I was out this morning about 0700 riding along when this red fox comes charging out of the brush. He pretty much came out right in front of my front wheel so I had to brake pretty hard. He then ran along beside me for a while. I think he wanted to Race! I was like ???? He finally ran ahead and crossed in front of me and back into the brush. Just so you know, I let him win....

So it wasn't frothing at the mouth?

My thoughts exactly. Seems very strange for a wild animal to run alongside you like that.

7:00 am is the tail end of their nocturnal schedule. Perhaps it was a female guarding her kits, in which case she would have either been 'escorting' him out of the area or 'luring' the perceived predator away from the kits.

Usually when an animal acts strange like that, it is a good chance that the animal has rabies.

I had a similar experience last year when I was riding just as it was getting dark. I forget the time of year but it was when it got dark around 6-7pm in northern cal. Anyway I see this thing up ahead that looked like a really skinny cat, but the tail was just way too bushy. As I get closer, I see it is a fox! I go to the other side of the road and stop. it stops. I rode off and he trotted off. Everthing I did, it copied. weird. After a few minutes it ran off into the bushes. I wonder too if this is their way of dealing with "predators" that might hurt their offspring or if they are just not afraid of people. Or are they naturally curious? Whenever I've been kayacking off of half-moon bay, santa cruz, or places like that, the little sea otters are always popping their heads up to look around. They seem naturally curious so I wonder if foxes are the same way?

I thought rabid animals were supposed to show very aggressive behavior?

I've had squirrels 'race' me down the path for 20-30 feet before. It's amusing. The only fox I ever saw stopped for a second, looked at me, then continued on into the bushes.

No, rabid animals don't always show aggressive behavior, A rabid animal can approach someone actually acting friendly or confused, anytime you see an animal especially one that is not acting in an ordinary manner, that animal can and probably does have rabies.
Rabies effects different animals in all sorts of manners, that is why it is never a good idea to even approach a wild animal.

Now for one, just because an animal acts out of what we think is ordinary does not mean that they "can and probably do have rabies". Fox for one are a very curious animal. We have a female with a den on the farm, hse has 3 kits and she is the freindliest dog you can imagine. She will damn near eat out of your hand once she gets to know you. Her kits are always out and have taken to following the 4 wheeler around as if playing tag. The female will follow me on a daily walk through the woods looking wild forage for myself. A fox can an is domesticated to an extent very easily. My personal guess is that this particular fox is a young male kicked out of his home territory and sees these "neat things cruising down his road" ( and it is his road more so than ours) and he wants to play. Please lets not jump to the most horrific conclusion so fast. For most they don't understand the way the animal kingdom works. They aren't as mean and secretive as you think. "wild" animals are just as inquisitive as anything out there. So next time you see or expierence something like this enjoy it and observe the beauty of the wilds of our wonderful world.
Stacey

Animals by nature are less inquisitive than human beings, they operate more on a fight or fright mode, a fox running with a bicycle is really out of the ordinary, most foxes are afraid of people, sure I love nature, but I also respect the hell out of it, and I leave wild animals alone, hence the term wild, and if you want to see all of the cases for rabies involvineg foxes in just 2001 alone here is the link.
https://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/rabie.../fox_map_l.htm

Go ahead and play with the animals if you must, but i would rather be safe instead of getting 16 shots to the stomach with a 12 gauge needle.

Any nocturnal animal or what is suppose to be nocturnal that you see during the day, treat as rabid! Foxes are evening to nighttime critters. Maybe it was confused and heading to it's den but I would say probably on the soon to be rabid side and exhibiting early symptoms!

We have a ton of foxes around and you will see a fox out at anytime of the day. Especially when they have a litter of pups. I am not sure where you get that they are nocturnal. They will hunt all day long and all night long. They will lay low during the warmest part of the day however. But as the original poster had said it was 7 am. Not the warmest part of the day or by any means out of the ordinary time of the day to see a fox out cruising. Yes most animals have the fight or flight instinct. The canine family however does not have that instict. At virtually any given time that you are in an area where there is a high population of canines, whether it be a coyote or wolf or fox, you will (if looking for them) see a dog close to you. They will follow you, circle you, run ahead and sit and wait for you. I too respect the woods and the inhabitants of those woods. I however am not afraid of them in anyway shape or form.
I am not saying that foxes do not carry a high case of rabies, but to treat them all like they have it is a little paranoid.

I was riding the Marin headlands loop this morning and while climbing at about 8 mph I had a very young fawn come out the brush on my front left and trot down the road toward me. The fawn kept coming until I said something when it got about 10 feet away. It then ran in front of me up the road for a bit until it saw it's mother on the hillside to my right and went up to her. The only explanation I can think of is the fawn thought I was its mother until I said something and it realized I wasn't a deer. Made the climb interesting for a while.

