Foxes in the city: Citizen science helps researchers to study urban wildlife

Date:  December 14, 2018

Source:  University of Veterinary Medicine -- Vienna

Urban habitats are becoming increasingly more important for several wildlife species. Foxes, for example, have become successful inhabitants of urban areas in recent years. The research team has now conducted an analysis, the first of its kind in the German-speaking countries, of fox sightings in Vienna. Data on fox sightings was available from all times of the year for a period of five years. Encounters with foxes were reported from all city districts and at all times of day.

"Much of our knowledge about the occurrence, distribution and association with land use of these urban foxes is poor, however, partly because many of the favoured urban habitats are on private property and therefore hardly accessible to scientists," explains Theresa Walter from the Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology at Vetmeduni Vienna. Using a citizen science approach, in which the Viennese public reported fox sightings that were made, for example, in private gardens, it was possible to close this information gap.

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Urban foxes and coyotes learn to set aside their differences and coexist

January 30, 2018, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Diverging from centuries of established behavioral norms, red fox and coyote have gone against their wild instincts and learned to coexist in the urban environment of Madison and the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, according to a recently published study in the journal PLOS One.

Lead author Marcus Mueller, a former graduate student in forest and wildlife ecology, and David Drake, his advisor and a professor in the department, found that over a two-year period, red foxes and coyotes they had radio-tagged were coming into close contact with one another. Some even established home ranges that overlapped.

The findings have implications for wildlife managers working to promote co-existence of species and mitigate conflicts between animals and people in urban settings.

"It gives us a better understanding of the types of habitats foxes and coyotes prefer to use in developed and residential areas," says Mueller, who now owns a wildlife management company in Milwaukee. "This in turn can help us reduce the kinds of problems that can arise when wild animals and people come into contact."

It also shows that these relatives of dogs have been able to carve out a successful niche for themselves in our own yards, parks and alleys, and are finding ways to coexist with each other to take advantage of this new resource-rich real estate.

"We found an instance where a coyote routinely visited a fox den over about a two or three week period," Drake said. "But the fox and kits did not abandon the den, suggesting to us that they didn't feel predation pressure from the coyote."

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Foxes surge into England's towns and cities

Researchers estimate there are 150,000 urban foxes in England, with Bournemouth having the highest concentration

 
Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff

Sunday 16 April 2017 17.26 BST Last modified on Sunday 16 April 2017 22.55 BST

The number of urban foxes in England has quadrupled in the past 20 years, according to a study that estimates there are nearly 150,000 in England, or about one for every 300 urban residents.

While the number of foxes is declining overall in the UK, the study by Brighton and Reading universities has found that Bournemouth tops the charts with the highest concentration of urban foxes in the UK at 23 per square kilometre.

London was not far behind with 18, followed by Bristol with 16 and Newcastle with 10.

The researchers, headed by the mammalian biologist Dawn Scott and the behavioural zoologist Phil Baker, tagged foxes with transmitters to track their interactions and territories, and asked residents from eight cities to report sightings during July and August from 2013 to 2015.
Scott said the abundance of suburban greenery may have led to the higher density in Bournemouth“Housing types and the suburban structure in Bournemouth might be slightly more suitable than the areas in London we surveyed to support higher fox numbers,” she said.

Through combining the sightings with models constructed from the tagging, they were able to make calculations of the density of foxes in towns and cities across the country.

It is thought there were only 33,000 foxes living in towns and cities during the 1990s, and a 2014 study found that 91% of urban areas previously predicted to support few or no foxes in the early 2000s now have them.



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Prof Stephen Harris: Fox cull 'won't address problem'

A fox creeps into a family home in south east London, attacks a baby and chews off its finger.

Is it now time to say "enough is enough" and order a cull? The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has said the attack is a "wake up call", and he has called on councils in London to "come together, study the data, try to understand why this is becoming such a problem and act quickly to sort it out".

Peter Crowden, former chairman of the National Pest Technicians Association, told Today presenter Sarah Montague "it's not the foxes' fault, it's the humans... [foxes] are wild animals."

Professor Stephen Harris, an expert in urban foxes, explained "there has not been much change in the fox population in the last 60 years.

"People try and make the foxes in their garden, tame. Behaviour like that is ridiculous.

"You can cull foxes till the cows come home but it won't address the actual problem," he added.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4's Today Programme on Monday 11 February 2013.

Audio recording:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21408944

Stop hounding Britain's urban foxes

They are as big as Alsatians and getting bigger. Their numbers are increasing and are out of control. They foul our gardens, they rip cats apart, they are getting bolder. It is simply a matter of time before they kill a baby. City-dwellers cannot let toddlers play in the garden for fear they will be mauled or killed. It's incredible how much hysteria the British press can generate about such a small, and largely inoffensive, animal as the fox.

In the war on the urban fox, truth is not so much a casualty as irrelevant. The fox "cub" recently pictured sitting on a child's bed in London was actually an adult in the terminal stages of mange. It had crept into the house to try to keep warm (foxes with mange lose most of their fur): it caused no problem and was removed by the RSPCA. A non-story and an everyday occurrence with stray cats. Similarly, the fox in the wardrobe. Having entered a house, it panicked and did exactly what foxes do when scared: it looked for somewhere dark to hide. Again it posed no threat and hardly warranted newspaper coverage.

Continued:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jun/07/stop-hounding-britain-urban-foxes

Boris Johnson’s deputy mayor declares war on urban foxes

Some politicians focus their policies on housing, some choose the economy and others aim for better transport.

But after being re-elected to the London Assembly last Friday, Kit Malthouse declared his first priority is to crack down on the rise of the urban fox in Westminster.

Staying true to his Conservative party roots, Mr Malthouse could be about to bring a form of fox-hunting to central London.

The Marylebone resident, who for the past four years has held the West Central London Assembly seat which consists of Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham, said the main issue that came up while he was canvassing prior to last week’s election was that of foxes.

“Last time I ran the big issue was dangerous dogs,” he said. “We have still got to complete our work on that but the issue that has come up this time is urban foxes.

“People are afraid to let their small children play outside because of them. They are more and more worried about the number of foxes as numbers continue to grow.

“I’m going to be looking closely at that issue to see if anything can be done.”

Mr Malthouse was responsible for London’s policing during his first term on the London Assembly, but he will now be London’s first ever deputy mayor for business and enterprise, a role that does not instantly lend itself to fox-hunting.

Last month, St John’s Wood resident Carol Gould, 58, told the Wood&Vale she was terrified when she saw a fox “the size of a wolf” near her house.

Westminster residents have complained about gangs of foxes and Cllr Paul Dimoldenberg, leader of the opposition, has gathered an 81-signature petition calling for action.

Westminster Council says foxes are not its responsibility as the animal is not classified as a pest. Mr Malthouse clearly disagrees.

http://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/boris_johnson_s_deputy_mayor_declares_war_on_urban_foxes_1_1373838