Foxes have been reported in Summerville, giving some neighbors the vapors.
People in the suburbs of Augusta are used to seeing the occasional deer wander into the roadway or seeing a racoon late at night rummaging through a neighbor’s garbage; but urban sprawl has led to many of to live in a shared habitat.
Richmond County and UGA Cooperative Extension Agent Campbell Vaughn says people should not worry at spotting a fox crossing their lawn on their doorbell camera at night.
In fact, spotting a fox at night can be a good sign that the area is relatively free of coyotes, which constitute a real menace.
“Foxes, like deer, have a natural fear of humans, but they also sense that their predators avoid anywhere humans are and so it makes that location a safe space for them,” Vaughn said.
Georgia is native ground for both red and gray varieties of fox, according to Vaughn, and the red fox has suffered severe population declines in the past decades due mainly from predation by coyotes.
It seems to make sense that with dwindling forested areas around Augusta along with a healthy coyote population, the foxes would seek to move into the ‘burbs.’
Vaughn says that having foxes around can be a benefit.
“They are amazing little animals. They help control the mice population, and they avoid humans, by being sly, you know, like a fox,” Vaughn said.
According to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, April is the time of year that female foxes are on the move to protect their young. As it turns out, fox kits grow up with an absentee dad. It is up to the females to raise young.
Therefore, the female, much like female deer, will hide their babies while they go off to eat and generate milk to feed them.
Vaughn says that if anyone should happen upon a baby fox nestled under the bushes in their front yard, they should leave the animal alone as mom will likely be by in an hour or so to take the baby off to another safe location.
Unlike what some people fear, foxes do not pose a threat to small dogs and cats, but people who raise backyard chickens need to take extra precautions because foxes will decimate a flock of hens.
The only real threat to humans that foxes may pose is that they are very susceptible to rabies.
“It wouldn’t be unusual, rare, but not unusual to see a glimpse of a fox during the day; but if you see one out in the open and not avoiding humans, then the animal may be sick and you should call animal control immediately,” Vaughn said.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Investigative Reporter and Editorial Page Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
