Signal Hill foxes caught by Parks Canada staff

Staff with Parks Canada had more luck catching some foxes up on Signal Hill in St. John's on Friday morning.

Glenn Keough, a Historic Sites Manager for Parks Canada, said the foxes had eluded them in their first attempt to capture the animals Thursday morning, but things went better on Friday.

"A couple that were coming up the road, in the middle of the road here on Signal Hill here this morning with some animal in their mouth — it looked like a rabbit or maybe a small pet or something like that — once they sort of deposited that, they came over to the traps and went into the traps just a little while ago, got a couple of them," said Keough.

Keough said people from the public have been feeding the animals on a regular basis, and Parks Canada wanted to remove them before anyone got hurt.

"Foxes are wild animals and they may seem tame and they may seem very domesticated, but in actual fact they are wild animals and in that sense they are very predictable, so we have to err on the side of caution," he said.

Keough said once the foxes are caught, they will be relocated to a remote area of Terra Nova National Park. Their new home is in a coastal area where the animals can hunt for their own food.

Staff closed the road to the top of Signal Hill to the public Thursday and Friday morning to catch the foxes.

Keough said staff will keep an eye out for other foxes, but for now, the traps have been taken away.