For almost 50 years there have been debates around the foxes who live along the beaches of the coastal Alabama region. As environmental groups have fought to protect the beach mouse and sea turtles, people have called for the removal of the red fox which roams the Alabama beaches.

In recent weeks, a group on Dauphin Island have started an online petition to stop the foxes from being relocated.

This is not a new conflict in the area. There are numerous articles dating back to the 70's and 80's which highlighted the problem of red foxes being the natural enemy of the protected beach mouse. The only difference is the protected animal is the popular sea turtle.

Beach communities in New Jersey, Maryland, North Carolina and Florida have faced the same dilemma. Most of those "removal" cases caught the attention of Federal Environmental agencies, as well as, PETA's legal branch.

In Alabama foxes are listed as furbearers and a game animal. Alabama allows regulated hunting and trapping as well as removal of nuisance animals through a permit process.

The red fox, which is prevalent along the Alabama coast, makes in den in the local sand dunes and feeds off small rodents, from open trash cans and often finds turtle nest. The fox typically roams at night or early morning.

Opponents of the fox removal program say that the elusive animal keeps the balance of nature for the community. An example case they provided is in Palm Beach County, Florida. Forty years ago they began an intense turtle protection which included removing natural predators. Now they have an estimated 30,000 nest each season. Inspired by those legions of green, leatherback, and loggerhead turtles (the most common nesters in Palm Beach County), the area is now nicknamed "Turtle Town."

Mating at sea during migrations of up to 1,000 miles, the female turtles return to the sands of their birth to lumber out of the surf by night, find a safe spot to dig a large hole, deposit around 100 Ping-Pong ball-size eggs, cover and pat down the nest, and then drag themselves back to the ocean, according to a Palm Beach County’s Department of Environmental Resources. Two months later, with their mother long gone, they hatch in an underground frenzy of nipping through their shells and clawing blindly with little flippers up through all those feet of sand to the surface.

Their challenge is to get to the sea en masse before being picked off by predatory birds, raccoons, foxes, or any other beachcombing carnivores. 

The issue is sure to make more headlines with the recent interest on Dauphin Island. One commenter to the online petition stated "There seems to be a lack of ecological understanding, eradicating foxes 'for conservation'; predators are necessary for keeping a balance. Are the alligators and snakes scheduled for eradication also?"