Urban foxes live in close proximity to humans in cities across Europe and North America, facing distinctive welfare challenges from traffic, poison, and human conflict while benefiting from abundant food resources.
Urban fox welfare encompasses acute welfare events — traffic mortality, mange disease — and chronic welfare considerations from the proximity to human activity. Foxes with mange suffer progressive hair loss, intense itching, and immune compromise leading to death if untreated. Wildlife rehabilitators can treat mange-affected foxes, but the scale of urban populations limits the feasibility of systematic treatment. Traffic mortality causes traumatic suffering; road design, speed management, and driver awareness in fox-rich areas can reduce casualties. Coexistence management that prevents the conflict situations leading to deliberate harm is the primary welfare-protective strategy.