reply to post by sled735
Foxes round my way tend to be out most at night, flitting between driveways and alleyways, scavenging for food from peoples bins more often than not.
I also tend to be out and about most at night, and often walk home through the neighborhoods between town centre, and my place. Sometimes, if there
are enough of them in one area that they feel safe, say three or more (usually during the spring and summer months) they will follow me for a few
blocks. I had one approach to within five feet once, and it just sat down right in front of me and looked at me for a bit, then trotted off behind
someones wheely bin.
Like all wild animals, they do pose a risk, since you never know what a truly wild animal will do, or what it may have experienced. You have to show
respect to any wild animal for that very reason, and of course, they have been known to enter homes and attack children, so caution is always
advisable, and obviously if any wild animal shows a tendency toward attacking humans, it has to be terminated for the safety of the public, and to
prevent rabbles of idiots deciding that a cull is in order.
However, that takes nothing away from the beauty that wild animals have, foxes being no exception. Their freedom is evident in their every step,
every flick of an ear, every twitch of a nose. Their perception of the world around them is so much sharper than that of your average domestic canine
or feline, honed by years of self sufficiency.
The only aggravating thing about foxes for me personally, is that when they call out in the night, their vocalisations can easily be mistaken for
that of a person in pain or distress, especially if the sound has been baffled by deflection from the sides of buildings, or modulated by passage
through a hedge or thicket. I recall one instance about three years ago, walking home from town in the dead of a moonlit August night, where upon I
heard what sounded like a child in distress coming from a position that seemed to me to be about four blocks north of my location (for those of you
from inner city areas, particularly in the US, a small town block is significantly smaller than those in metropolitan areas. I am not part bat!). I
hurried in that direction as fast as I could, hearing the sound several more times.
When I finally arrived at the place from which the sound was emanating, I was standing beside an ornamental hedge in front of someones driveway, in
what I refer to as "the posh bit" which is an area about half a mile from my place, which contains several expensive blocks of houses, and a yacht
club. Looking under the hedge, I saw a young fox cub. I have to this day, no idea why the little chap was under there, rather than being with his
mother, or for that matter, back at its den. Close up, his voice sounded nothing like that of a child, but from a distance, with the hedge and the
buildings in the way... eerie.
Anyway, enough rambling. Great thread!