement.)

Yup. Channel your inner ape and go apeshit. Since most animals already consider us to be borderline psychotic and dangerously unbalanced, they will generally treat you like kryptonite.

They piss me off. They bark and fuck outside my bedroom window most nights, and it's a thoroughly horrible noise.

You're only jealous!

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Monday, December 29, 2003 6:18 AM (nineteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

I do not deny the element of envy. But when you're having a hard enough time getting to sleep....

This is where I usually post fox pics, is it?

Alley next to our garden, a few weeks ago:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52846926408_76939e6aa7_b.jpg

what an absolute beauty

i hear coyotes yipping and yowling most nights but i have no luck nor skill as wildlife paparazzi so just envision a pack of big scruffy tan foxes high on laughing gas

something I've noticed since moving to Brighton is the lack of foxes compared to Hastings which was full of them. upthread NickB has posted about them so they obviously do exist here, but I never see any, whereas I would see them all the time in Hastings, badgers too.

https://i.postimg.cc/Pqv2QwMG/IMG-20230622-WA0001.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/sXNfdbhG/20230623-174520.jpg

The local couple had babies this year that run round the street and gardens. The above one is getting into trolling

I respect their trolling skills. There's one that just stares from the railway embankment behind out house, impassive, as my dog winds himself up yelling at him.

Our dog (very territorial, very barky, self-styled snarling bane of all foxes) apparently went out for a pee while this scene was playing out and just straight up didn't notice it was sitting there

We had a fox hanging out in our backyard for a few days, hiding under bushes and rolling in the grass. At one point he came out when the cat and I were in the yard, and he seemed more intimidated by the cat's display of aggression than by mine.