What amazing pictures! And great photography too. Aren't they beautiful creatures?
One day many years ago I was walking on the hill behind my house, and caught sight of a little bunch of fox cubs playing close to a fox-hole. I didn't approach them and stood very still. The cubs didn't run away, weren't a bit afraid of me, instead they were slightly curious.
Then suddenly there was one sharp staccato bark from among the trees to my right, and all the little cubs dashed off and disappeared underground.
That was their mother, who must have caught my scent, warning them and barking an order. Every single cub obeyed immediately!
They are so beautiful and such characters. The photographer got some beautiful shots.
I love foxes. We do have them in the city, along the rivers where it is still wild. I saw a mother and her smaller, but identical baby in one of the ravines.
Do you have a lot of foxes in England?
We have them, but we also have coyotes and wolves so they are not numerous.
I have seen the Arctic Fox and the Fennec Fox, but not in the wild. They are very pretty.
Yes, many foxes in England. Though now a great many foxes have adopted and adapted to urban life.
Yes we have lots of foxes in UK. Their main prey is rabbits, and also rodents. Whenever I hear of anyone here upset about a fox getting into their chickens, I can only blame the chicken-caretaker. It's necessary to make sure all chickens come in as it darkens towards twilight -or even earlier. It's necessary to also have quite fine chicken-wire (each hole an inch or even less) at least 6ft or more above the birds' area, wire on the top also, and sunk in a trench 18" deep all around -to stop the foxes digging in.
Some people are dismayed that once a fox has breached the camp, and caught a chicken, it will come back as often as it takes, to kill the lot. These bodies are not always carried away, so the fox has been left with an unfair reputation for being a wanton killer, beyond its food needs.
This is just an instinct with the foxes. As far as they see it, they have now built up a cache of food, and left to their own devices, would return again and again to claim some dinner. Not only for themselves, but for their young. They don't kill for lust. A wild animal always kills for food. Humans should understand that but they don't, and go off on a negatively sentimental rant about foxes, then persecute them terribly.
I happen to like them. They have every right to hunt. They can't go to the local store for their meat like most humans can. Woe betide chicken-keepers who don't lock up their chickens securely though!
Great pictures, Noble Knight! Thanks for the link. I also have a soft spot for foxes. As Tobi says, they have a right to eat, just as we do. Foxes are carnivores and only kill to eat. Sometimes they may kill more than they need, in the excitement of finding food. But it not killing for pure fun. That is mainly the preserve of humans.
My neighbour in France does exactly as Tobi says. The chickens are put in a coop for their safety at night, and during the day they are in a fenced area. This is regarded as normal practice, to protect them from foxes. But there is no need to kill the foxes; they will just go to hunt somewhere else.
Foxes are an important part of a healthy ecosystem. The eat small rodents. The farmers would not be so happy if they were over run by mice.
As you both have said, it is possible to bring the chickens in at night and protect then. It wouldn't be good to leave hens outside at night anyhow. There are other predators and hens would not be too good at protecting themselves. Don't you have Stoats and Ferrets and other members of the mink family. They would easily kill a whole hen house of chickens if they got in.
We have the responsibility to protect and animals that we bring into another animals natural habitat.
Fennec Foxes are the cutest. They have such enormous ears for the size of the fox and they are such energetic little creatures.
In Toronto much of the wildlife has adapted to city life. I was riding on a regular bus route when I saw a mom and baby red fox.
Yes, where my mother used to live was half-suburban (a mile from a busy town) and on the edge of 'rural'. There were lots of semi-urban foxes about, mainly scrounging things they found which hadn't been binned properly, (pizza....discarded chips....it's quite horrific, what gets slung out of car windows, but a treat for foxes -although not too healthy for them.) And also on the hunt -I presume for rodents.
My brother often did 'fox-watch' from his bedroom window, and filmed them.
Yes we have Stoats here, but I have only seen one or two -probably because they run pretty fast in the grass, so are hard to spot.
I love snowy mornings in the fields. Because it is fascinating to see exactly which species trotted about in the night or at dawn.
If you know how to read it there is a whole story in the snow. Many animals I have only "seen" by the record they have left behind. I did see cougar tracks in the snow in the Rocky Mountains one winter. He passed by our cabin during the night and we never hear or saw a thing.
I imagine Stoats are hard to spot. We have Mink and weasels and they are always in a hurry.
Toronto is a very large city, but it has large parks, a few rivers and ravines and of course a lake shore that runs miles in either direction.
We have wildlife and it can travel by way of rivers, ravines and shorelines. I have looked out and seen a skunk walking down my city sidewalk. The racoons just live with us and are adapted to human presence. Squirrels treat us as food suppliers. They act like they are entitled to be fed by us. Pigeons use our subway stations as home bases and have been known to actually ride the trains. It does make life interesting.
I've only just seen these and they are stunning photos.
Foxes are quite common with us, but then we are on the edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park.
They don't show themselves much but we hear them every night.
I suppose rural foxes are shyer than their urban cousins because their food supply is shy too!!
I've never known a fox raid our bins, but the neighbours cats try quite often!!
The council have issued us with special food recycling bins that have locking lids.
I think they send the food waste to an incinerator for energy production.
Again, these are stunning photos!!