Vulpes vulpes

About

Juvenile snow foxes held in a cage

The Red Fox (German: Rotfuchs) might be one of the most common species of fox worldwide. It has made its home from Northern Alaska down to Northern India and can be found in all of the climate zones in between. In Europe, and Germany especially, it is a common synanthrope showing barely any reserve living around humans.

While Red Foxes in Germany typically live in the forest, they have also been seen making homes in gardens, graveyards and backyards, raising their young on terraces and interacting friendly with pets such as the Domestic Dog, a distant relative and fellow canid. In the past, Red Foxes were hunted systematically for their fur. There are dog breeds that have been primed to hunt foxes and will do so when running free and sniffing out a fox. There are still fox fur farms around the world. In general, Red Foxes aren't a threat to humans and will not attack but rather run when they get scared or are surprised in any way.

The Red Fox is known to make all sorts of weird sounds, especially at night and during mating season in spring. Listen to a few.

Foxes can transmit the Fox tapeworm (Echinococcus multilocularis) to humans, causing alveolar echinococcosis. The risk of ingesting a tapeworm can be drastically reduced by washing all berries, fruit, vegetables and herbs grown in places where foxes might live. That includes small garden plots. Foxes can also catch and transmit rabies. Terrestrial rabies is considered eradicated in Germany, but still very common in other countries around the world. That means that foxes coming up very close, around here, is rare a sign of an animal being diseased but rather shows, that the fox is very young, curious, hungry or simply has lost all sense of danger towards humans.

A hungry fox might hunt small animals such as pet rabbits, guinea pigs, chicken or quails if they are not fenced in properly. Automatically closing coop doors can lower the risk of any predator (martens, snakes or birds of prey) getting a hold of critters and poultry.

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