Monroe Homeowners Capture Foxes in Photos

Residents on Blanket Meadow Road and Weather Vane Hill Road snapped photos of foxes in their yards over the past week.

Last week, a Weather Vane Hill Road man came home from work to find a fox sunning itself on his front doorstep (See the photos). The animal is suffering from mange, a skin condition caused by microscopic burrowing mites. It causes mammals to lose their hair and usually proves fatal for foxes.

The homeowner on Blanket Meadow Road captured the picture of two foxes in the backyard on Saturday morning. Monroe Animal Control Officer Ed Risko believes the animals are mating.

"This time of year their home range may be up to four or five square miles," Risko said. "They are mating from December through March, with a gestation period of 52 days, at which time they will locate a den site for the female to give birth (March to May), with a litter size of five to 10.

"The male fox will remain with the female while she's nursing the young, providing her with food from the neighbors' yards until she is able to leave the den site to hunt on her own."