Just stalked by a fox
 

I've recently noticed my neighborhood has become the home to a fox couple. Tonight I was walking Fonzie when one of them started following us. At first I thought he/she was just crossing the street, but he was coming closer to us and when we crossed back to the other side of the street he did the same. I have to admit, because of Fonzie's size, I decided to scoop him up and walk to the nearest safe spot in the light. I never thought of foxes to be aggressors but I decided that tonight would not be the night to find out!!! I must say my adrenaline got a jolt!

Wow. That sounds scary and can't blame you for being wary.

I would be willing to bet they have rabies if they are coming near people. You may want to call animal control and see if there is anything they can do.
At the school where I teach we had a fox come out of the woods and bite a child and a teacher on the playground. It was awful!

If this Fox is following you & your pup/s , it is deff stalking you and/or your pup/s. If I were you in this situation, I WOULD DEFF call animal control AND fish & game. These animals NEED to be relocated ASAP. Also, as the above stated they are at risk of carrying rabies.

Very good advice.

:eek: Be careful!

I agree animal control needs to be contacted. Glad you both are safe. Bring pepper spray or at least an umbrella to scare him off if he follows you again

I had read in a book put out by TPW several years ago, that foxes used to hunt by themselves, but within the last 5 - 8 years, they have been noticed to be hunting in packs.......Please, have something you can stop an attack with....

Protect yourself and your baby, I would not want to find out what the fox might do...

I definitely would get some Pepper/Mace Spray. Easy to carry, and may come in handy for situations other than fending off Fox's. Some have little "carry case/pockets" which you could just put on the end of your Leash...handy. :thumbup:

Thanks everyone for all the helpful tips! I will get mace (always good to have on hand as a woman too) and will call animal control. I have to get over how nice it is to see them and realize the reality of the danger they do pose.

wow/ how scary

Great Idea! I'm glad you and your baby are safe. That had to be scary when you realized that fox was walking exactly where you were! :eek: Crossed the street to stalk you more!!:eek: Crazy scary!

I had a cat killed by a fox... and we live in a suberb of miami!!!

Also my dd was just telling me her friends pitty got into it with a fox... the pitty ran from the fox. I hate to think of one of our babies !!!

I agree... we love wildlife..even hawks, owls and such but I will protect my babies from the wildlife I love.

I don't love toads btw!

Sorry...popping in just to say LOL to this. :D

On topic - that would've freaked me out. I agree with above, call animal control. It is not normal for a fox to be so close to humans. Rabies is very real concern.

I'd always heard 99%+ of foxes are deathly afraid of humans just as humans are tigers or lions and even if starving wouldn't try to attack a human just as we, starving, wouldn't likely jump on a lion or even a smaller animal walking with it, in the hopes of bringing it down for food. But I've also heard that a tiny portion of foxes are less fearful, especially if they are exposed to humans more often; and that factor, or illness/brain damage can certainly change that. I too would carry protection and report the animal.

I saw that on the news!:eek: I'm glad the op and fur baby were safe!

I am sure someone can pull up my old posts and find this, ( I looked but didn't have time) But I posted what happened to a lady I know. She was walking her Yorkie in Columbus Ohio (for pete sake that is a big city !) A fox jumped out of some bushes and grabbed her Yorkie behind the neck and killed her. The fox took the dead Yorkie, leash and all and ran off ! My friend was so shocked and horrified. She never got over the loss of BJ and she now owns a Boxer.

When I used to golf, and this was in one of our cities public courses, there was a family of foxes that denned in that big space. Every year we would see them, sometimes they would come about 15feet or so away from us as they crossed the course to get somewhere else.

So they can habituate to a more populated area. Foxes can be quite dangerous I believe.

I really don't like the coy-wolves they truly scare me. And they do hunt in packs and one could give my big boy a very hard time, not to mention a group of them.

We have foxes that live all around our home in the woods. While they will occasionally raid a bird feeder when they have young, for the most part we hardly ever see them. Maybe it was the time of day you were walking?

We live out in the country in a wooded area and have always had to take precautions because of predators. Animals like foxes like to hunt at night unless they have young. When they are feeding babies they have to work around the clock but still are very fearful of humans and stay away.

If you had a fox out in broad daylight I would be concerned about rabies. They as well as other small mammals are prone to rabies. Either that or they have run out of their normal prey and are starving. They are great at catching rodents and that is their main diet.

Sadly, when this kind of animal gets into a neighborhood setting many times they do not have the amount of prey they need to survive. They may need to be relocated.

I wait to walk Gracie for a few hours after sunup and a couple of hours before sunset. Any other time there is still a chance of the night hunters still being active. I keep her on a short leash and we have never had a wild animal attack of any sort although we have a forest full of wildlife.

dog
 

Be careful out at night. We don't have foxes here in California but the coyotes are out and hungry. I don't trust them or the sex predator guys. I just don't walk at night. We have had incidents here in San Diego. Good thing you picked your little precious Yorkie up.

Foxes out in daylight near people, sounds like somethings up!

Foxes in my neighborhood
 

Several foxes were located in my neighborhood so I asked my vet about preventive measures and did some searches on my own. My vet suggested a motion activated sprinkler system or motion activated alarm. I opted for the sprinkler since all the alarms were really loud. My alarm company could add it to my house alarm but that would really be loud. Not sure my neighbors have a sense of humor or concern about my dogs when a loud alarm goes off at 3 AM because a neighbors cat entered my yard.

The motion activated sprinklers are working out well. I turn them off when the dogs are outside and back on when they come in. It is more work but it gives me peace of mind that my babies are safe. A few of the neighbors cats are upset about the new sprinklers but I can live with that!

We have foxes on the nature trails by my house and they will, at dusk, start coming out, walking across trails etc. I had two stand and watch me and my small dogs go by. I called the conservation center and they said the foxes in our area, around the nature trails, grew up there. Therefore, they have no fear of humans. According to the conservationist, though, they said they won't attack a dog or cat unless the animal is by itself. They are too timid towards humans.

On YouTube there is a video showing a cat running off a fox that was trying to eat it's food. Also saw a cat facing down an alligator on YouTube. Cat's can be fearless.

JMHO... I would not rely on just picking my Yorkie up and holding him in my arms... I'd be banging on cars to trigger the car alarms and going up to strangers' doors knocking loudly till someone let me in (which I have done before).

I walk the same route and now have picked out a few houses and have talked to the neighbors, just in case I need to barge in at any time for safety's sake.

Animal control told me that normally a fox is not aggressive but if they have a den near by or If they are rabid they can get very aggressive. I am glad you spotted him and picked up Fonzie. This is the picture my husband took of the fox in our back yard. He is beautiful but I don't want him near my girls:(

How scary. I cannot imagine being stalked by a fox. We saw one last year at my aunt's house in Denver, but we don't get them around here. We have coyotes though!

I recall seeing a fox in my neighborhood years ago...and I live just off a main highway through town, right across the street from a Pizza Hut and a car lot, so there's plenty of traffic and people coming and going. Wonder whatever happened to it...only saw it once.

It's not normal for a fox to come towards you like that, they don't like humans and will avoid us. Like everyone else said, call animal control and/or fish & game.
I'm glad that you and your pup are ok!

The one this year was in Conyers I think. Ours was about 7-8 yrs. ago.