aLex Abbey’s security camera caught something moving in an alley behind his home in Sydney’s eastern suburbs a few weeks ago. When he watched the footage at 2am the next morning, he was surprised to see a red fox on the screen.
“It’s unusual. It’s the first time I’ve seen anything like this in Potts Point,” he says.
“I was surprised, but I also understand that foxes are very common in [cities such as] “London.”
Sebastian, who asked that his last name not be used, was most affected by his encounter with the fox, also in Sydney’s east.
“I was sitting in a house in Vaucluse and forgot to close the chicken coop,” he says. Three chickens and a rabbit in his care did not survive that night.
“That was a fun call I had to make with the owner,” he says.
The abundance of domestic animals provides plenty of prey for foxes, which is one reason cities have become ideal habitats for this invasive species.
Monitoring site Fox Scan shows that the largest concentrations of reports from the public over the past year have been in Sydney and MelbourneFigures from previous years were not available.
In Sydney, “very high” numbers of these birds have been recorded at Bayview, Kellyville, Blackhurst, Greystans and Warragamba. Dense groups of sightings have also been recorded at Campbelltown, Collaroy, Cameroon and Roseville.
In Melbourne, high fox densities were reported in Birrarung Mar, Williamstown, Glen Waverley, Maribyrnong, Kew East and East Melbourne. “Very high” numbers were recorded in South Melbourne, Elwood, Camberwell and Bentley.
Research by the Victorian government estimates there are 16 foxes per square kilometre in Melbourne – about 5,000 foxes in a 10-kilometre radius. A 2022 study by the Australian National University estimated the national population at 1.7 million foxes.
But are fox numbers increasing?
Users of the iNaturalist flora and fauna app made 947 red fox observations across Australia in 2022, and 1,158 in 2023. But, like Fox Scan, these numbers are not a reliable indicator of population size or growth.
In the absence of an objective monitoring system, experts cannot confirm whether the population is increasing, or whether we are just talking about foxes and reporting them more often, perhaps because of social media.
“A lot of these observations are anecdotal,” says Dr John Martin of consultancy Ecosure. “It’s funny that my mother-in-law was talking about how much the foxes are enjoying the sunshine in her garden right now, just yesterday.
“There’s a seasonal element here,” says Martin. With mating season comes more movement — and more observations.
“We see young foxes dispersing, and we also see adult foxes being a little bit more territorial, as they head into the breeding season.”
But Professor Trish Fleming, a wildlife ecologist at Murdoch University, says the number of foxes being spotted in cities is “definitely increasing” – and it’s not just a visit.
“Foxes are very intelligent, and they may be learning how to cope with living in an urban environment,” she says.
Tracking foxes in Perth, she found they avoided parks where they might encounter dogs, and were learning to “make better use of habitats.” As a result, control measures failed over time.
“If you keep putting out baits, and the fox doesn’t take them, the next generation of foxes that are born are also more likely to have … avoidance of certain threat elements,” Fleming says.
Foxes choose cities as their habitats because they are “full of resources,” from unfenced landfills to street trash and open bins, she says, and “these resources are not seasonal.” Plus, foxes feed in our gardens.
There is a mulberry tree on my neighbor’s property, and I [see] “They poop black and purple when the foxes pass by,” she says. “They definitely eat the berries.”
Fleming’s research has found that foxes frequent buildings and municipal lands, such as golf courses. Dense woodland and reeds near waterways are also useful for hunting and shelter. Foxes also burrow under car bodies (and chew through cables), under large structures and around green spaces.
These imported species are not only a nuisance to humans.
Martin’s research has found that Sydney’s foxes do not prey on endangered native species. But in the bush, foxes are probably the second-worst predator after feral cats, eating native animals and driving some species to extinction, he says. Rats, lizards, wallabies, kangaroos, turtles and birds are all at risk. Foxes also spread disease and weeds.
Their interactions with native plants and animals are complex, he says. “But at their most basic, they are non-native species, and so they actually have a negative impact on the environment.”
“They are really amazing animals, and humans brought them here. They do what they naturally evolved to do, which is hunt animals. They are predators.”
With foxes now living on 80% of mainland Australia, local councils are trying to control them. This is a more difficult task in our cities, largely because baits, which are very effective at controlling them on a large scale, can poison pets.
Management plans rely on pesticide spraying, trapping, trained dogs, thermal scopes (which detect heat emitted by live animals) and firearms, says Gillian Basnett, national coordinator for wild cats and foxes at the Invasive Species Solutions Center. Everyone can help solve the problem by throwing away less food and making sure waste is securely stored, she says.
Recording the foxes you see can also help.
“It’s a great experience to be able to see a fox like this, but it poses a huge risk to our native animals,” says Fleming of Murdoch University.
