Conversations with Foxes

The cold days are here again, and I have to confess that the walks in the park aren't very enjoyable. Throughout last month's cold snap the handful of us "regulars" were out, and yes, I have to confess that we feel a little territorial about "our" park when it warms up and the "fair weather" walkers come out. ;)

One nice thing about the lack of a human presence is that nature takes over once more, and we see how close to the wild we still live. Early in the winter the girls and I startled some deer who were feeding in the plot of bush just south of the off-leash area. All I saw were the ghostly tips of tails skimming through the branches, but Coco and Chica were in hot pursuit. I know they'll never catch up to anything wild (OK, rabbits are the exception) so I don't worry about either the dogs or the critters, and it makes the girls feel like they've reclaimed their wolfish roots.

Throughout the winter I've been talking with a Great Grey Owl who is looking for company at dinnertime. I guess I can do a fair enough owl imitation, since he'll fly over to check me out and then glide away in disappointment. One morning a Snowy Owl skimmed overhead...owls are the stealth fighters of the bird world, so if you don't happen to be looking the right way, you'll miss them.

Another critter who I've communed with this week is a Red Fox. He - I presume it's a male because he's nearly Chica's size - has been playing with my dogs at a distance for some years now. When Chloe was still alive, I used to think that he was taunting her and Chica, or leading them away from his den, because he would show himself just long enough to be spotted and then he would run away. As time wore on, though, I came to realize that he was playing a vulpine version of hide-and-seek or maybe Chicken, because he would stand and wait for the girls to catch up and *then* he would take off at the last possible minute. He's quite comfortable around humans too, as many people have seen him, and we regular dog walkers keep each other up to date with fox sightings.

I hadn't seen him since last fall, and I was concerned that he had died, so I was surprised and happy to see him confidently trotting along the walking path on the river side of the park yesterday morning. I always have to do a double-take because he looks so dog-like, but the markings give him away. Coco and Chica spotted him from the top of the toboggan hill and took off in pursuit. I assumed he would do his usual "catch me if you can" routine, so imagine my surprise when I saw him lie down to wait! He behaved exactly as submissive dogs do when meeting a new dog. He only moved just as Coco was almost on top of him and then he ran for the bush, with her after. I called them back, and Chica returned immediately, but Coco took a while to come back and I was getting worried that she may have fallen in the river. I knew they weren't fighting because all was silent, but it didn't make sense that she was gone so long. Finally she emerged from farther down the path and looked none the worse for wear so I figured the fox had given her the slip.

We continued on our way along the path, and then out of the corner of my eye I spotted movement on the river, which of course is frozen solid. The fox! We scrambled down to one of the fishing holes along the riverbank, and sure enough, there he was, maybe 20 feet away, panting a bit and just settling down to rest. Had Coco worn him out? He watched us and we watched him and nobody moved. Then instead of running away, he lay down and stretched out, then sat up and began grooming himself as a cat would, licking his front paws and legs. It was like looking at one of my own dogs settling in for the evening and I watched this in astonishment. The girls got bored and started sniffing around for livelier pals to play with. I was concerned that maybe the fox was sick or injured, since he had no anxiety about us being there, and periodically he would flop down on his side again. I was just about to call the Humane Society when he sat up, walked a couple of steps with no difficulty and settled himself into a more comfortable spot. At that point I started talking to him as I would to an unfamiliar dog and he listened with interest, pricking his ears. Then he tucked his nose into his tail and prepared to sleep.

I had to get to work so I left him some dog biscuits, and moved along, but I stopped once more to get a closer look farther down the bank. This time we were right opposite him and he was no more than 5 or 6 feet away. Coco was completely uninterested, which proved to me that the novelty had worn off for her....had she been playing with him the whole time she was gone? Chica still had some curiosity. She edged forward a bit and the fox, with a very long-sufffering demeanour, pulled himself up and walked a little ways, but then curled up to sleep again. Finally we left him to have his well-deserved nap on the river.

The sense I got was of an animal that was completely comfortable with us being close by, and who did not feel threatened in the slightest. The only experience that comes close is when I was in Kruger Park and my tour encountered a pride of lions just waking up for their evening hunt. They were unconcerned by the people and cars and some even laid in front of the vehicles, blocking our way out. Was I seeing evidence of this kind of top-of-the-food-chain behaviour in the King's Park fox? Or was he simply sick, old, tired and too worn out to do anything more? Or did he recognize us from our random encounters over the years and knew that he was safe with us?

As one of my friends commented later, it's a rare gift to be given this kind of encounter with the wild, and so I treasure it for what it is....a small connection with a world that we forget about, but which still walks alongside us every day.