Landowners invited to help out with research on gray foxes in Virginia

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — In collaboration with Virginia Tech, the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources is launching the Virginia Gray Fox Project to learn more about the species’ population. As part of the project, the department is asking for landowners to help out.

A few things have been suggested to explain the decline in grey fox populations across the U.S., including the loss of habitat, increasing urbanization and increased competition with coyotes — but little is known about their population in Virginia specifically — though the department said an anecdotal decrease has been noted.

Researchers will place trail cameras throughout the Commonwealth in a wide variety of public and private land habitats to collect data on the state’s gray foxes. According to the department, researchers will focus on Virginia’s western counties over three years.

Even if gray foxes are not observed by a camera in an area, Leah Card, furbearer project leader for the department, said that the data is still useful, since it could suggest that the foxes are not occupying the area.

Research during the summer of 2024 has had a focus on the Appalachian Mountain region — the focus in 2025 will be the Piedmont region, and the focus in 2026 will be the Coastal Plain region.

If you are interested in participating in the Virginia Gray Fox Project, you can submit this form .

In addition to setting up a wildlife camera, Virginians can also help support the population of gray foxes by removing trash as well as human or pet food from their land and protecting chicken coops and rabbit pens with sturdy fencing. These efforts can help prevent the foxes from associating humans with food.

The public can also help collect data on wildlife and plants by taking photos with location and date information and sharing it with other citizen science programs.

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