The Red Fox Population is Booming in Litchfield County This Year

Driving to work at 4AM on 202 from Torrington to Brookfield is not for the faint of heart. I typically have at least one wildlife encounter each morning during my commute. Usually it's a deer, or a raccoon scavenging through the streets of Litchfield, but this year I've come across more red foxes than I've ever seen.

Red foxes have a reputation of being a tenacious carnivore, feasting on a wide variety of small rodents, woodchucks, birds, reptiles, squirrels, and as I found out at 4am, rabbits. My wife and I were woken up by the horrible screams of an animal being attacked over the weekend after talking to our neighbor who had also been woken up, he said what we heard was a red fox killing a rabbit. It was awful to hear. Foxes will also destroy your bags of garbage, eat your veggies, and make a meal out of that fresh roadkill, they're real omnivores.

According to ct.gov Connecticut has two species of foxes, the much more common Red Fox, and the elusive Gray Fox. Red foxes can weigh between 7 and 15 pounds, and measure between 39 and 43 inches, including their bushy tail. Gray foxes are similar in size to the Red, but look at the tip of it's tail to be sure, if it's got the signature white tip, you're looking at Red.

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Adult foxes do not have many predators in Connecticut, but their mortal enemy is also having quite a 2024 in Connecticut - Coyotes. In fact, coyotes have displaced and devoured quite a few foxes in recent years, according to ct.gov. Fox pose no real threat to humans, but you should never feed them, and you should scare them with loud noise, bright lights, or spray them with a hose if you feel threatened.