Sherrieflower's Blog

Wow - here we are at the end of May already!  Memorial Day weekend, my husband found one of the fox kits dead under some shrubbery near the corner of where our drive and our neighbor's drive meet.  We were both very saddened by the discovery.  And then we weren't seeing any of them around like we had been.  For a couple weeks there, we were practically tripping over them every time we went outside and they had gotten in the habit of coming up on the back patio where we could see them from our kitchen window.  I haven't seen either parent in awhile either but I can imagine mom perhaps having a serious talk with them about keeping a low profile so they don't end up like their sibling.

Anyway - I was feeling kind of lonely not seeing them esp. since hubby has had to be away from home more than usual now.  Yesterday morning, I was rounding the corner and heading up the hill to my backyard garden when I saw one, then two, over by their den area.  They are still here!  I am so happy!  I read that foxes can live 12 years in captivity but average only about 3 years in the wild.  Kind of makes me want to domesticate at least one, but I know I can't do that.  My neighbor told me earlier this spring that he had killed a juvenile who was raiding his chickens.  So I worry about them - just want them to stay around here and stay safe.

     We finally got the promised thunderstorms this afternoon and I happened to glance out the window to see one of my little foxes running for home [from the direction of the fox-killing neighbor - oh my!]