This fox has been hanging out at an inn in Provincetown lately. He (or she) has been sleeping THREE stories up on a lounge chair on an outside deck. Might a chair without cushions be less inviting? An employee removed the cushion . . . and the fox tried dragging it back up! I guess he/she has found a safe and comfortable spot and has no intention of leaving!
The innkeepers say, ” it’s missing one leg and it looks very mangy”. It’s sad about the leg. I’m wondering if it might have been caught in a leg-hold trap. Canids will often chew off their own leg to escape and save themselves from these traps.
This fox actually is not mangy at all — this is the time of the year they shed, so they only LOOK mangy because of their ragged coat which sometimes sheds rather unevenly and in patches. The same thing happens to coyotes.
The innkeepers are hoping that the presence of a new resident dog in the courtyard will keep it away for the summer. Let’s see!
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- Fox wandering the streets in Provincetown
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- Fox wandering the streets in Provincetown
Foxes, like coyotes, are part of the canid family and, like coyotes, have been moving into urban centers creating pretty much the same concerns that coyotes do. However, red foxes, as the one depicted here, weigh only 7-15 pounds. Gray foxes are even smaller, weighing no more than 12 pounds. Western coyotes weigh between 25 and 35 pounds, while the Eastern Coyote (also known as the coywolf) can weigh as much as 40-50 pounds. To read more about foxes, please press this link: www.mspca.org/animal_protection/about-foxes/
Coyote Yipps 
