To make it clearer to local residents who to turn to in such cases, both parties are preparing an agreement that will more clearly divide responsibilities.

Interfaces between people and their activities and those of foxes in Estonia's second city are on the rise. A fox family which recently set up home on the territory of a kindergarten raised excitement among the children there, but in another case, foxes raided a chicken coop, killing several of the birds.

The Environmental Board says the animals should be trapped preemptively, and the agency says it is only obligated to deal with helpless and injured animals.

Tanel Türna, head of the board's hunting and aquatic life bureau, said: "If a fox is seen moving around somewhere, it should be trapped in a cage and relocated. The local municipality can handle this. Whether they create the capability themselves or find a contractual partner—those are the options."

The City of Tartu meanwhile says it has already dealt with urban animals in cases where members of the public have contacted them with their concerns.

In the case of the Poku kindergarten foxes, the Environmental Board dealt with the matter, and the fox family has now been relocated to the forest. In this case, swift action was needed and the city did not have a contractual partner.

Türna said, however, that this was one of those situations where a local municipality could have dealt with the matter.

"This is exactly one of those situations. If it has reached the point where an entire litter needs to be relocated, then a contractual partner can assist," he said.

There is also a public health aspect.

"According to the observations that have reached me, most of the foxes moving around inside Tartu city have mange. That certainly needs to be dealt with as well, as it ends up in children's sandboxes along with the feces, and this is already a health risk," Türna said.

The City of Tartu for its part says it lacks the capacity and skills to deal with urban foxes and other wildlife themselves, adding they would like to begin cooperation with local hunters.

Both Türna and the city say it is important to clarify where the dividing line lies — what counts as helpless animals that the Environmental Board must handle, and what cases involve urban animals or nuisance specimens which should be the responsibility of the local municipality.

Madis Tammeorg, senior specialist at Tartu's city maintenance department, says this will make it "clearer for city residents who to turn to in each case — for example, at what point is an animal in need of help and in distress, and how distressed must it be."

Concerns about foxes have also arisen in the surrounding Tartu Rural Municipality, separate from Tartu city, but there have been no discussions with the Environmental Board in this case.

Since 2021, the rural municipality has been cooperating with two local hunting clubs.

Tartu Rural Municipal Jarno Laur (SDE) said: "We had semi-domesticated foxes here, who would come eat sausages off balconies and do all sorts of other funny things, partly the people's own fault, as the foxes didn't just start coming on their own."

Both Türna and Tammeorg have said that they also want to reach an agreement with the rural municipality in the near future.

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