There's a good chance these days that Ocean City visitors will spot something more than gulls and clams on a visit to the barrier island.
The resort is home to a growing population of a newer breed — red foxes — and the animals are becoming increasingly comfortable with their human neighbors.
With pups grown enough to leave their dens by June, fox sightings have increased this month — particularly on trash nights and in places where people might be feeding them, according to Bill Hollingsworth, executive director of the Humane Society of Ocean City, which is responsible for animal control in the municipality.
Residents of the Gardens section of the Ocean City's north end have raised questions about foxes that appear to be undaunted by the presence of humans — on the beach, on well-traveled streets and in backyards.
Humane Society officials were scheduled to meet last week with Wildlife Aid representatives last week to talk about the potential for relocating one family that may be burrowing at an unoccupied home scheduled to be elevated.
The Humane Society is not allowed to euthanize a healthy animal, and state law forbids them from relocating wildlife off the island (except to rehabilitation centers willing to accept them), Hollingsworth said. There are several active dens in Ocean City, he said, and officials would have to identify an area not currently occupied by a den before relocating them within Ocean City.
The state law is based, in part, on not burdening any new location with the nuisances (and potential diseases) of another, he said.
But Hollingsworth said in the three years the Humane Society has been doing animal control in Ocean City, it has received no report of aggressiveness to people or animals and it has identified no rabid or diseased foxes.
"People don’t need to be afraid of them," he said. "They do come out."
He said people should be educated about them — never feed them, use lids on trash cans and use outdoor lighting to keep them away from backyards. They are most active in the early morning and late evening.
The Ocean City Police Department has identified areas of concern and interacts with the public. Hollingsworth said his group also hopes to educate Ocean City Beach Patrol lifeguards about what to tell people if they ask about red foxes.
The red fox is not indigenous to Ocean City. The animals likely travel across the causeways just like human visitors do. They have lived here for years. But even after some drowned in Superstorm Sandy, the number of active dens is growing.
"There are people who like them and people who don’t," Hollingsworth said.
Regardless, they're here to stay, he said.
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