Urban foxes are well-adapted to city environments but face welfare challenges from traffic, disease, mange, and public attitudes - coexistence strategies benefit both foxes and communities.
Urban fox welfare involves a complex relationship between wildlife and human communities. Mange causes severe suffering - intense itching, hair loss, and secondary infection - and is widespread in some urban fox populations. The Fox Project and wildlife rehabilitation centres treat thousands of mange cases annually using ivermectin bait. Traffic mortality is the primary cause of death for young foxes. Community attitudes toward urban foxes vary from appreciation to hostility; welfare-positive approaches focus on coexistence through informed public communication. Culling urban foxes is both inhumane and ineffective - populations recover rapidly through immigration.