Urban Foxes

this fox is just screaming outside my window rn like a banshee.

I saw a fox last week when I was walking to the post office. Prior to this the wildest animals I had seen near me (I live in a large-ish city in NJ) were rabbits (a few here and there), the odd raccoon, and groundhogs (a whole colony of them, at least 3 or 4). The fox just came jogging down the street, sniffing at people's lawns like a dog. Of course I didn't have my phone with me, or I'd have taken a picture. It was totally unafraid of me. Exciting as hell.

Last night one stood next to me outside my house for the time it took to smoke two cigs. I love them.

misread as Unban Foxes

This fox can't stop staring through Swedish couple's window

Well, it's their own fault for giving him ham on Christmas.

that’s a beauty of a fox, would feed ham to any time

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.