Eviction Notice

The house across the street from us has been bought, and they want the foxes out. Apparently, the burrow is making the cement front porch weak.

It's been interesting watching pest control personnel as they have tried to get the foxes to leave. First, they placed a bunch of wire cages around the main hole in an attempt to relocate them. They ended up catching three of the pups (there are actually six total), but because they didn't catch the mom, they had to let them go. Mamma fox was freaked out after that. She would jump at any car that passed by, and hid when people walked down the street. Papa fox wasn't as jumpy, but he was a little more protective.

Pest control tried a new tactic. He wired the cages open, hoping to get Mama accustomed to them. He also hoped that she might have gotten freaked out enough to leave. Neither worked. She wouldn't go near the cages (though the pups played all over them), and she wasn't going to leave her fox hole either while the pups were still nursing.

Well, our neighbors decided to try a different pest control. A couple days ago, we saw them dig up all along the porch. we thought that they were trying to dig out the burrow, but it turns out we were wrong. They were placing a wire fencing under ground so that the foxes couldn't dig out through the front. The had to dig out through the side where their main hole was located. That spooked Mama again. I haven't seen her since then. Yesterday, we saw an addition to the wire fencing. Over the main entrance to the burrow, a metal cage was placed that would let the foxes out, but wouldn't let them back in.

It seems to be working.

We've been seeing the pups roaming all over the place. They can't get back into the burrow and have fallen to exploring. Luckily, the pups are now old enough that they are starting to hunt for themselves. I haven't seen Mama or Papa fox. Looks like this last plan worked.