Toronto Wildlife Centre urges city residents to leave family of foxes alone at Woodbine Beach

The Woodbine Beach fox family is back and the Toronto Wildlife Centre (TWC) is worried about a repeat of what happened last year.

The red foxes have once again made their den under the busy boardwalk. In 2020, people crowded the area to get close to the baby foxes to take photos.

They also fed them and brought their dogs around the babies.

“… Last year, people congregated (breaking COVID-19 safety regulations) around the baby foxes… Contrary to city by-laws, many of the dogs were off-leash. This caused the fox kits to become habituated to both people and pets who are their natural predators,” said TWC in a statement.

“Tragically, a baby fox was killed as a result, and evidence suggests a (likely unleashed) dog was responsible.”

The TWC is asking people to tell their friends, family, and community members to stay away from the animals and not to feed the foxes.

“With ineffectual barriers in place, we’re concerned these events may happen again or worse, which will negatively impact the wellbeing of these baby animals and their parents,” they said.

“Last summer on the boardwalk, TWC volunteers experienced threats and attempted violence as we committed a great amount of time and resources to re-habituate the surviving babies. Volunteers worked from sunrise to sunset seven days per week attempting to educate the public about the importance of leaving the foxes alone.”

The TWC says together, with everyone doing their part to respect the foxes’ privacy, “we can prevent the same mistakes from happening again to save their lives.”