Yellowknife (Dec 13/06) - Although fox sightings seem to go up this time of year, it is isn't necessarily because there are more foxes migrating to the city.

Raymond Bourget, Senior Wildlife Officer for the territory's Department of Environment and Natural Resources, said that at this time of year the foxes' offspring are old enough to go off on their own, so mothers are less tied down to their den.

Also, now that the weather has cooled down, the foxes need more food, which is harder to find because songbirds, a source of prey, have migrated.

Merril Dean, principal at Weledeh school, said she has seen lots of foxes around, from the playground to the parking lot.

She said, however, that they don't worry too much about the foxes because they usually go away once the children come to school.

Keeping foxes afraid of people is the key to keeping them safe, said Dean Cluff, a biologist at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. As people feed the foxes, they become less afraid of humans.

So although it might be tempting to give food to the animals, Bourget said that feeding them does more harm than good, as foxes that aren't shy of humans might eventually have to caught.

Although foxes aren't commonly known to attack people, they can be harmful to pets and have been known to attack cats and small dogs.

Bourget offered the following recommendations in dealing with foxes:

- Don't feed the foxes as it will encourage them to follow people

- Dispose of garbage properly

- Have pets on a leash and keep them indoors

- Don't approach foxes or coax them towards you .