Urban foxes have adapted remarkably to city life but face welfare challenges from mange, culling, and human-wildlife conflict.
Urban foxes with sarcoptic mange suffer progressive hair loss, thickened skin, and slow death over months without treatment. Cage-trapped foxes experience distress before killing. Urban development removes den sites and fragments territories. Short urban fox lifespans reflect the cumulative welfare hazards of vehicles, cats, intentional killing, and disease. Treatment programs for mange-affected urban foxes provide dramatic welfare improvement at relatively low cost.