Warning for pet owners as foxes spotted in Moonee Valley backyards

PET owners have been warned to lock up small animals at night with foxes spotted roaming as close to Melbourne’s CBD as Kensington.

There have been reported fox sightings across Moonee Valley

PET owners have been warned to lock up small animals at night with foxes spotted roaming as close to the CBD as Kensington.

Nicole Liddicoat said she was shocked to find herself staring at an adult fox through the glass of her backdoor about 2am last Monday.

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“He ran down the side of the house and jumped the fence, which is about 6ft,” Ms Liddicoat said.

The Keilor East mother-of-two said it explained what had happened to the family’s rabbit and three guinea pigs that disappeared last year.

“The kids were really upset about the guinea pigs because we had them for so long. It was really strange. We had no idea what happened,” she said.

“Be careful of your animals if they’re out at night on their own, there’s obviously a (fox) problem.”

When Ms Liddicoat issued a warning to others on a Facebook community group, she was inundated with posts about seeing foxes in Kensington, Airport West, Avondale Heights and Niddrie.

She said she was now worried about letting her pomeranian terrier cross outdoors at night.

Avondale Heights woman Tracey Cotroneo said she saw a large fox at the former Milleara Primary School site on North Rd about 11pm on May 14.

“It was quite large. I’ve seen foxes before but this one was about the same size as our cocker spaniel,” Ms Cotroneo said.

“You don’t think of foxes being in the suburbs, in the country or on a farm you might have to set up boundaries, but not here in the ‘burbs.”

Moonee Valley Mayor Andrea Surace said people concerned about the safety of smaller animals should keep them inside at night for protection.

She said the council did not carry out any baiting or set traps for foxes, as any control program would need to be done on a state or national level to be effective.

“As foxes are territorial and are fairly common in Melbourne, if you remove them from an area then neighbouring foxes will very quickly move in to take over the territory,” she said.

Agriculture Victoria has advised any animal up to 5.5kg is at risk from foxes, with a single fox estimated to eat about 400g of food each night.