My mind is on a red fox tonight. I’ve had four encounters with this fox since early this summer. I feel very fortunate. How many people are lucky enough to see one red fox in the wild during their lifetime? They are quite elusive.
I’ve always been fascinated with wolves and foxes. Perhaps it’s because they’re both so elusive and we seldom have the opportunity to see them. In grade school when we could order books from the Teen Age Book Club (TAB), I sent for several books about wolves and foxes. I still have some of them. One of those paperbacks is titled “Red Fox“ by Charles Roberts. That poor fox had many adventures. He was pursued by dogs, shot at by hunters, fought with other animals, hunted for food for himself, his mate, and their pups, and through all the adversities and hardships, managed to survive.
I don’t think the same can be said for the fox I’ve been seeing. During the last two encounters, it appears that he’s developed mange. This will not be a “He lived happily ever after” ending. He was really suffering yesterday when I watched him. The poor fellow is now so distracted by the disease that he didn’t bother running away. I was able to get very close and took many photos of him as he hunted for food. He has become very thin and looks like he’s starving. He was making a meal of grasshoppers and other bugs he could find.
I watched as he stalked each grasshopper and then pounced on it. It will take a lot of bugs to satisfy his appetite and provide the nourishment he needs. Whenever he looked in my direction, his eyes appeared half-closed and it looked like he was having difficulty seeing. The eyes looked so sad. They weren’t vibrant and full of life, but had a haunted, sad feeling. He appeared to be a lost, bewildered soul, trying to hang on and survive.
Sarcoptic Mange is a skin disease caused by microscopic parasitic mites that embed themselves under the skin of the animal. They cause extreme itching, loss of sleep, open sores, and reduced immune response. In the late stages, the fox will become distracted, sick, and starve to death.
I suspect “my fox” is nearing that final stage. That’s why he’s on my mind tonight. I hate to see any animal suffer. The red fox is such a graceful, beautiful animal when it’s healthy.
I saw my first fox many years ago while deer hunting. I was sitting quietly at the base of a tree near the crest of a hill. I had a commanding view of the hillsides and valley below me. It was late in the afternoon when I saw the fox slowly making his way through the woods a short distance from where I was sitting. He appeared to be hunting for a meal. After several minutes he finally spotted me and quickly headed down the hill, his bushy tail flowing out behind him. What a magnificent sight. The images of that first close-up encounter with a red fox have stuck in my memory bank all these years.
Since that time, I’ve seen several red foxes and it’s always a special thrill. They’ve had dens on this farm over the years and we’d see one occasionally. But as I said at the start, they can be very elusive and hard to spot.
I hope my little friend has a den some place where he’s bedded down this evening. It’s cold and rainy outside tonight and I hope he’s dry and as comfortable as he can be, given the terrible shape he’s in. I’ll keep an eye out for him and monitor his deteriorating condition. If this was a domesticated dog, the mange could be easily treated, but the fox is a wild animal. You can’t just shove a pill down his throat. All we can do is watch him suffer from a distance. In observing a case like this, I realize how different life in the wild is. This is survival of the fittest. As much as I’d like to, I realize we can’t save every animal.
I watched that fox hunt for food. He needed food to survive and other creatures needed to die so he might live. He would stalk a possible meal, then gather himself up and pounce on it. Sometimes he came up empty, but other times he was chewing on whatever meal he had found. The strong survive. The weak and inattentive perish. Animals get sick and die. It’s all part of the life cycle. I think those of us who were raised in the country and on farms, and people who spend time in the woods and wild country, are more aware of this. Life and death are part of our world.
I hope all of you have the chance to observe a red fox and other animals in the wild, in their natural habitat. Observing a wild animal in the captive environment of a zoo is not the same. I still get a thrill whenever I come across an animal in the wild. I always try to have a camera with me and have managed to capture some great photos of wildlife roaming free, in the wild. I feel a real kindred spirit with them. It’s a great feeling!
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