We moved into this house last fall. The first time I saw the fox, he (or she, as the case may be) was trotting across my driveway with what looked like either a big as hell rat or a small possum in his jaws. I'd have to guess that he was a good 20 to 25 pounds, maybe 18 inches at the shoulder. I'm guessing this because of the way he looked compared to my daughter's 10 pound Yorkie (which Yorkie, BTW, chased his mangy red butt clear back into the woods and beyond, proving once again that it ain't the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog...)
I've seen him a few times since, going to and fro about his fox-ish business. The last time I saw him was a week or so ago. We had a box of breakfast cereal that had seen better days and gone stale, so I scattered it across the yard thinking that our local deer population would find it a nice tasty treat. Much to my surprise, not 30 minutes later Mr. Fox had set up on this like it was a Las Vegas buffet.
Mrs. Ceetee, who normally is all "Oh, look at the poor little thing, he's hungry, what can we feed him?" in this instance was going, "Ya gotta shoot him! He'll kill the puppy! C'mon, shoot him! Shoot him!"
Now, we have two full-grown German Shepherds, which I'm not worried about losing to a hungry fox. But we also have the little Yorkie (who has more attitude than brawn) and a little toy poodle (who is dumber than a box of rocks, but she's only five months old, so I gotta cut her a little slack I guess). Mrs. Ceetee is all worried that eventually the fox will get hungry enough to try and take one of the little ones out. I'm thinking that he's been living here a helluva lot longer than we have, he's already got his food supply lined up, and it prolly consists of critters I'd just as soon not have around anyway. I'm all for leaving him alone unless he starts to show signs of super aggressiveness (which might indicate rabies).
Opinions? Do I take him out, and rid our household pets of this verminous threat? Or let him go on about his merry way doing his part to keep the local population of rabbits, squerls, and possums in check?