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For many, urban red foxes are a familiar sight in back gardens or city streets. Often, people delight in seeing them and the connection to wildlife they bring. Others find them a nuisance, whether because of their smell, poo or loud screaming noises during the breeding season. Some anecdotal reports indicate that foxes could be becoming bolder within cities—even riding on buses, stealing shoes or taking naps on someone's garden shed.

Our study for the British carnivore project shows for the first time that foxes within the UK are indeed behaving more boldly within cities compared to rural populations—but that most people remain tolerant of them anyway.

Foxes are vital to ecosystem health and represent an important "flagship" species for urban residents' connection to the natural world. However, bolder fox behavior could, in theory, lead to more conflict with humans, particularly as people encroach more on green space through increasing urbanization. It is therefore crucial to understand how to avoid conflict with these animals and explore positive ways to coexist.

Stories and imagery can play an important role in shaping our attitudes about wildlife. However, although foxes are often portrayed as "sly" and "cunning" in popular culture, it remains unclear how this might affect public perceptions. Identifying factors that influence people's feelings and attitudes towards foxes is important for understanding how we can coexist amicably alongside them.

Communicating information about bolder urban foxes through press releases and YouTube videos, for instance, runs the risk of people creating false impressions or sensationalized beliefs about fox behavior. This could undermine important conservation initiatives to protect the welfare of urban foxes, including efforts to avoid unethical treatment or persecution of these animals.

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