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Kristina Johnson of Menlo Park said on her walk through Lindenwood on Saturday she spotted “this beautiful fox.”
“It crossed the street in front of me and then stopped in a yard on Greenoaks Drive, and we looked at each other for awhile. I didn’t want to spook it so didn’t get real close.”
Great Photo
That explains the lack of cats in the neighborhood.
Please do a little homework-Foxes never eat cats. They do like to hang around them to take the cats left over prey away and bury it for later meals. They might even try to steal it from the cats. I have had a whole family of foxes sit patiently 25 feet away while watching and waiting for our cat to finish toying with a gopher or bunny. Foxes are too smart to look a gift horse in the mouth when they have such a great hunting partner with a great supply of leftovers to share.
Foxes generally relieve us of 6 or 7 rodants a day and cleans up the road kill.
Now coyotes on the other hand……………or raccoons… that can explain some missing cats
Great photo – thanks for posting it! This is a California Gray Fox. They have the distinction of being the only North American canine who can climb trees. Here’s some (free) info about C-G fox research in San Mateo County: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.3398/064.073.0215 If that link breaks just trim it back to the main domain and then search on California Gray Fox.
One evening about 8 years ago, My daughter and I saw a fox crossing Oak Grove close to Laurel School. While I doubt it’s the same fox, it appears their presence in Lindenwood may be long established.
Congratulations on the grey fox photograph! A “beautiful” (but non-native) red fox was photographed in Menlo Park near the Pope-Chaucer Bridge a while back. See http://2savetheoaks.blogspot.com/2014/01/red-fox-sighted.html
Fact-Checker’s entry is right on target. I understand there was a recent sighting in Atherton – May 2015. Any info on that one would be appreciated. See urwp.wordpress.com and check out our videos. All of these foxes are ones that we are monitoring as we glean data on their behavior. Have been doing so for the past six years.
We were surprised last week to see a fox chase our cat into the house thru the cat door – and the fox came right along into the house.
And last Tuesday we discovered 4 beautiful, playful young kits in our yard – probably the reason the mother chased after our cat.
Unfortunately they are Grey Foxes and they like to eat cats! And Grey Foxes can climb trees so there is no safety zone for the cat except inside the house with the cat door closed.
We have received contradictory information from wildlife experts as to whether or not the fox mother represents a threat to our cat. One emphatically stated that the fox mother would attack our cat to protect her kits while others disagree.
We are pondering whether to leave or relocate the fox family.
Here is a picture:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vds6kaj9kowlbud/IMG_0009.jpeg?dl=0