April 21, 2021 at 3:30pm
A baby squirrel rescued by Animal Protection Police (Photo via Friends of Fairfax County Animal Protection Police/Facebook)
A sick bald eagle. A lost fawn. A rogue alligator in Reston. Who are you going to call? Fairfax County’s Animal Protection Police.
Made up of more than 25 specially-trained law enforcement officers within the Fairfax County Police Department, the APP’s responsibility is to enforce ordinances and to help protect humans and animals alike.
While they do assist in domestic animal situations, in recent years, they’ve received more and more calls for sick and distressed wildlife, Sgt. Daniel Cook says.
Photo by Glenda Booth Photo by Randy Streufert
Gray fox.
Foxes are very adaptable to human environments, Fairfax County wildlife biologist Erin Thady told 70 attendees at a Dec. 6 Zoom talk sponsored by the Friends of Mason Neck State Park. Wily and agile, they can survive in suburban areas because of available food and denning sites provided by human-modified environments.
Urban landscapes attract rodents, Thady said. Resourceful hunters with excellent senses of sight, smell and hearing, foxes eat small mammals like mice, voles, squirrels and rabbits in the winter. In spring and summer, they also eat berries, caterpillars, crayfish and birds. “Once they find reliable food sources, they stay around,” Thady explained. Adult foxes have few predators in the area and their populations are stable.