FOUNTAIN VALLEY

Several red fox dens have appeared in Mile Square Regional Park’s nature area after bulldozers graded their former habitat in the triangle area earlier this summer. Although there have always been a few foxes in the nature area, their numbers have doubled since the triangle area closed, said Lori Zuczek, a maintenance crew supervisor.

The foxes should have been controlled--either killed or relocated--before grading began for the golf course expansion to protect other animals and prevent the foxes from seeking refuge in the nearby residential community, according to a golf course environmental report.

Zuczek said the nature area will remain closed to the public until the county comes up with a plan for the animals. If frightened, the foxes are known to burrow beneath the fence and run through the David L. Baker Golf Course to Brookhurst Street.

County planner Richard Adler said the environmental report only required the county to have a plan for the foxes before grading. “The reality is that the animals have to be eliminated,” he said. “To the average person, they are fuzzy and cuddly, but in reality, they are more of a pest like rodents or groundhogs.”