There are five species of foxes found in North America but only two, the red and gray, are town or city dwellers. Foxes are close relatives of the coyotes, wolf and the domestic dog. The red fox is the bigger species weighing 7 to 15 lbs and reaching 3 feet in length. The gray fox rarely exceed 11 or 12 lbs and are often much smaller.

Both red and gray foxes prefer a diverse habitat that has fields, woods, shrubbery cover, farmland or other variety. Gray foxes are more linked to woodlands than red and are actually capable of climbing trees when in the mood. Both species readily adapt to urban and suburban parklands, golf courses, mixed suburban developments, and other similar areas.

Foxes are primarily nocturnal in urban areas, but this seems more of an accommodation to avoiding humans than it is a preference. They will be active in the day as long as they feel secure and if they are in or near enough cover to escape.

Foxes like many other urban adapted species have a wide variety of plant and animal matter in their diet. People may be surprised and sometimes frightened to discover that foxes live in their neighborhoods, but those fears are almost completely groundless. Foxes are not dangerous to humans in any sense, except when they are rabid or have been captured and are being handled. Even then it takes a lot of handling for a fox to even defend itself by biting. The natural tendency is for the animal to flee rather than to fight.

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