Red foxes have successfully colonised urban environments across the UK. Managing human-fox conflict humanely while protecting fox welfare requires understanding fox ecology and behaviour.
Urban foxes experience significant welfare challenges including mange, road traffic, and human persecution. Mange causes progressive suffering - intense itching, hair loss, skin thickening and eventual death if untreated. The Fox Project and National Fox Welfare Society treat mange with homeopathic and conventional approaches. Culling programmes undertaken by councils are not only welfare-problematic but ecologically ineffective - removing foxes creates vacuum effects that attract new individuals. Coexistence strategies that reduce attractants and manage conflict without killing are both more humane and more effective.