Why does the urban fox look so unkempt and bedraggled?

Question

Plenty of foxes around here (South London) most of them looking a bit shabby - is just hard city living? A diet of discarded junk food? Something else?

Thanks.

Answer 1

They certainly don't have the healthy diet of a country fox which doesn't help, but moulting at certain times of the year can even make country foxes look a bit bedraggled.

Mange could also be another factor, especially if they're all spotted in the same area. They could have passed it on to each other.

Answer 2

Yes, mostly it is just hard city living - the stress of dealing with traffic and avoiding humans combined with the rotten diet of discarded junk food tends to leave them looking pretty shabby and beat up (strangely enough, not that different from the humans who have to deal with the same environment).

Foxes that live in more natural areas, even within large urban areas (i.e. those that live in large parks or river valleys) tend to look and be a lot healthier than the full-on urban foxes.  Same goes for pigeons, rats, cats, and other common urban animals.

Answer 3

probably they have "mange".

Answer 4

been dragged through a bush

Answer 5

I beg your pudding, how dare you! This little fox is not unkempt and bedraggled LOL. It's a hard life when you're me  - you know? Looking in all those wheelie bins through your landfill stuff. We think it's a treat when we find a half gnawed through spare rib. I think we look very good for it though, we are lean, mean, scrounging machines.

Answer 6

You will find they are no different than those out in the countryside.  They live like ANIMALS.

Answer 7

They been clubbing. Innit?

Answer 8

If they look shabby they might have mange which they get from domestic dogs. Sadly in foxes it is often lethal.

Answer 9

Their colours may vary slightly and during the spring and summer months they may look extremely scruffy as they moult.

http://www.wildlifetrust.org.uk/urbanwt/...