1. Does temporary captivity alter urban fox behaviour? Bryony Tolhurst¹*, Heather Hughes,¹ Dawn Scott¹ and Adam Grogan² ¹Ecosytem and Environmental Management Group, Biology Division, University of Brighton ²Wildlife Department, Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) Introduction Red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) are territorial carnivores that can occur at high densities in UK cities (Soulsbury et al, 2010). Wildlife rescue centres frequently admit and release sick or injured foxes (Grogan & Kelly, 2013). The impact of such rehabilitation on fox behaviour post-release is little studied, despite the potential for negative welfare outcomes arising from fox displacement from resident territories. Methods 20 foxes from two groups [13 wild and 7 rehabilitated) were fitted with GPS collars recording locations every 15 minutes for 24 days. All wild foxes were captured in Brighton and released immediately, whereas rehabilitated animals were captured in various UK conurbations (e.g. Bristol, Newport, Brixham) and were captive for 2-5 weeks prior to release at the point of capture. Data were principally analysed using Kernel Density Estimators (Worton, 1989) and Regression Analysis. References: Soulsbury, C. D., Baker, P.J., Iossa, G. and Harris, S. (2010). Red foxes (Vulpes vulpes), in: Gehrt, S. D., Riley, S. P. D. and Cypher, B. L. (Eds.), Urban carnivores. Ecology, conflict, and conservation. John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, pp. 63-75. Grogan, A. and Kelly, A. (2013). A review of the RSPCA research into wildlife rehabilitation. Veterinary Record 172, 211-215. Worton, B.J. (1989). Kernel methods for estimating the utilization distribution in home range studies. Ecology 70, 164-168. Robertson, C. P.J. and Harris, S. (1995). Behaviour of released fox cubs. Animal Welfare 4, 295-306. * Contact b.tolhurst2@brighton.ac.uk Aims To compare the ranging behaviour of rehabilitated foxes with a control group of wild foxes to determine evidence of displacement. Objectives To investigate differences between the two groups as to: i) time taken to establish a stable home range (HR); ii) HR size; and iii) distance moved from release point. Discussion Rehabilitated foxes ranged further than wild ones and displayed erratic ranging behaviour consistent with that described for captive-reared cubs (Robertson & Harris, 1995). We suggest that this may be due to displacement from territory by conspecifics and recommend further work to elucidate the social and ecological mechanisms involved. We also advocate research into alternatives to ex situ care, and mitigation of it’s effects. Fig. 1 Examples of variation in distance from release point to final HR (last 3 days) as determined by 95% fixed kernels for a) a rehabilitated ♀ ; and b) a wild ♂ Fig. 2 Home range (HR) area coverage with cumulative locations over time for the two groups. 100% coverage denotes a stable HR. Dotted line = a single animal. Results HR size was greater in rehabilitated foxes than controls (Kruskal Wallis test, χ² =7.517, df = 1, p 0.05) but rehabilitated foxes were more variable (Fig. 2).