I am not sure what position you are advocating, but being paranoid and cautious are two seperate things,
Wild animals should be left alone , any natural resource officer or park ranger would tell you that.
Would it be paranoid when I have sex to not use a condom, no it would simply be a just precaution on my part.
I don't befriend wild animals and I don't have sex with Haitian heroin users.
I tend to be cautious by nature.
Oh and don't eat raw bacon either no matter who tells you that it is safe and they have been doing it for years.

On the contrary, Stacey. Bockman is absolutely right. When you see wild animals that you normally don't even see, acting in ways they don't normally act, be very wary, in fact get far away from them and make sure any children as well are removed from the area for their safety. Ninety percent of the time an animal acting unusual has Rabies. Don't take my word for it, please check with your local health department.

Now a red fox may be an exception, I don't know, I'm taking your word for it. But I would advise anyone to be safe rather than sorry around ANY wild animal or even stray domestic animals they don't know.

Here you go professor:

Diet: Foxes are mostly carnivores (meat-eaters). Most foxes hunt alone. They are nocturnal; they hunt mostly at night. Foxes eat small mammals (like mice), eggs, birds, insects, amphibians (like frogs), reptiles (like lizards), fish, grass, berries, nuts, and carrion (carcasses of animals that they find).

From www.enchantedlearning.com

Not saying you can't see one at day but I have mainly seen them at evening and nights. Hence, must prefer mainly the dark. Now I don't see bigfoot at day or night but I know he is nocturnal! LMAO!

Let me tell ya, if I see Big Foot and he wants to race, I will definitely let him win as well!


BTW, I got some new Speedplays and Sidis for fathersday today so that fox is gonna eat my dust!

I am advocating for not overreacting. As I said, just because we see something we feel is out of the ordinary does not mean it is out of the ordinary for that animal. If it was a young male as I said it is not unlikely to be seen playing during the morning, if it was a female with younguns she was lureing the threat away.

As for the Haitian's to each thier own. It's not for me, but it is for some.

As for the "raw" bacon, as a person who has been born and raised on a farm, I assure you that bacon is not raw. If it is it is called side pork. Bacon is fully cooked and safe for eating before being fried. Just doesn't taste very good as far as the fat goes. But that is a whole other debate.
I for one will agree to disagree on this.

For one if you believe everything you read online, then why not believe me? I am not saying that foxes are not nocturnal animals. I am saying that there are circumstances that will have them out during the daytime hours. Please do not take my ramblings as the sermon. I am stating what I have seen and expeirenced in my lifetime.
I have not seen bigfoot either, but I do believe that he/she is not a nocturnal animal or being. I for one would not let him/her win the race as he/she would be slipping and sliding in my mess behind me and would not have a chance to win the race.

Just to add to the disagreements, most of the time it is distemper, not rabies, although the signs and symptoms can be quite similiar and are often confused. One also needs to keep in mind as we encroach on animals environments, their behaviors will change accordingly, so what once was an uncommon behaviour will be less so. For example, grizzly bear were once plains animals and only moved into mountainous areas due to the encroachment of man and hunting pressures.

Had a deer run across the road in front of me this morning. Reminiscent of previous encounters in a car, but this time the deer weighed as much as me and my vehicle. Really surprised me.

You mean things posted online are not real? Golly gee Beaver, I am hurt to know that. No, I don't believe everything online but you asked where is it that they are nocturnal, well I researched it and found several studies included across the world that states that they are mainly night animals. It is not like I can take my Encyclopedia Britannica and photocopy it and then paste it into the BB. So I did next best thing.

If you want to question all the sights that have folks that study foxes and tell them how they arrived at that, then go ahead. I just made a post as well on observation of when I have seen them. Hardly at day but so many times at night. Maybe I just saw the foxes that were coming home from the club and dancing!

On one of my regular run loops, which is along a bike path next to a creek and parkland (inner suburban Melbourne). I have on a couple of occassions had a fox follow me a few metres behind! It has given me a heart attack both times as the path isn't well lit...

It's definitely used to humans. As both times I have stopped, turned around and it just stands there looking at me. And it's not Rabies, as we don't have that in Australia!

Wow msheron, take things a little lighter. I was only ribbing ya. I for one do buy into studies funded by our lovely government, the fund some of the stupidest crap you can imagine. I speak from my expeirences alone.
Yours may be differently. As I said previously, let agree to disagree. You treat your wildlife encounters the way you feel you need to and I will do the same.

We saw a young racoon tooling around in someone's front yard today... just wandering and checking stuff out, picking stuff up, dropping it, walked up to about 10 feet away from us, and looked at us. Sat there on it's back legs and butt, front paws in the air, and sniffed towards us for a couple minutes, before turning and wandering off to move some rocks.

It certainly acted curious about us, as well as its surroundings.

Wait! Aren't racoons nocturnal?!

*GASPS*
MAYBE IT HAD RABIES!
*RUNS AROUND SCREAMING ABOUT RABID RACOONS!*