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My next door neighbor just called me while I was here online to tell me a story that just freaked me out! Freaked me out because it happened yesterday evening around 6pm when I was in my backyard cleaning the tortoise mansion.

Destiny was outside in the backyard while I cleaned her home. The sun was shining, she was grazing, & our little miniature weenie dog was on the front porch asleep while I cleaned.
My neighbor said a fox was in the tree at the house next door to them on the other side, they saw that neighbor's cat jump out of the tree, then the fox jumped out after it. Then the fox was in the middle of the street staring at the kids who were outside playing across the street, so then the neighbor man next door opened his front door & let their big dog outside.
Their dog scared the fox who then jumped the fence into my yard, ran through my turtle pen & out of my yard on the other side.. all the while I was out in the backyard cleaning & MISSED the entire episode.
HOLY COW this was in broad daylight & the fox showed no fear when it saw humans. I think we may have a problem here!
It's scary because our tortoise lives outdoors year round, the turtles are soon to be outdoors year round, the dog is tiny & we live in a high risk area for rabies.
That story really freaked me out & now I'm going to worry all the time about the tortoise being outside by herself.
Guess I'm gonna have to call Animal Services for some advice! EEK
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PHRatz

Just another story about over developing and the poor animals that naturally live their are considered pests.

Ive seen foxes in broad daylight on several occassions. This isnt a rarity. Its not the norm though .. I have had completly wild foxes trot alongside of a road with me driving right alongside with them. Its so sad... Their homes are being wiped out .. food is scarce... they get scared ... wander into human populations ... and then one way another they die.. either by automobile or animal services.
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Safari Tom
See'em Touch'em Save'em
www.SafariTom.com

We live on the outskirts of town & we've always known the foxes are here.. we've seen them for years but usually only at dusk.
I never viewed them as pests but ya know.. I think you've hit on the problem.
We've been here since 1992, nice peaceful quiet country life when all of a sudden in 2005 new houses started going up all around us.
These people are destroying habitat for the foxes, coyotes, quail, turtles, snakes, you name it so yeah the foxes are having a problem now caused by humans.
I don't worry about them usually, but when they lose their fear of humans.. that can be a major problem.
Especially since the rabies quarantine was only lifted in this state 4-5 years ago yet we're still in a high risk area at our house.
Hunting in broad daylight tells me they're hungry.. that's a very bold move for a fox. The way people are it wouldn't surprise me if someone out in the neighborhood will think they're cute & start putting out food for them. That could be bad for not just us but the foxes themselves.
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PHRatz

I agree ..

We as humans ( the so called intelligent beings ) need to respect all wildlife and learn to cohabitate. We need to develope but with the earth and its inhabitants put first. Instead of bulldozing wight over the land land with animals still in their burrows, nests etc.. , we need to clear the land.. Have Fish and Game do walk throughs... local relocation... more needs to be done... tortoises and other burrowing animals are being plowed over and left to starve in there burrows while the developments build on..

I live in FL. FL fish and wildlife do not help .. yes.. they do set regulations .. but NO they dont proactively help with this problem.. the developers are the ones responsible for reporting protected species on the said land to be developed... now to me , that just doesnt seem right ... What does a developer know about protected species? Its rediculous...

anyway ... start a club in your area to protect wildlife from overdevelopment , Action is the only thing that will make a difference ...
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Safari Tom
See'em Touch'em Save'em
www.SafariTom.com

The "animal services" and fish and game commissions are being paid by the same development companies that want them to look the other way so they can get things built faster so they make money faster... until you get rid of greedy businessmen, and "city folk" who don't care about the animals, you'll never get people to cohabitate... its sad when you realize how many animals are being wiped out because someone wants to make money...
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"Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious."
1.1 Cal Kings

Yikes. That is odd that it was out in the day around people. Either something was wrong or it was very hungry.

>> My neighbor said a fox was in the tree at the house next door to them on the other side, they saw that neighbor's cat jump out of the tree, then the fox jumped out after it. Then the fox was in the middle of the street staring at the kids who were outside playing across the street, so then the neighbor man next door opened his front door & let their big dog outside.
>>Their dog scared the fox who then jumped the fence into my yard, ran through my turtle pen & out of my yard on the other side.. all the while I was out in the backyard cleaning & MISSED the entire episode.
>> HOLY COW this was in broad daylight & the fox showed no fear when it saw humans. I think we may have a problem here!

Now what I think is scary is that your neighbor let his dog out after the fox. I'm guessing a lot of people down there don't know or realize that foxes are a HIGH rabies risk animal? The lack of fear in the animal should have been the first sign that there was a possible rabies risk...he should have been yelling at the kids to get inside and away from the fox - not putting his own dog and other people (like yourself) at risk by letting it chase it. Just this year in our area, a rabid fox attacked a child (bit him on the leg) and then chased him and his family into their house.. took them a while to trap the fox in one of the bedrooms. The kid of course had to go through all the nasty shots.
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PHWyvern

>>Now what I think is scary is that your neighbor let his dog out after the fox. I'm guessing a lot of people down there don't know or realize that foxes are a HIGH rabies risk animal? The lack of fear in the animal should have been the first sign that there was a possible rabies risk...he should have been yelling at the kids to get inside and away from the fox - not putting his own dog and other people (like yourself) at risk by letting it chase it. Just this year in our area, a rabid fox attacked a child (bit him on the leg) and then chased him and his family into their house.. took them a while to trap the fox in one of the bedrooms. The kid of course had to go through all the nasty shots.

I didn't mention that the neighbor who let his dog out is the idiot hillbilly neighbor who thinks feeding a penny to your dog once a year will keep it from ever having worms. He's also the one who thinks that in Gaines County TX the kingsnakes & rattlesnakes are interbreeding "so now yah cain't tayall which wuns is poisonious"
ROFL!!

