Many of us are familiar with wildlife stealing the bounty of our gardens, usually any number of birds and deer are the culprits. In some areas of the country, however, the name of the outlaw is – the fox. Let’s learn more about how to prevent foxes in the garden.
While some people find foxes to be quite endearing, even cute that’s me, fox pest control can be a serious problem in the garden. Foxes are often an introduced, non-native species that can disturb the delicate balance of an ecosystem. Over time, escapees introduced for the purposes of fox hunting and fur farming roamed freely and settled comfortably in coastal and valley ecosystems. The fox’s prey is rodents, rabbits, reptiles, bird eggs, insects, waterfowl and other ground-nesting birds, and does not differentiate between endangered species.
There are several types of foxes found in North America: the swift fox, the kit fox, the arctic fox, the gray fox and the red fox, with the latter usually being the troublemaker. The red fox is the most widely distributed carnivore in the world, easily adapting to a variety of habitats.
Why prevent foxes in the garden
Keeping foxes out of gardens can be important for safety and fiscal reasons. Although the fox is a solitary animal and usually feeds on small mammals and birds, the piglets, kids, lambs and poultry that roam and forage in your garden are equally attractive, especially when this can seem like quite a meal. easy for these opportunists. Replacing coop occupants over time can be costly.
Rabies, although declining, is also a concern and can affect humans, domestic livestock and wildlife. Not forgetting, of course, the effect a fox in the garden will have on the songbirds it wakes up to. So, our question arises, “how to deter foxes from gardens?”
Get rid of foxes in the garden
Getting rid of foxes in your garden can be achieved with the simplicity of a fence. A net wire fence with openings of 3 inches or less and buried to a depth of 1 or 2 feet with a net wire apron extending one foot out from the bottom is a definite fox deterrent. You can go a step further and include a net wire roof as well. Additionally, an electric fence, spaced 6, 12, and 18 inches above the ground, will also repel foxes or a combination of both the net wire and the electric fence.
With repetition, foxes adapt to loud noises, even temporarily. Noise-making devices can deter fox activity, as can flashing strobe lights. Taken together at irregular intervals, they are satisfactorily effective in the short term. The barking of the family dog will also be of some help in getting rid of foxes.
Lastly, if you really can’t make any headway in removing foxes from your garden, call an expert who can safely trap and remove the animal.
Additional Fox Pest Control
Foxes in the small home garden are really a nuisance and the above solutions will probably solve the problem. There are other, more deadly options that are not necessarily recommended for a home gardener. They are typically used by commercial livestock and poultry producers whose livelihoods are directly affected by fox predation.
These methods include shooting, fumigation with gas canisters, sodium cyanide poisoning, trapping, and burrowing. Most states allow fox trapping to protect private property, but check with your state wildlife agency for regulations.