Coyotes, Foxes becoming common sight in residential areas of New Jersey

a reply to: Anyafaj

I live three miles outside what residents of the borough call the town centre. We have a (rapidly shrinking, increasingly developed) conservation area called Gunners Park right near our place, and because no buses or trains run properly late to my area, I often find myself walking back home from a friends place, or from a night out. I am never...NEVER alone.

There will always be domesticated cats roaming around, but more than anything, there are always foxes. Every fifth or sometimes fourth street I walk on, between town and my place, I will see either a single fox, or sometimes, if the time of year is right and the weather is good, a family of them, on the prowl for easy pickings from trash bags, or finding a place to bed down. The closest I ever get to them is about twenty feet, because they are flighty what with most people around here being idiots about their garbage. They leave it out, in thin plastic bags, and wonder why the foxes cannot just leave their stuff alone, and get violent or shout at them when they hear the foxes going through the bins...Morons.

My attitude to these animals, is that it is only our idiotic requirement for land (bearing in mind that if you decided to fix up all the dilapidated homes in the country, there would be enough housing for a greater percentage of people, and yet we build more homes instead) which causes the foxes to come into "our territory" at all. Their ancestors of only twenty five years ago, would have grown up on scrubland and parkland, which is now developed, managed, and lived on by humans.

I know, through the media, and through things I have read from people who live there, that London also has foxes, so the issue is not limited to the suburbs. The term Urban Foxes has been around for some time now, and there was a case of a fox getting in through an open window, and mauling a baby about a year ago in London. Really awful for the family concerned, and of course, one should be able to leave ones window open for ventilation when necessary. Of course, there are just as many reasons provided by the human animals amongst us, to leave ones window firmly closed, but it happened to be the fox which broke in on that occasion.

The thing that concerns me the most about foxes and the way they live at the moment, is not just that their proximity to our homes brings them into more frequent contact with our species, but that the more we build homes, the less hunting ground they have to feed from. This will increase the likelihood that they will resort to entering homes, driven to desperation by starvation, with inevitable and unfortunate results, either for them, or for young humans, or pets that they might come across.

It was a fox that tore my first pet, a bunny rabbit, completely apart in my back garden when I was very young. Went out to feed the rabbit in the morning, found the hutch open, and the rabbit in pieces all over the lawn. At the time I was very upset, as I am sure you can imagine, and they had not even eaten the rabbit, which was even more upsetting. I thought that represented a breakage in the circle of life, but over time I came to understand that it may have been a mother fox, teaching its young how to kill.

Despite the harrowing event I described above, I quite like foxes. They are smart, fast, and quite beautiful, with their bright fur and bushy tails! It seems to me though, that the more we need homes, the less readily we will be able to accept foxes into the urban scenario, if only because the larger the urban sprawl, the more desperate the animals will become, and the more antagonistic our relationship as species will become as a result. Unless a fundamental shift in the way we deal with ourselves, and our surroundings occurs, I cannot conceive of a way that the relationship between foxes and humans will do anything but sour as time wears on.

originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: Anyafaj



Despite the harrowing event I described above, I quite like foxes. They are smart, fast, and quite beautiful, with their bright fur and bushy tails! It seems to me though, that the more we need homes, the less readily we will be able to accept foxes into the urban scenario, if only because the larger the urban sprawl, the more desperate the animals will become, and the more antagonistic our relationship as species will become as a result. Unless a fundamental shift in the way we deal with ourselves, and our surroundings occurs, I cannot conceive of a way that the relationship between foxes and humans will do anything but sour as time wears on.

Thank you for your perspective Brit! I quite agree with your statement! We really need to stop encroaching on their land, but our greed for more, more, more, just will not stop, sad to say. This goes for money, oil, possessions, and yes, even land. It's enough to make you feel for these poor animals, because man is being such an @$$m when really, there is no reason to be, as there is enough land on this planet for the both of us to live peacefully.

