Stockton wild foxes are making a comeback months after neighbors spot illegal snare
Remnants of a fox snare, which are illegal in California, secured on a fence post were spotted last July near the Stockton Soccer Complex.
Nothing was trapped at the time, but that wasn't the case earlier this week when a wild fox was seen caught in its noose.
"It's just cruel and that's why they were banned," Susan Manning said.
Manning is the president at Tri-County Wildlife Care in Jackson. She was one of the first people to get a call from a concerned neighbor looking to help the foxes.
"I asked her to go back and get photographs for Fish and Wildlife and for law enforcement," Manning said. "She went back and got pictures and actually saw a fox that was trapped, but when she went back, the fox was gone."
That same neighbor then reached out to CBS News Sacramento. We took her concerns to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Since then, she says the warden has patrolled and inspected the neighborhood several times. No more traps have been found.
Instead, neighbors are seeing something else.
"She's seen them over here a lot. She has an all-night camera, so she kept capturing them on the camera," Neighbor Ruth Morey shared. "It was really neat, and we're glad to have them back out."
The fox population is making a comeback in and around this Stockton neighborhood.
Manning said she's not surprised.
"These animals are highly intelligent, and they will reproduce to their level of sustenance," she explained. "Trying to get rid of them by trapping and killing them is futile."
Fish and Wildlife says officers are investigating reports of illegal wildlife trapping in the area. As the investigation is ongoing, they say, no further information is available at the time.
However, they did explain the legality of trapping.
The CDFW says the use of "body gripping" traps, like snares, is prohibited. The agency also says that under the Wildlife Protection Act of 2019, trapping for recreational or commercial fur purposes is banned.
"They'll take care of the mice and rats for you," Manning said of the foxes. "It's good to coexist."
Neighbors and animal advocates say they are relieved to see these little ones "dance" in their yards once again.
"That's just how much we like the animals out here," Morey shared. "We don't care, we like them out here. It's a nice sight."