Fox Family Finds Home In Urban Sacramento County

SACRAMENTO COUNTY (CBS13) - A family of foxes looking for food took over the yard of a home in Sacramento's Wilhaggin neighborhood.

Sitting on the corner of a busy Fair Oaks Boulevard, Bob Evans is no stranger to wildlife, with daily turkey sightings. He was surprised, though, to see new guests visit his backyard.

"We live in their territory basically, the river is just a couple streets away," explained Evans.

After two days of finding dead vermin and animals last week, he set up a camera to capture the culprit.

"About a week ago we found some dead animals, some rats, a bird, a squirrel in the yard and I gave them a proper send-off, then the next days we found some more and I thought hum something is going on here," he explained.

What he found a family of foxes frolicking and hunting in his backyard.

"They are so darn cute. The pups played with each other, ran around, I assume it was mom and dad, the adults, they seemed to be taking care of business," Evans said.

The six surprise guests left a welcomed present with their presence.

"I was happy to see they were going after the rats. As a matter of fact, some of our neighbors said to send them over to our house," he said.

Experts at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife say spring and summer are typically when native grey and popular red foxes have their young and can be spotted in urban areas.

"Foxes especially have adapted really well to the urban environment. The living is easy, there are lots of rodents around and lots of food," explained Peter Tira, spokesperson for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife

While Tira says your family pets are safe, he warns not to feed foxes or leave out any food or fruit that could attract them.

"People think they are cute and they feed them, which they really shouldn't do because it doesn't do any favors for the foxes; it brings them into conflict with people and maybe cute for you but then your neighbors have to deal with the consequences," he said.

The fox family is now gone but Evans hopes they'll visit again to keep unwelcomed guests out.

"They are a good cleanup crew," he said.