I live in an urban area in South Carolina. We have a huge coyote pack here of maybe twenty or more that roam around the area at night. My son and I saw one walking down our street, at 5:30 pm, on our way back from athletic practice a year ago. The neighbor has free range chickens down there. My husband bought me a trail cam for Christmas two years ago and we put out it near our burn pile. In the back yard where we burn off yard trash occasionally. We have seen the coyotes, foxes, deer, possum, raccoon, neighbors cats, dogs, birds, squirrel visit on the trail cam photos. We even got a Bright flash photo that looked like a UFO hit the pile and the temperature even shot up a degree. It was strange a fox was in the photo one minute, then we got the flash, then the fox was back in the next frame. It was a little weird. Later I put out a pan of dog food the deer and the foxes ate that up. The coyotes poop around the burn pile. So do my dogs. The coyotes feces is black from blood with fur in it, and contains strange seeds sometimes. Dog feces looks like dog food. In the front yard last winter some coyote killed some animal and left the guts behind. They took everything else. My dogs smelled the left overs from the driveway while we were out for a walk. They alerted me to this. In the fall the coyotes roam around and howl at night as a group. It is very scary. I usually lean out the window and blow on a whistle.
We see missing cat photos all over our area. Our next door neighbor thinks her cat got eaten. It was older cat. So now she does not let any of the cats out side. I go out side with my dogs at night on a leach. The older dog is 9 now and refuses to go outside after dark. She put her teeth on me last week over this issue. The coyotes do need to be managed by animal control, they are a problem.
The coyotes on the Eastern USA are larger than out west. They supposedly mated with a Canadian wolf. The coyotes have moved back east and are here in large numbers. No one hunts them. The photos I have show an animal that is very muscular and about 50+ lbs. I now have coyote/ dog pepper spray and a shrill whistle attached to my dog leach handle. I am ready for any confrontation. It has twenty two sprays.

originally posted by: frugal
I live in an urban area in South Carolina. We have a huge coyote pack here of maybe twenty or more that roam around the area at night. My son and I saw one walking down our street, at 5:30 pm, on our way back from athletic practice a year ago. The neighbor has free range chickens down there. My husband bought me a trail cam for Christmas two years ago and we put out it near our burn pile. In the back yard where we burn off yard trash occasionally. We have seen the coyotes, foxes, deer, possum, raccoon, neighbors cats, dogs, birds, squirrel visit on the trail cam photos. We even got a Bright flash photo that looked like a UFO hit the pile and the temperature even shot up a degree. It was strange a fox was in the photo one minute, then we got the flash, then the fox was back in the next frame. It was a little weird. Later I put out a pan of dog food the deer and the foxes ate that up. The coyotes poop around the burn pile. So do my dogs. The coyotes feces is black from blood with fur in it, and contains strange seeds sometimes. Dog feces looks like dog food. In the front yard last winter some coyote killed some animal and left the guts behind. They took everything else. My dogs smelled the left overs from the driveway while we were out for a walk. They alerted me to this. In the fall the coyotes roam around and howl at night as a group. It is very scary. I usually lean out the window and blow on a whistle.
We see missing cat photos all over our area. Our next door neighbor thinks her cat got eaten. It was older cat. So now she does not let any of the cats out side. I go out side with my dogs at night on a leach. The older dog is 9 now and refuses to go outside after dark. She put her teeth on me last week over this issue. The coyotes do need to be managed by animal control, they are a problem.
The coyotes on the Eastern USA are larger than out west. They supposedly mated with a Canadian wolf. The coyotes have moved back east and are here in large numbers. No one hunts them. The photos I have show an animal that is very muscular and about 50+ lbs. I now have coyote/ dog pepper spray and a shrill whistle attached to my dog leach handle. I am ready for any confrontation. It has twenty two sprays.

My sister is in NC and my cat has been missing for about 3-4 weeks now. She's not usually into wandering, but I don't know if coyotes are in her area. Humane Society thinks someone brought her in and picked her up for dog fighting. Where ever she is, it's been so long, it's enough to make you lose hope with each passing day. I truly hope coyotes didn't get to her, but she's a fighter, if they did, she went down swinging.

