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In most jurisdictions animal control does not deal with wild animals. Only domestic pets.
If you want to learn in general about the foxes you would want to call someone at Department of Fish and Wildlife or whatever it’s called in your area.
Alrighty for the clarification. I have no experience with the fox population and appreciated your prior post which I gave you rep points for. I'm not particularly trying to be over reactive - but thought your mention of animal control might be a good alternative if the foxes became ever more present within the yard. Especially as you fully laid out the various diseases and possible danger they may pose. Animal control may have some strategies to keep them at bay.
You don't need animal control (or whatever entity responds to wildlife calls in your area) unless there's an immediate emergency. Based on what you described, there isn't. Don't waste their time just because you don't like seeing them. If you don't want foxes to visit your yard, discourage them in passive ways...fence them out, remove attractants like food, water or shelter. Discourage the kits by educating them...your yard is not their playground. Startle them. Maybe banging pots? Hand clapping and shouting at them? The foxes won't stick around if there's no reason to. They may just pass through periodically.
Also, be aware that many areas no longer allow trapped wildlife to be relocated because of concerns over parvo, rabies and distemper transmission. The animals must be destroyed even if they don't appear sick. Don't call unless you don't have a choice. You could end up killing them.
Last edited by Parnassia; 04-16-2021 at 07:09 PM..
I have foxes around here all the time, and I thoroughly enjoy them. I just have to make sure when I let my chickens out that I stay out with them, because a fox will come and snatch one. Other than that, they are a treat to have around.
40 years ago I used to fly small airplanes out of Long Beach Airport. Got into a large problem with long eared rabbits sunning on the run ways. We small plane pilots simply ducked them but the commercial jets all feared ingesting one. So the airport got a couple of families of foxes at both ends of the runways. Couple of months no more rabbits.
Last I heard the foxes still survive though fed by the airport mostly.
Alrighty for the clarification. I have no experience with the fox population and appreciated your prior post which I gave you rep points for. I'm not particularly trying to be over reactive - but thought your mention of animal control might be a good alternative if the foxes became ever more present within the yard. Especially as you fully laid out the various diseases and possible danger they may pose. Animal control may have some strategies to keep them at bay.
Just be aware of their behavior. If they start acting unusual, they could be a problem. A fox won't usually attack an adult, or even get close, but if one approaches and is acting aggressive it could be rabid.
Don't get between the adults and the young. I don't know if that would provoke aggression in a fox, but I know it does with bear.
I have a fox that hangs around here, it was known for killing the neighbor's chickens. I had a clear shot at it one afternoon but I pulled it off just as I pulled the trigger because I realized that it was hunting rodents. Since I lost all of my beehives to shrews one year, I decided that *I* was better off to just let the fox keep hunting (along with the kestrels, harriers, wildcat, and now a bald eagle). The neighbor has given up trying to keep chickens.
The coyotes, on the other hand...the pack is getting bigger, and bolder...something is going to have to be done about them...
Someone mentioned calling animal control. My husband did that one day when a fox decided to take a nap in the backyard. We were surprised because we thought they were nocturnal. The person at animal control told my husband it's not uncommon to see foxes out in the daylight, especially when colder weather is approaching. He also said that foxes will, at that time of year, hunt in the daylight. Once they catch and kill their prey, they bury it and dig it up later to eat. In the end, he also said that if the fox is just napping, it will move on when it wakes up.
OP, if you're afraid of having the foxes coming into your yard set up a motion sensor sprinkler in the yard. Getting soaked by water a couple of times should discourage them from returning. Foxes don't like to get wet.
Just be aware of their behavior. If they start acting unusual, they could be a problem. A fox won't usually attack an adult, or even get close, but if one approaches and is acting aggressive it could be rabid.
Don't get between the adults and the young. I don't know if that would provoke aggression in a fox, but I know it does with bear.
I have a fox that hangs around here, it was known for killing the neighbor's chickens. I had a clear shot at it one afternoon but I pulled it off just as I pulled the trigger because I realized that it was hunting rodents. Since I lost all of my beehives to shrews one year, I decided that *I* was better off to just let the fox keep hunting (along with the kestrels, harriers, wildcat, and now a bald eagle). The neighbor has given up trying to keep chickens.
The coyotes, on the other hand...the pack is getting bigger, and bolder...something is going to have to be done about them...
I would not want to deal with Coyotes or wildcats.
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