I realize that yes foxes do come out in daytime sometimes but ya know Animal Services harps on the fact that if you're seeing animals that usually only hunt at night out hunting in daylight, there's yer ferst CUH-LUE!
Naaa nobody around us here on this street seems to have a bit of common sense in their heads. 10 years or so ago we had a neighbor on the other side of us who told me about seeing a fox outside in his backyard & it almost came to him when he called it. I'm like uh excuse me? WHY would you DO that?
Here we are in a state that was once the only state in the US that was rabies quarantined & you people don't have any idea what that means?
I think they really don't! I've had the rabies vaccines because of a dog bite when I was a little kid- 3 years old. I don't remember every detail but I do remember it, it was not pleasant.
Some people chastise me for vaccinating my dog yearly instead of every 3. Well tough, chastise me all you want but I'm taking no chances, we have skunks, coyotes, & bats around here too, not to mention feral cats- all animals with high potential for carrying rabies.
Anyway, someone told me a story about their large sulcata being outside & that a coon or something chewed it up badly- killed it so I think I need to speak with Animal Services & find out if they can trap some foxes for us.
They have said in the past that they trap then release animals like that into other locations.. I don't know if it's true or not & need to find out.
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PHRatz

>>>
>> Anyway, someone told me a story about their large sulcata being outside & that a coon or something chewed it up badly- killed it so I think I need to speak with Animal Services & find out if they can trap some foxes for us.

Well raccoons LOVE to eat turtles of any kind. It's part of their natural diet. Not unusual. Turtles (other than snappers) really don't have any way to fight back and coons are smart critters. Turtles are not a part of a foxes natural diet, a fox would have to be pretty desperate/starved I think to want to eat a turtle.
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PHWyvern

>>Well raccoons LOVE to eat turtles of any kind. It's part of their natural diet. Not unusual. Turtles (other than snappers) really don't have any way to fight back and coons are smart critters. Turtles are not a part of a foxes natural diet, a fox would have to be pretty desperate/starved I think to want to eat a turtle.

When we first moved here we still had a "paper boy" who was actually a man who did the collection for the paper at the door. It's not done that way now, we mail the check with the bill... but he told me once there are coons here that he's seen them as he drove around in the middle of the night. I still have a problem believing that, I've never seen any evidence at all that they do live around here.
The fox though, I didn't think turtles and tortoises were on their menu but if it's desperate enough to hunt a house cat in broad daylight in front of a lot of humans, that worries me.
Of course on the other hand this could just be a fluke, there are feral cats in the neighborhood, maybe the fox ventured into human territory by accident because it was on the chase?
Since this happened, nothing else has with a fox.

The major storms with heavy rains we had yesterday did bring out the spadefoot toads though!
They were out calling all night long last night- I love hearing that!
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PHRatz

Newspaper had another local rabid fox encounter... (this one roughly a mile from where I work)

a rabid fox chased 4 people in a neighborhood and bit one person tearing his pants leg but not breaking the skin. The fox then ran into the yard of another person and bit him on the hand and arm breaking the skin. During the chases, the fox had jumped on 3 cars to try to get at people.
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PHWyvern

>>Newspaper had another local rabid fox encounter... (this one roughly a mile from where I work)
>>
>>a rabid fox chased 4 people in a neighborhood and bit one person tearing his pants leg but not breaking the skin. The fox then ran into the yard of another person and bit him on the hand and arm breaking the skin. During the chases, the fox had jumped on 3 cars to try to get at people.

Man that's not a good thing!
When the man who lived next door years ago told me that he almost got a fox to come to him, I thought he was insane.
When that happened we had a lot of people in this region getting rabies shots because of their encounters with rabid foxes, bobcats, skunks, bats & housecats. It was on the TV news at least once a week & I guess he didn't watch the news. Heck back then even a local vet had been exposed to rabies through a rabid HORSE of all things.
It was bad around here at that time.

I've been waffling back & forth on whether or not to contact Animal Services.
That is because of the sulcata!
The city code on keeping "zoo" type animals is extremely vague when it comes to reptiles. It's very specific about monkeys & large dangerous animals like big cats but then falls back to vague when it comes to reptiles so I don't know for certain she's legal here, although baby sulcata are sold in local pet stores.

ALL the neighbors know she lives here, NONE of them care. Once nearly 2 years ago a police officer saw her & stopped to look at her & talk to me. The only comment he made about her is how COOL she is.. but still I'm reluctant to say hey Animal Services see what I've got! They can be really squirrely with people at times so I'm afraid to blatantly let them know she's here with us.

Now though I am finding fresh fox poop in my turtle pen on a daily basis. That thing is hopping in & pooping in my pen every single night & that's really starting to tick me off!
I dunno what I'm gonna do if anything.
I am off to pooper scoop though I know that much lol.
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PHRatz

Howdy Folks,
A word about the fox issue. I am a Nuisance Wildlife Trapper and deal with Grey Fox all the time. It's totally normal for fox to be active during the day & night, they hunt for birds during the day and if someone has a birdfeeder nearby the fox will hang around to ambush birds.
I have 5 Sulcatas of various sizes which live free in my fenced back yard, the foxes that live here seem to look right past the tortoises, so I wouldn't worry. Birds seem to be what they are looking for.
If you are really dead set on getting rid of them.. for whatever reason.. you should call a private nuisance wildlife trapper, call around and find someone who can capture the fox.. it's mate and the kits ( it's that time of year) where ever they are.. (the male and female raise the young together) and then relocate them as a family.
Fox, raccoon, opossum, rats, and many other animals live WHERE PEOPLE LIVE because we provide them food water and shelter without realizing it. That fox is just another one of your neighbors.
Good Luck,
--jeff