Current Social Perceptions

The perceptions of an animal can differ between continents, countries, states, or professions.  Each person is  going to have a separate opinion on something, and that is the same case for animals.  The personal image of any animal can often be influenced by outside sources as well, especially for the animals that people normally won't be able to seen on a frequent basis.

Some of the positive ways that they are viewed could be seeing them in nature allows people a happiness in an intrinsic sense.  With domestication of foxes becoming more prevalent, some people are now keeping them as pets, which give a feeling of companionship similar to people with cats and dogs.  People who raise foxes for fur see them as a source of revenue, which would be positive for the worker of a fur farm.



Here's a really current look at how some people see the fox: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jofNR_WkoCE

Negative views often come from people who deal with raising animals, in particular, poultry, as foxes have been known to go to a farm and kill hens for food.  Another negative view can be that foxes, like many woodland creature have the ability to be a vector (carrier) for diseases such as rabies.  In Australia foxes are considered a threat to native species of rodents, which the foxes hunt, and is a large concern for these species as numbers continue to decline.

Sources:
http://www.ypte.org.uk/animal/fox-red-/122
http://www.wildlifeonline.me.uk/red_fox.html#humans
http://eol.org/pages/328609/details
http://www.issg.org/pdf/publications/Island_Invasives/pdfHQprint/4Parkes.pdf
http://www.insightofanintern.com/2012/11/06/nablopomo-5-in-defence-of-the-red-fox/