That sure looks like a red fox to me. We have many around here. The one you pictured has a poor coat in my estimation. A fox’s fur usually is fuller and stands out more. They look much bigger than their actual weight. A 6# fox can look like a 15# dog. A fox survives because of its speed. This allows them to be seen and still make an escape. However, when a fox lets itself be seen by humans and persists in presenting itself at your house, you should be aware that such foxes are often sick with rabies. Whether they are or not, a fox will attack a human. We have had several events here in suburban type neighborhoods. Many times they run up behind a person walking and take a nip. Then the person is off to the clinic for shots. Nice pictures, but don’t get in touch with the animal.
PS. That fox is not looking to make a friend of your pet. That’s a hungry fox looking for a meal. They prefer squirrels and mice, but a small dog is fair game when hungry. Foxes are willing to team up for a kill.
We had a rabid fox in our neighborhood last year - be very careful with your pets and make sure your vaccines are up to date. I believe there was also some concern about distemper, but they could only test for one of the two diseases?
My first thought was “coyote”, but I am NOT an expert, and the photo quality is not good, either. So count this as a vote for coyote, rather than a definitive identification.
GusNSpot, your 3rd picture, the one with the cat watching the fox, has me nervous. A fox will happily make a meal out of a pet if it gets the chance. I was working with a friend in the back yard a few years ago, and I heard a rustle in the corn field behind us. The corn was maybe 2-3 feet high then. One of our cats came screaming out of the corn faster than I’ve ever seen her move before. Right behind her was a red fox. The fox made it about 30 feet into the open before it realized that I was there. He pulled up short, did a U-turn, and disappeared, all in about 5 seconds. My friend never even saw it happen, I think.
I agree with you, that to someone like me who really doesn’t know much about them, they look very much alike.
Thanks for the concern, Al. I don’t intend to ever get in touch with it. I don’t think it has rabies, though. I honestly think it’s a family just trying to raise a youngster. I agree that they’re coming into the yard because they’re obviously hungry. Last night I peeked out the glass door long enough to see the single one (which I’m calling the daddy) on the patio snatch up some kind of buzzing bug and run off with it. I suppose it was a cicada, even though those usually screech in alarm in stead of buzz, but whatever it was was buzzing really loudly. Then a few minutes later I saw the same one over on the side of the yard underneath the pear tree. It grabbed one of the pears on the ground and took off. I would have been happy for it to stay and eat all of them. I hate the pears laying on the ground like that. I usually rake them up and toss them, but I admit I haven’t done it so far this year. The squirrels will pick the pears, take one little bite, and then throw them on the ground. Oh, I just realized that I haven’t seen as many squirrels this year. Must be the foxes/coyotes/chupacabras are keeping their numbers down. And as far as their size, they look like they only weigh about five pounds. Really. They’re only about a foot or so tall and are very thin.
I agree with all of you that these animals are obviously hungry. As I said in my OP, I don’t ever let my cats out. I don’t have dogs. I know that foxes can team up to chase and capture a cat. I don’t intend to feed these creatures, other than they are welcome to all the bugs and fallen pears they can eat.
All of this discussion may end up being moot as of this morning. Today I heard the industrial weedeaters going. The city is back there doing their once-a-year weed whacking of all the grass/weeds/kudzu/wildlife that they allow to grow up like a jungle along the abandoned rail line until somebody calls up hopping mad and complaining. From past experience I know they’ll be at it all day. So they may end up running off these animals and I may never see them again.
Earlier this summer I posted about a fox coming out of the woods and following our two dogs while we (two humans) were walking them. I have no idea why the fox was so bold. It seems unlikely the intent was to overpower two alert, strong, much larger dogs and two humans.
That is unusual. I had that happen with a raccon once and later discovered that the raccon had been raised by a family with a dog before it was released into the wild.
I checked several times last night up until about 1:00 am, and there was no sign of any of the critters. Earlier in the afternoon I had gone over to peek at the area by the abandoned rail line to see how badly it was cut, and it was shorn pretty well. My guess at this point is that all the noise and commotion and cutting ran the foxes/coyotes off, at least temporarily. I’ll keep checking to see if they come back. I just hope the city employees didn’t do anything to hurt or kill them.
I’ve seen many dozens of coyotes and a handful of foxes, and I’m reasonably sure that’s a fox and not a coyote. The snout is pointier and the facial markings are different. Look at the facial markings in your photo:
The face in my picture really does look like the fox in your picture, doesn’t it?
The thing that really surprised me so much about these critters was how SMALL they were. I had seen red foxes before on the side of the road, killed by a passing car, and they were bigger than this. Maybe two feet tall. Maybe a little bit less. Like a moderate-sized dog. But this little fella who kept showing up in my yard, along with the other two, were only a foot tall, tops. Are foxes usually so small?
And the youngster. He/she was just FULL of joy! Literally bounding and racing all over the yard, and “catching” pears he/she discovered on the ground, grabbing them in his/her jaws and tossing them in the air, then grabbing them again and rushing off with them to go show “momma” what he/she had discovered. It was adorable!
There was no appearance again last night. I stopped looking at 10:00, though. I am hoping they come back again before the summer’s over.
My thought was coyote. It would make more sense to see a coyote in a highly developed area. Coyotes are really thriving in modern suburbia over the last few years. I really am glad that you arent letting your cats roam. With the increase in coyotes nowadays (even if this particular one was a fox) it isn’t safe for cats to roam outside.
I’ve never let my cats outside. I’m just one of those people who believes cats fare much better inside. It’s too easy for cats to fall prey to cars and poison and mean people, in addition to coyotes and foxes and hungry hawks.
I have always thought of coyotes as being a “western” animal, not something that lives right smack dab in the middle of the heart of Dixie. But one of my friends who lives in Autauga county told me they had coyotes there. At first I didn’t believe her. I would have expected her to talk about the squirrels they had. Or the possums. But not coyotes. Yet there they were. We also have armadillos all over the state. Ugly things. You see them smushed alongside the road all the time.
Anyway, I agree that it isn’t safe to let any pets roam outside.
Coyotes have benefited a lot from humans. Sort of like raccoons and squirrels, they have adapted to living near people. There are coyotes even in places as developed as downtown Chicago and New York City. They just find places to hide so most people don’t realize how close they are.
I have heard that they hunt pests like rats and mice, so I don’t think their presence in cities is anything to be alarmed about. Hopefully as time goes by more people will realize that it’s important to protect small dogs and cats from them. I do feel very bad about it when I hear about coyotes killing pet cats.
