The Rise and Fall of Urban Foxes 

Since 1995 there had been a 450% increase in the number of urban foxes, with Bournemouth and London having the highest populations, that was until 2018, when we saw a rapid decrease in population, for unknown reasons. The fox population in England dropped by roughly 45%, but why? 

 

Diet & habitat

In the last 200 years, we have seen mass urbanisation. This has forced red foxes out of the country and into densely populated cities, forcing them to adapt to new environments in a very short span of time. In the wild, foxes are carnivores, eating 95% meat in their diets, and the remaining 5% composed of insects and fruits as a supplement. But since this shift in the environment, foxes have begun eating waste. It is now believed that a typical urban foxes diet consists of 50% human waste from bins. As well as this, they build less dens in rural landscapes, and are more frequently found under garden sheds. This provides warmth and shelter for themselves and their cubs, which is particularly necessary if they have contracted Sarcoptic Mange. Recent data from the natural history museum suggests that urban foxes rarely exceed 4 years of life, whereas the average lifespan of rural foxes is nine years, and 14 years for captive foxes. This clearly demonstrates that habitat loss has an impact on fox lifespan and population 

 

Impact of humans on foxes 

The leading cause of death for foxes is road traffic accidents, with around 100,000 deaths per year. This is because foxes are primarily nocturnal, hunting at night and being less visible to cars, so they become more vulnerable and get run over. Despite the Hunting Act of 2004, which bans fox hunting, it still takes place in rural England through exemptions from this law. Such as, threats to livestock that can be reduced or prevented by fox hunting. Before this act was introduced, 21,000 - 24,000 foxes were killed per year because of hunting, but since then the number of fox hunting enthusiasts has declined, and there have been no new motorways built in the UK since 1994, so why was there a rapid decline in the fox population so recently? 

 

Sarcoptic mange 

A big killer of foxes is Sarcoptic mange. It develops from a mite which buries itself in the skin of the fox, and irritates the skin. Once contracting mange, most foxes die within 4-6 months. This is due to the lesions on the skin being susceptible to secondary infections, which attack the immune system and kill the animal. As well is this the irritation to the skin causes hair loss, and during winter months, this causes deaths from hypothermia. There have been observations in recent years of foxes avoiding mange infected areas. However in the city, they are forced to live more closely due to habitat loss, perhaps causing the mite and infections to spread faster. 

 

Conclusion 

Overall, there has been no research into what actually caused this sudden decline in population, but evidence suggests urbanisation may be the root cause. 

 

Sources :

Wildlife online 

RSPCA 

Natural history museum  

 

 

By Liberty Tickner