Gray Fox |
Turns out it's a Gray Fox, (Urocyon cinereoargenteus), also called a Tree Fox because it is so adept at climbing. In addition to garden walls and elderly Camry station wagons, these foxes are the only true tree climbers among the canid family and can climb just about any kind of fencing, telephone poles, and, of course, trees. They are timid, elusive and primarily nocturnal, so Cindy was lucky to see this one at all, let alone get a picture of it.
Gray foxes are omnivorous, eating small mammals, insects, fruits, birds, eggs, and carrion. And chickens.
Having a resident fox in the near area could be very helpful in controlling the population explosion among the California Ground Squirrels (see Baby Boom), although we're going to have to be careful about putting food scraps in the compost heap. Project Wildlife suggests adding small amounts of ammonia or cayenne pepper to garbage to discourage scavenging.
If we ever did get chickens, we would have to keep them secure; since foxes can dig under or climb over fencing, the chicken coop would have to be completely enclosed. That makes sense because foxes are not the only predators in the area; coyotes, raccoons and rats also like chicken or eggs.
Winner, winner, chicken dinner. At least we know they're out there.
The information in this post came from one of our favorite nonprofit wildlife preservation organizations, Project Wildlife, which helps care for and rehabilitate injured wildlife in San Diego County, and also provides education to the public on how to co-exist with wildlife.
3 comments:
Awesome photo! That is wild in so many ways!
Kay and Cindy - You are my heroes. You guys work so hard with such good intentions. Surely your karma points are skyrocketing! And Yes, the pests are challenging. I have a rabbit who is eating all the leaves on my sedum plants, which I just put in. Before then he was eating the lawn, which was a good thing!
Val, you are our hero for all the work you did for the Feral Cat Coalition and the trap, neuter, release program. Blessings.
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