Has anyone ever seen a fox/coyote with a ringed tail?

[California Patriot]

69. Yes, last night I did!

I saw one last night! I live in Claremont, California, right on the base of the Foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. About a 20 minute drive west of Mount Baldy (post #50 above). Bad habits aside, at 3:00 a.m., I was having trouble sleeping, and decided to have a cigarette. At least I don’t smoke in the house, so I went into my front yard to smoke. I heard the most horrid squealing noise coming from the street, in front of my neighbor’s house. It sounded like someone had jumped on top of a rubber ducky bathtub squeak toy; it was so loud and shrill.

I walked to the sidewalk to see what the heck, I saw the fox with it’s mouth around the neck of a wild rabbit. Upon seeing me, the fox let go and took a few steps back. It lingered in the area, as it didn’t want to readily give up its meal. The rabbit was for all intents and purposes unharmed, but completely frozen in fear. It did not move from the spot for a few seconds. The rabbit eventually regained its wits and scurried off into my neighbor’s hedge bushes.

Living this close to the mountains, it is not unusual to see coyotes, rabbits, even bear and bobcat sightings get reported to the police from time to time; but I have never seen a fox quite like this one. I wanted to do an Internet search on it, and was led to this sight and your post.

It was definitely a fox, and it definitely had a black and white banded tail, like a ring-tailed lemur. I couldn’t find any images or listings of such a fox existing. I was no more than 10 to 12 feet from it. I was on the sidewalk, and the rabbit and fox were in the middle of the street right in front of me. It certainly wasn’t a cat with a ringed tail. Its body didn't look at all like images of coati, mink, or raccoons. It looked exactly like a grey fox, but with a black and white banded ring-tail.