Restraining Order Issued in Dauphin Island Fox Battle
By Dale Hines
Blue RAM Media/Gulf Coast News
September 16, 2025
DAUPHIN ISLAND, AL. The story of the foxes living on Dauphin Island has received a reprieve and will continue living and doing fox things while their fate is debated in a court of law.
A Mobile judge has now issued a restraining order which states, “hands off”, for now.
In legal terminology, it states “”The defendants are hereby enjoined and are ordered to stay, cease and desist from the killing, removal, relocating or in any manner disturbing any and all foxes on Dauphin Island, Alabama,” read the mayor, “whether directly or by any of its employees, agents and/or independent contractors, until if and when this court lifts this stay.”
At Monday’s city council meeting, Dauphin Island Mayor Jeff Collier informed the council by reading from the judge’s order.
Now that the matter is in litigation, the mayor says city officials have been advised to make no further comment.
“We just received this today,” he told the council, and our town attorneys have basically said that’s all we can say.”
The foxes have become celebrated by many who have been watching them on the island for years.
But other nature lovers say they pilfer nesting grounds of sea turtles and island birds, even posing a threat to migratory birds that use the island for a respite before continuing their way to and from South and Central America.
Foxes have also been known to attack pets and even humans, as well as carry rabies.
But some islanders, such as Wildlife Photographer Spence Harrison, who is a plaintiff in the court action, and a big defender of the Dauphin Island foxes said that he is encouraged by the judge’s order. He doesn’t want to see the foxes removed from the island or destroyed.
There are other predators on the island, such as feral cats, that are more of a nuisance than those foxes are Harrison said.
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