Urban foxes have adapted remarkably well to city environments, but face welfare threats from traffic, mange, human persecution, and the paradox of their own success.
Urban fox welfare sits at the intersection of genuine wildlife adaptation success and the welfare costs of that success. Urban foxes that are not being deliberately managed live relatively good welfare lives — they have stable territories, adequate food, social structures, and relatively low predation risk. The welfare problems arise from vehicle strikes, mange, and occasionally from persecution by humans who regard them as pests. Coexistence-focused management that provides mange treatment where needed, reduces deliberate feeding that creates dependency, and designs urban infrastructure with wildlife passage in mind can improve urban fox welfare without lethal management.