Canid Conflict: Keeping wildlife wild 

      The question always arises, why the red fox? Why canids? Personally, for me, I believe the best way to capture an effective body of work is to pursue issues, or topics that you are passionate about, that you feel are vital. The red fox isn't a threatened species, no, in fact they are thriving across the globe. However, like most canids, they are needlessly prosecuted, and given a bad reputation from years of misinformation, myths, and hearsay. As long a humans trap, torture, run them down on snowmobiles, mistreat, poison, interfere, and continue to treat canids without respect, I will continue to be a voice for these animals. 

​     I've always been compelled by species that can thrive in urban settings. It is quite amazing to witness animals flourishing in locations in which most people would deem inhabitable for wildlife due to heavy traffic, housing/buildings, lack of wooded areas, etc. But with humans, comes garbage, with garbage comes small rodents; favourite prey for predators like the red fox. Red foxes are very opportunistic, if garbage is left unattended or pet food is left out in the yard, it becomes an easy meal. If you're an animal that needs to find food daily in order to survive, you take what you can get, the easier the better. Urban areas tend to be an all you can eat buffet, rodents, birds, handouts, whatever is left laying around. This is where living among humans creates some conflict. Not everyone loves foxes, or animals for that matter, and those who do, sometimes give into the temptation to feed them. Some people refuse to keep pets inside, and leave bowls of food out. This will attract much more than just foxes to their yards, but they do it anyway, getting angered when someone other than their pet cleans out the bowl. Other people admire these wild visitors, and will purposely feed them hoping that they will return. Yet feeding puts these animals in danger by enticing them to cross heavy traffic, or travel across a neighbour's yard that isn't fond of these animals, which can lead to trapping and euthanasia if labeled a nuisance. 

     One year, Amy Shutt and I set off to document these human-animal relationships in urban locations. After hearing about multiple fox kits nearly getting hit by vehicles due to people feeding them from their vehicles, we decided to check out the situation. We hope to bring light, promote coexistence, and to curb some of the problems that occur in these areas. We co-wrote an article drawing attention to some of these concerns for The Canid Project to educate the public of proper behaviour around these animals.  Our write up, below: 

Coexisting with Urban Red Foxes: Why there Is No Other Option
By Amy Shutt & Brittany Crossman
Although the act usually comes from kind-heartedness or lack of education, feeding wildlife is more harmful than beneficial. From bears to foxes to squirrels, animals have been making recent headlines panhandling for easy snacks. There are many reasons why one should refrain from feeding wildlife, a few of which we will cover. Whereas The Canid Project focuses on members of the canid family, this is primarily based on the red fox, although many other species are in the limelight of this topic as well. So what is the big deal?

Here is just a handful of the reasons why we need to let the wildlife be wild:
“But they look hungry sitting there staring, or walking up to my car” They aren’t. They are very capable of feeding themselves without help. What these animals are doing is taking advantage of an easy meal in which they do not need. Making wildlife dependant on generosity only hurts them in the long run. Most people act in the moment, without thinking about long-term consequences their actions may have. Not to mention human food typically isn’t healthy for wildlife either, decreasing consumption of proper nutrients, which then can lead to health problems or disease.

A common trend also seems to be feeding wildlife from vehicles, throwing food out the window. Feeding foxes from cars does nothing but endanger them. Red foxes begin to associate vehicles as a moving refrigerators, ultimately losing their fear of them. As a result, they will begin approaching oncoming traffic. Modifying fox behaviour by conditioning them to approach vehicles for food, can cause accidents, if people swerve to avoid hitting them, or cause fatal injuries to the animals.  Not every traveler will share the same response as you, not everyone cares about wildlife. Unfortunately, red foxes fed from cars usually end up losing their lives to vehicle collisions.

“I just wanted to get a photo”. Your best photo ops will definitely not be of a fox chowing down on Doritos, cookies, hotdogs, or bread. As a wildlife photographer, I understand striving to capture that perfect moment. The best advice for this is simply to be patient, besides, capturing natural moments is far more rewarding. If you give wildlife their space, be respectful by not making them feel threatened, eventually they will carry on with their business like you are not even there. Wildlife doesn’t need to be fed in order obtain images of intimate moments. If anything, feeding wildlife will ruin your photographic opportunities. They will fill up on “junk food” and you will undoubtedly miss out on shooting natural behaviours such as hunting, playing, and interactions among one another.  

Some species self-regulate their populations based on food accessibility. The red fox is one of them. This means, fertility rates and birth rates are based on how much food is around. When plentiful, some species give birth to more kits. When humans interfere by creating a temporary false sense of abundance, it offsets this balance. During tourist season, it is not uncommon to see people pulling over by the dozens and throwing food out their vehicle windows at wildlife begging on the shoulder of the road. Leaving garbage out, leftover food, or purposely feeding wildlife creates an artificial food supply. After the tourist season is over, everyone packs up and leaves, there is no longer that leftover food or garbage to scavenge. If there isn’t a natural abundance of prey or food, this causes competition for resources, and inevitably injury, starvation, and worst case death.

THE CANID PROJECT contributors actively research and document human-canid relationships, and both the positive and negative ramifications of these relationships.  The project's aim, as a global creative conversation, is to document and share the stories of humans and the wild canids who enter each other's lives in some capacity.  We actively present this information through our photography, creative non-fiction narrative, exhibits, talks, and community outreach to inspire and educate the public, as well as shed light on how these relationships shape our views on the wild canid species. If you would like to donate to this 501c3 non-profit to help further our efforts please click the link below:
https://www.thecanidproject.com/checkout/donate?donatePageId=59bd304c2aeba555ff05f403

If interested in reading more similar article, visit The Canid Project website: https://www.thecanidproject.com/articles