Animal control: leave foxes near your home alone this denning season

STRONGSVILLE, Ohio (WOIO) - If you spot a fox in your yard in the beginning of spring, please let them be.

Strongsville Animal Control Officer Chuck McCleary said fox sightings are more common, even in the daytime, due to denning season.

To ease the minds of community members, he shared the following information on your new temporary neighbors in nature:

A mother fox will give birth to four or five kits between the end of March and early April, and will often chose a den site close to people as a way to deter coyotes.

Coyotes are notorious for finding fox dens, digging out the kits, and killing them.

This is why a mother fox will make her den where coyotes generally won’t go, such as under a porch, shed, garage, barn, or side of a hill to try to keep her little family safe.

“Please offer them a short-term rental because this is not a permanent situation,” McCleary said. “If you are lucky enough to see how beautiful an adult fox is, or witness the kits playing (at a distance of course), you will be glad you did!”

You may not see red foxes for long since they tend to to change dens several times during the season.

Foxes only live in dens when a mother has kits, which are slow to develop and will not leave the den until they are about a month old.

Kit sightings will be fewer and farther between as they grow older during the summer, and will have packed up and moved on by September.

McCleary asks the community to not call a service to “relocate” them since doing so will often get them killed.

Seeing a fox during the day does not mean it is rabid, McCleary stated.

A mother fox works tirelessly to feed her kids, and will often forage for food during the daylight hours, McCleary explained.

Once the kits are grown, they are solitary creatures who prefer to be left alone.

Foxes are omnivores that generally feed on berries, grasses, and small rodents.

“They do not want to hunt and eat your children, mate with your dog, or kill your cat,” McCleary stated. “A fox just wants a place to raise her family safely, please allow her to do that.

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