"It's a fox. Stop the car," I commanded. Mike and I were on our way to Carmike to see a movie when I spied a fairly large red fox trotting a cross a field. We stopped and so did the fox. We watched each other for 60 seconds or so, then the fox turned and walked toward the woods.
Red and gray foxes inhabit this area, but I have never seen one in person. When I was a teenager my mother talked about a fox that prowled around in the early morning hours. It was, by her account "mangy looking," and she expressed the opinion that foxes were a dying breed in these parts.
Today's facts contradict Mom's opinion from all those years ago. Foxes do especially well living in close proximity to suburban humans. It's even better for them if housing developments lie next to fields or wooded areas (as in Mount Laurel). Foxes and their canine relative coyotes are plentiful enough in New Jersey that it is legal to hunt them during deer season (if you have a deer hunting license) and during special fox/coyote season (with the required license). Foxes and coyotes don't cause many problems for home owners. They generally keep their distance. The best way to keep them out of your yard is to keep tight lids on your garbage cans. Foxes can share distemper and mange with pets and rabies with pets and humans. There were only 35 documented cases of rabies in Burlington County in 2013, but foxes can be infected. Foxes like to hunt at dawn and dusk, but they are not nocturnal. Seeing a fox during the day does not mean it has rabies. However, if a fox exhibits unprovoked aggression, impaired movement, lack of coordination, paralysis, or unusually docile or friendly behavior, steer clear and call Animal Control.
There's a big cute factor when it comes to foxes. Some people want to keep them as pets. I found an interesting article that explained the difference between a tame animal and a domesticated animal. A tame animal, one raised from birth by humans, will be adorable as a baby and will not threaten you when it is an adult. As much as you might desire it, a tame animal not engage with a human for play or affection. That animal still has wild genes and its offspring will be wild unless also tamed. Domestic dogs have distinctly different genes than their wild cousins (wolves, foxes, coyotes, jackals). Those genes make dogs real suck ups. They desire affection and attention, they lick, they wag their tails. Their offspring are born domesticated.
In 1959 a Soviet named Dmitry K. Belyaev began a secret breeding program aimed at domesticating foxes. After 30-35 generations the experiment succeeded. The price of a domesticated fox is about $8,000. The price is high because it takes an exotic animal importer to get these foxes into the United States. If you have that kind of money, and if your state will allow you to have a fox, you have to consider all the negatives of being a fox pet parent. Foxes are intelligent and curious, and that makes them destructive. They will dig and chew. They also pee in the house. Fox urine stinks - almost as bad as skunk urine. Foxes are also short lived, three years in the wild and 10 years under favorable conditions. A shelter cat or dog is a better buy.
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2012-10/fyi-domesticated-foxes
It was a real treat to see that little, red critter. It brought memories of Aesop's fox and crow fable, Alison Uttley's Little Red Fox, and Dr. Seuss' Fox in Socks. As Theodor Geisel said at the end of Fox in Socks, "Thank you for a lot of fun, sir."
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