originally posted by: frugal
I live in an urban area in South Carolina. We have a huge coyote pack here of maybe twenty or more that roam around the area at night. My son and I saw one walking down our street, at 5:30 pm, on our way back from athletic practice a year ago. The neighbor has free range chickens down there. My husband bought me a trail cam for Christmas two years ago and we put out it near our burn pile. In the back yard where we burn off yard trash occasionally. We have seen the coyotes, foxes, deer, possum, raccoon, neighbors cats, dogs, birds, squirrel visit on the trail cam photos. We even got a Bright flash photo that looked like a UFO hit the pile and the temperature even shot up a degree. It was strange a fox was in the photo one minute, then we got the flash, then the fox was back in the next frame. It was a little weird. Later I put out a pan of dog food the deer and the foxes ate that up. The coyotes poop around the burn pile. So do my dogs. The coyotes feces is black from blood with fur in it, and contains strange seeds sometimes. Dog feces looks like dog food. In the front yard last winter some coyote killed some animal and left the guts behind. They took everything else. My dogs smelled the left overs from the driveway while we were out for a walk. They alerted me to this. In the fall the coyotes roam around and howl at night as a group. It is very scary. I usually lean out the window and blow on a whistle.
We see missing cat photos all over our area. Our next door neighbor thinks her cat got eaten. It was older cat. So now she does not let any of the cats out side. I go out side with my dogs at night on a leach. The older dog is 9 now and refuses to go outside after dark. She put her teeth on me last week over this issue. The coyotes do need to be managed by animal control, they are a problem.
The coyotes on the Eastern USA are larger than out west. They supposedly mated with a Canadian wolf. The coyotes have moved back east and are here in large numbers. No one hunts them. The photos I have show an animal that is very muscular and about 50+ lbs. I now have coyote/ dog pepper spray and a shrill whistle attached to my dog leach handle. I am ready for any confrontation. It has twenty two sprays.

You put out food and then complain about the coyotes? Does anyone else see the illogic in this?

With whitetail, rabbits, and other small game having a boomtime in urban and semi-urban areas, the coyotes coming back is no surprise. Just nature returning balance in it's own particular way. As long as you're not dumb enough to leave a small pet out or easy food sources when you know they're around, you shouldn't have too many problems. Coyotes didn't manage this comeback by being aggressive towards people, quite the contrary, as they tend to be smart in how they survive.

Here in the UK there are urban foxes in most towns and cities.

When I am is in close proximity to fields but they choose urban areas due to easily available food, just like the seagulls that have made retail parks their area of choice, they often sit in flocks on the tin roofs of large stores as they are warmed by the heating systems.

Very interesting animals since they appear to be very smart in their tactics. For the last few years they have been attacking dogs all over Arizona regularly, I think it was in Sun City where they have figured out they can easily pack up and snatch small dogs from older retired folks while they are out walking their dogs in broad daylight. I was listening to Joe Rogans podcast where he was saying his Mastiff used to bark and run them off until over time they got playful then became friends with the dog.

After they got friendly his dog let a few in the yard where he helped them kill a few of his chickens. One of his neighbors had a Beagle that they got friendly with and once it ran off with them a pack of them killed the Beagle and ate him.I read somewhere about how they will feign injury to get closer to other animals then attack in a pack and eat them. I haven't seen one in a while but I think you can definitely see them size you up when you make eye contact with one.

originally posted by: Candycab
Very interesting animals since they appear to be very smart in their tactics. For the last few years they have been attacking dogs all over Arizona regularly, I think it was in Sun City where they have figured out they can easily pack up and snatch small dogs from older retired folks while they are out walking their dogs in broad daylight. I was listening to Joe Rogans podcast where he was saying his Mastiff used to bark and run them off until over time they got playful then became friends with the dog.

After they got friendly his dog let a few in the yard where he helped them kill a few of his chickens. One of his neighbors had a Beagle that they got friendly with and once it ran off with them a pack of them killed the Beagle and ate him.I read somewhere about how they will feign injury to get closer to other animals then attack in a pack and eat them. I haven't seen one in a while but I think you can definitely see them size you up when you make eye contact with one.

Its common for a coyote pack to pretend to play with a domestic dog until it is comfortable enough to be caught off guard.

Oddly, I know this lady who has a bunch of geriatric rescue cats living on her acreage. For years the coyotes have been coming by at night to play with the shoes and boots on the front step, but she hasn't lost any cats to them yet.

It was their home first..