For the past three years, Spence Harrison has gotten to know Roxy, a red fox that roams the vast stretch of beaches along the western edges of Alabama’s lone barrier island.

The 69-year-old wildlife photographer from Mobile is now trying to find ways to save Roxy, and the other foxes who call Dauphin Island home from an effort to remove them from the island. He points to a 224-page bird conservation and management plan released last month that points to the foxes as a main predator of migratory birds, and a need to remove them from the island.

“Roxy is an icon there,” said Harrison, who posted about Roxy’s plight on the website change.org, and has received more than 2,900 signatures of support in saving the red foxes on Dauphin Island.

“Their main objective appears to be trap them and relocate them,” Harrison said, referring to the report that was assembled by a group of state, county, and local interests. “It’s the relocation part that is unacceptable to me. It’s a death sentence.”

But fox watching isn’t what brings the masses to Dauphin Island. Long considered a bird-watching mecca, the more than 350 bird species that have been spotted within the island contribute to what is a major tourism lure in a town of fewer than 2,000 permanent residents.

“Birding is a big deal for us,” said Dauphin Island Mayor Jeff Collier. “We are on the migratory trail and we’re well known for that.”

Predatory concerns

Birding is such a big deal that it’s one of the reasons the plan was crafted after the State of Alabama, through BP oil spill settlement funds, purchased 838 acres of undeveloped area on the far western areas of Dauphin Island. The land purchase’s overall budget is close to $8 million and was financed from Alabama’s portion of the $8.8 billion settlement with BP following the Deepwater Horizon disaster and subsequent oil spill in 2010.

Alabama later transferred ownership of the land to Dauphin Island.

The habitat, which had previously been in private ownership, includes sweeping dunes, salt marshes and beaches. The area is also home to numerous bird species, including federally listed and state-listed species that use the beach and dune areas for nesting.

The beach is also a known home for the sea turtle, a marine reptile that is protected under the Endangered Species Act.

It’s a sensitive area, and the report produced to manage it singles out foxes as “one of the main causes” for the loss of bird nests on West End of the beach from 2018-2022, a period in which researchers surveyed the beaches with cameras.

Those details were included in a plan produced by California-based consulting firm Environmental Science Associates (ESA). Its intent is to help provide guidance for a host of public entities including the Town of Dauphin Island. The company has over 50 years of experience in environmental planning and analysis.

According to ESA’s report, Alabama Audubon biologists found and monitored 38 snowy plover nests along the West End. The snowy plover is a rare shorebird with white and brown colors to it and it is listed as near threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

The report suggests that nesting activity ranged from two to 15 nests per year, with an average of 7.6 per year. The biologists then estimated only three chicks survived to fledging age in those five years.

The report then pins the blame on foxes, although it also concludes that “little is known about the foxes on the island” and that determining the population size and home ranges of foxes on Dauphin Island “will help in understanding how foxes are using the island and whether management in one area – such as the West End – will influences how foxes in another area will use the island.

The report calls foxes “invasive exotic species” that present a “serious threat to native wildlife, including birds and sea turtles.”

The report suggests several ways to rid the foxes:

*Removal. The report calls this approach a “priority management measure for protecting shorebirds and other species.”

• Taste aversion. The strategy involves placing fake eggs (usually quail eggs) that contain a chemical irritant in a study area, which can cause discomfort for foxes like vomiting. But the chemical is not lethal. The report suggests this strategy could be used as a pilot program to see if it could be effective on the West End.
• Electric fencing. A strategy that is used by farmers to protect poultry, and would be used to protect sensitive birding nest areas.
• Trap, neuter and release. The plan does not recommend this strategy because it would “still allow red foxes to remain on Dauphin Island.”

Harrison said he thinks the plan represents overkill. He said some of the foxes, like Roxy, pose little threat and have bonded with the residents. He also said the plan does not dive into research on whether foxes are more of a problem than other predators named within the report such as ghost crabs, owls, hawks, falcons, feral cats and dogs.

“They shouldn’t sacrifice one predator over 10 other predators out there,” said Harrison.

He said he supports the taste aversion and electric fence possibilities for protecting the bird and turtle eggs, as long as the foxes are allowed to remain.

Collier said he isn’t sure on what the best approach will be, and that nothing imminent is in the works for addressing foxes. He said he will defer to the experts on the best approach, citing representatives with the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, among others.

“We’ll have to see how this plays out,” Collier said. “I think anyone would want (wildlife management) to be done in a humane way. Any normal human would want to start there. But I don’t know which is the best way to go. It will be up to the environmental and wildlife experts who know best on how to deal with these things.”

Wildlife feeding

Harrison is hoping the attention at change.org will save the foxes, particularly Roxy. He said that he and others within Dauphin Island have fed Roxy, and that she is a docile fox that does not pose harm to anyone.

“Fishermen will get (to the Island) early in the morning or late at night and Roxy will show up,” said Harrison. “They will toss her out food. I’ve got pictures of youngsters on the beach, and they are just sitting there on the blankets with a plastic jug of Cheetos and next to them is Roxy. And they are feeding her Cheetos. People just love to get a glimpse of her.”

Wildlife experts are concerned that animals like Roxy are being fed by humans, which could make them risky for dangerous behavior.

Todd Steury, associate dean at Auburn University’s College of Forestry, Wildlife and Environment, said wildlife can become dependent on humans for food whereas they should be allowed to hunt for their own food. They can also become dangerous to humans, losing their fear of people.

“Studies of human/wildlife encounters have often found that when humans get hurt by wildlife, the animal was accustomed to interacting with people,” Steury said. “Foxes can bite.”

Harrison said those concerns are typically reserved for alligators and wolves, but not Roxy.

He said the incidences of rabies among foxes in Baldwin County in 2018 were rare and have not occurred on Dauphin Island.

“An 8 to 10 pound fox is a timid animal, and I’ve never seen a fox make a move toward me,” he said. “There has never been a verified case of a fox making aggressive move (toward someone) on Dauphin Island or a document case of rabies on Dauphin Island or in Mobile that I know of.”

“A fox is the epitome of a non-aggressive species,” Harrison said, calling the ESA report a “scare mechanism” aimed at getting the foxes removed from Dauphin Island.