Red Fox Map: Where Have You Seen Them in La Grange?

A pretty awesome Cook County Forest Preserve newsletter article from 1947 described red foxes as the “best-loved and most hated, wisest, smelliest, daintiest, thinnest, sleekest, most flea-bitten and controversial animal in America.”

That article says “few people ever see one.” Clearly the writer doesn’t live in the La Grange area in 2013.

Readers have shared 17 recent sightings with Patch from around the neighborhood—including a fox family living under a home in the 4100 block of Howard in Western Springs.

The local red fox population, however, isn’t nearly what it used to be. A sarcoptic mange epidemic in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s decimated the population, according to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. (If you don’t know what mange is, think foxes running around with big bald patches. Dog owners who’ve dealt with the disease in their pups will tell you it’s not a pretty sight.)

Although the epidemic abated, foxes never rebounded because of the coyote population expansion during recent decades. Coyotes are a direct competitor for food that’s just as willing to make a fox the meal.

Foxes pose virtually no safety threat to humans unless they’re rabid or you try to pick them up, according to the Humane Society. Like any frightened animal with good sense, it could bite you if you grab at it.

As cunning of a reputation as they have, foxes aren’t even much of a danger to pets, unless you leave small animals such as guinea pigs, rabbits, kittens or toy-size dogs unattended outside, the Humane Society said.

Thanks to everyone who told me where they've spotted foxes and especially to readers Kate Reynolds Gilmartin, Jim Falvey and Patrick Falvey who sent in pictures.

Share your sightings in the comments, and I'll add them to the map.

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