What can I do if foxes are living in my garden?

Foxes love to take up residence underneath garden sheds and can dig breeding dens in a suitable spots. If you find a vixen living with her cubs in your garden please contact your local authority. Outside the breeding season you can make their dwelling inaccessible – but please take care not to trap any animals inside.
Störungen durch Füchse

< questions | links >		 Excavations under a garden shed or in any other spot in the garden indicate that foxes have taken up residence there.

During the season from March to June when foxes are rearing their cubs, which is also the close season for foxes, you have to be very careful. If foxes with cubs are living under your garden shed or in any other location in your garden, all you can do is wait until the vixen and her youngsters disperse.
  • Contact your local authority (game warden) who will give you expert advice and support where needed.
  • Never drive away the fox family yourself. The foxes will simply move on to the next garden shed or garden, which is no solution to the problem.

Foxes under garden sheds
Think about why foxes find your garden shed so attractive and take appropriate action:
  • Foxes avoid draughty, exposed places. Open up their habitation on all four sides and clear everything away from under the shed.
  • Close off their shelter temporarily at first, to ensure that no animal is trapped inside. Do not block the entrance completely until nothing has been disturbed for several days. Use heavy materials like stone slabs. No spaces should occur since foxes can slip through even narrow gaps only 12 cm wide.
  • Check the barricade regularly and take immediate action if there are any signs of digging.
  • You can try to deter foxes by using odours which they find repellent (for more).

Related questions
When do urban fox cubs emerge from the den?
Why do foxes dig holes in my garden?
How can I stop foxes wrecking my flower beds or vegetable patches?


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