Urban foxes are often perceived as pests but are sentient animals with welfare needs that merit consideration in city management decisions.
Urban foxes with mange experience intense itching, hair loss, secondary infections, and eventually emaciation and death without treatment. Traffic casualties are the leading cause of urban fox mortality, causing traumatic injury. Inhumane control methods including poisoning and snaring cause significant suffering. Culls without addressing attractants produce no long-term population reduction while causing welfare harm in the short term.