Tame fox

With nothing better to do today, I watched a video on Facebook of two fishermen befriending a wild Arctic fox. The way he played like a puppy and tried to steal their belongings reminded me of our own tame fox cub many years ago.

I don’t recall how it started. Possibly he was attracted to the cat biscuits we left in the garden during the day. All I remember is that he started turning up on a daily basis as though he simply enjoyed our company. He loved to help me water the container plants – before the deer ate them all (but that is another story). He would follow me around the garden, just feet away, as I walked to and fro filling the watering can. He adored the broom and if I dragged it behind, he would chase it and grab hold of the bristles. Nothing was safe. I lost more than one pair of gardening gloves and some years after he disappeared, I found one of our old cat bowls several hundred yards from home in the woods.

We still have a fox and he comes faithfully to eat the cats’ leftovers every morning and evening. We seldom see him, but we know he watches us because his breakfast is always eaten by the time we have mucked out the field shelter. He had a bad case of mange before Christmas, but I was able to treat him successfully with a homoeopathic remedy (arsenicum and sulphur). I do miss my little friend though. At least I have a few photographs of him taken using my old film camera.