As they become urbanized ... it seems . Based on article content ...
"...Like other previous studies, the Swiss analysis found a jump in infections starting around 2000. It's unclear what's causing this, but researchers have speculated that habitat expansion of primary host populations, an increased use of imaging in health care, and a more susceptible population may be possible explanations. In the current study, the increase in the number of cases was linked to a "substantial" increase in incidental findings of AE—that is, asymptomatic parasitic cysts were detected inadvertently during medical care. That points to increased imaging. But, in 2021, researchers in Canada reported AE as an emerging disease in Alberta, which they partly attributed to the growing urbanization of coyotes....."
I live between San Jose and San Francisco and (sampling bias I mainly ride my bike during the day) I've seen foxes a couple of times in the suburbs (once about two miles outside Cupertino and once in Portola Valley where people like Larry Ellison have an estate) over twenty years, and probably a coyote at least once a month and a bobcat maybe twice a year and three mountain lions over the same time period, a fox is rare to see in the day but they are nocturnal so mostly not active during the day. The average person is more likely to encounter fox scat without knowing that's what it is.
Where I used to live in Paradise, foxes would eagerly come over to within 3m/10' and watch what I was working on outside.
Just remember the failsafe approach to wildlife: assume they are carriers of communicable diseases like rabies, hantavirus, anthrax,
plague, bird flu, EEEV, and rare and novel diseases unknown to most doctors or all scientific literature.
We had wild bats, crows,
vultures, woodpeckers, jays, finches, hummingbirds, eagles, turkeys, peacocks, foxes, deer, and black bear. Also, recovering and "recovering" meth addicts from a halfway house wandering down to the pharmacy 6 blocks away.
"...Like other previous studies, the Swiss analysis found a jump in infections starting around 2000. It's unclear what's causing this, but researchers have speculated that habitat expansion of primary host populations, an increased use of imaging in health care, and a more susceptible population may be possible explanations. In the current study, the increase in the number of cases was linked to a "substantial" increase in incidental findings of AE—that is, asymptomatic parasitic cysts were detected inadvertently during medical care. That points to increased imaging. But, in 2021, researchers in Canada reported AE as an emerging disease in Alberta, which they partly attributed to the growing urbanization of coyotes....."