Urban foxes have colonised cities across Europe and North America, creating complex coexistence challenges. Understanding their welfare and ecology is essential for humane management.
Urban foxes occupy an ambiguous position in human-wildlife relations: admired by some, resented by others, and rarely understood by either. From a welfare perspective, their lives involve genuine hardship — road mortality, mange, territorial conflict, and food insecurity. Mange treatment programmes using medicated food have proven effective in reducing suffering in affected populations. Lethal control serves no population management purpose and causes unnecessary suffering. Secure waste disposal and habitat modification achieve coexistence outcomes without welfare costs.