Foxes have lived in cities and their neighborhoods for a long time, and their appearance in built-up areas is nothing unique. The increase in reports observed in society in recent years is explained not by a sharp increase in the population, but by the wide availability of modern technologies - mobile phones and surveillance cameras - which allow residents to record animals much more often.
The urban environment provides foxes with two major advantages: a safe haven and abundant feed base. In the city area, foxes do not have natural enemies - wolves and lynxes, which limit their numbers in the wild, destroying foxes as hunting competitors. Untrained domestic dogs, on the other hand, pose no serious threat to foxes. Being a highly intelligent and adaptable animal, the Fox makes efficient use of human-made resources. In the city, their food consists of both common prey (birds, rodents, small cats) and easily accessible alternative sources - food waste and the content of pet or bird feeders.
At the same time, it should be noted that foxes are wild animals that can transmit various diseases and parasites (mites, fleas, intestinal parasites and scabies), because unlike pets, they do not undergo veterinary care. On the positive side, thanks to long-term oral vaccination, rabies has been officially eradicated in Latvia and has not been detected in any wild animal in many years.
Recommendations for reducing the presence of foxes and protecting human settlements:
- reduce access to easy-to-source food. Do not throw out food waste, seal or demarcate waste containers. Place pet and bird food in such places and times (removing them during the dark hours of the day) so as not to accustom foxes to regular feeding opportunities;
- demarcate the area by closing holes for foxes in the enclosures. The Fox makes a great climb up the weave of the fence and takes the opportunity to burrow under the fence or jump into the area from the dais. One principle: where a Fox's snout can get through, the animal itself gets there;
- if there are places in the territory, especially in industrial areas, where a Fox tends to shelter, they must be blocked off, preventing the possibility of entering there. It should be remembered that the Fox intends to establish such a den and create the next generation of foxes;
combined Fox repellent techniques can be used: ultrasonic repellents, light sensors, noise effects and more. Fox quickly realizes what poses a real threat, but what doesn't. Deterrents must change frequency, sound, light brightness and other parameters. Ultrasonic repellents can have an undesirable effect on pets; - generally, the use of a firearm is not permitted in Fox-populated areas of the city. Any form of Fox hunting in urban environments is legally and technically problematic. The existence of a Fox in the city does not automatically mean the prerequisites provided for in regulatory enactments for hunting in the administrative territory of Riga municipality.