Have a new furry tenant....

MossRoad · Sep 11, 2022

If the fox is there, it'll find a natural diet. Putting out food will most likely attract other critters. I'd just enjoy it while it's there.

When we put our above ground pool in, I added an extra foot of sand to make it shallower for the kids. Many years later, we got a new pool wall, so I took the extra sand away as the kids were grown, and made a nice store pile with it in the way back of our yard about 4' high. The next time I mowed the lawn, the pile was only 2' high and 3 times the diameter. What the heck? I looked at it and there were little tiny tracks all over the entire pile. Later that evening, sitting on our pool deck, 4 baby foxes came out of the woods and were wrestling all over that sand pile while their mom laid nearby, resting I'm sure. Very cute to see. They were gone the next year. See foxes come and go quite a bit.

I've heard that coyotes don't tolerate foxes so well, so if you have foxes, coyote numbers might be down, and vice versa.

MossRoad · Sep 11, 2022

Eagle1 said:
Doesn't that logic apply to humans as well?

Yes. Don't feed starving children just because they might have parents that can't or won't provide for them. Perfect logic.

Eagle1 · Sep 11, 2022

But won't they become unable to fend for themselves and become depend on people to feed them or then take what they want if not provided?
It's the logic we use for predators, last I looked humans are the most numerous predator behind ants on the planet.

I'm going with feeding kids and orphan animals is a good thing. Teaching them to provide for themselves becomes part of that journey. We do a lousy job of teaching in the western world on both accounts.

Torvy · Sep 11, 2022

We're talking foxes, not kits. If the fox cannot take care of the kits, we remove them and either try to put them with a surrogate or in the care of a vet or zoo. If a healthy fox cannot take care of itself, nature will either teach it or kill it.