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SCGranny, do you think it just might be that the people on Hilton Head Island are becoming "overpopulated', rather than the deer - and that those same people just might have wiped out most of the deers' natural predators, leaving a niche for the previously non-native coyotes to fill?
Just up the shore from Hilton Head, red wolves have been reintroduced to Bull's Island, a sanctuary with all manner of wildlife... handled the deer "problem" rather well (as do the already in place alligators).
Puzzled as well as being amused about this fox business. Are the residents of Ossining so citified and clueless that they cannot handle this non crisis? Foxes are way down near the bottom on the predator chain. They are terrified of coyotes and bobcats, which kill them when they can, and avoid areas where they are found, and will not mess with a raccoon. Which leads to the easy solution; dogs. Had that woman released the Springer from it's leash the fox would have bolted for cover with the dog in hot pursuit, there would have been no fight, the dog was 3 or 4 times the size of the fox and was actually overkill, a much smaller dog could have done the job. A small aggressive breed such as a JR or PD terrier would be ideal. If the foxes were chased and harassed by dogs a few times they would depart, with no need to harm or kill them. When wild animals become used to humans and lose their instinctive fear of them is when trouble starts. It may sound funny, but have heard of cases where squirrels that have grown used to being fed by people turning aggressive and attacking and biting humans when they had no food for them.
My neighbor across the street has a huge amount of land in contrast to the "usual" 50'X100' lots. She has 6 of them so she has a lovely big backyard. She has a family of foxes she has been feeding for 3-4 years now. They are beautiful and very "polite company". Usually the female will come and just sit in her "spot" until my friend feeds her or if friend sees her first, the fox will eat until full then take food back to the den. I have seen this with my own eyes. Friend has numerous house and feral cats too. The foxes just sort of ignore the cats. The foxes avoid racoons and skunks. They also ignore the bunnies too! They are so well fed that none of their instincts for food makes them hunt their natural prey. Only thing the foxes have to worry about are the cyotes. My friend has terminal cancer and we worry about what will happen to the foxes when she passes. I hope their natural instincts will kick back in and start to hunt for their food.
The female fox has scared my friend a few times by being in back of her while friend is out doing something in the yard. Never attacks or anything, just "trusts" friend enough to get that close to her.
You can hunt and trap fox in NY
Weasel, Opossum,
Skunk, Raccoo n And Fo x Hunting
]Long Island: Nov. 1–Feb. 25 All other areas of New York:Oct. 25–Feb. 15.
There are no bag limits for these species. They may be hunted during the day or night.
Ossining and the surrounding area is heavily wooded with large undeveloped tracts of hilly, forested land and has a lot of wildlife including large coyotes and rutting deer. It also has a large population of people who have made the obligatory move from New York City to its leafy, pleasant suburbs due to the arrival of baby. So you have a lot of stay at home moms making a big deal about a family of foxes tipping over the trash. What happens when a 60 lb. coyote takes a dump on the driveway? Front page news happens, that's what!
Ossining and the surrounding area is heavily wooded with large undeveloped tracts of hilly, forested land and has a lot of wildlife including large coyotes and rutting deer. It also has a large population of people who have made the obligatory move from New York City to its leafy, pleasant suburbs due to the arrival of baby. So you have a lot of stay at home moms making a big deal about a family of foxes tipping over the trash. What happens when a 60 lb. coyote takes a dump on the driveway? Front page news happens, that's what!
So the initial reaction was half correct; NYC urbanites with no knowledge of wildlife or their habits. Having never visited the area, did not expect to hear that there are undeveloped parts with other wildlife, rather thought that it was pretty much suburban dwellings.
As for the coyote, well, while the Eastern coyotes, because of hybridization with wolves are larger than are our Western pure bred coyotes, they are not quite that big. However, if the good citizens of Ossining are frightened by a 10 pound fox, they most surely will be absolutely terrified by a 35-40 pound coyote trotting down one of their sidewalks in the middle of the day, and unlike the little foxes, they are a real threat to their smaller pets.
We have cyotes here too. No big deal. I have a fence around my property and if the cyote wants to jump like a gazzelle....
Some of the cyotes ARE bigger than normal size around here. I see the "regular" sized and the bigger ones.
Those people in Upstate NY need a reality check.
Black Shoe, there are LOTS of places Upstate that have lots of woods and wild animals. That's why we went there on our honeymoon! It's gorgeous. (or at least there used to be)
Oh how sad...being "terrorized" by a creature weighing 6-15 pounds.... a grizzly I would worry about..a fox? Not so much (unless rabid). Heck, I met a mountain lion in CA once while hiking. I knew enough not to run from it and imitate "prey." It left me alone--and I left it alone. No problemo.
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