A Fox Sanctuary, Too?

We had just gotten up this morning, and I was in the office checking e-mails while Alayne went to make coffee.  Suddenly she called to me from the living room.  "Come look at this!," she said.  "Quick!"  I got up and dashed out of the office, and she motioned to me to come over to the living room windows.  "Look, it's the foxes!," she said, pointing to two young foxes playing just 20 yards from the house. 

One had a stick in its mouth, and the other fox was trying to take it away.  (Hmm.  Seen this before somewhere.)  I scurried back to the office to grab the camera.  By the time I got back to the living room windows, they had taken off, now playing a chase game.  I pressed the camera lens against the window and started clicking, not sure if anything was in focus.  Amazingly, these came out okay.

In the first photo the two foxes are starting to lope off, the fox with the stick in the lead.  The next photo shows them in mock battle over the stick.  The final shot shows the 'vanquished' fox deciding to make himself king of the hay bales.  "Who needs the stupid stick, I've got the hay bales!" he seemed to be saying.

(Click on the photos to see larger images.  Depending on your browser, you may need to close each pop-up window before the next image will come up.)

The funny thing about this animal sanctuary is that we are home to this family of foxes, too.  Each year there's a new litter of pups, and they grow up on the ranch.  The foxes feel safe here, because all around us are packs of coyotes.  Almost every night we can hear the coyotes howl from the neighboring ranches.  Coyotes kill foxes and drive them off, because they see them as competition for food.  Although we have the occasional coyote wander through, for some reason -- it's probably all the dogs -- the coyote packs never come on to the ranch itself.

And because the foxes grow up here, they pay absolutely no attention to the dogs at all.  They couldn't care less.  Sometimes late at night, once the dogs are put up, the foxes will climb over the fences and go over to Widget's House, where they drag the dog bedding off the cots on the porch and leave it out in the grass for us to find in the morning.  I think it's the canine equivalent of "So there!  We showed you!"

Comments

[Lynda Craig]

How Wonderful,
Thank you for sharing that wonderful story. I used to have foxes living behind me and was absolutely delighted when I was lucky enough to see them. They are delightful little creatures.
Sadly, their dens were destroyed this year. My heart has been broken ever since.
I am so glad to know there are safe and hapy foxes in Montana.

Best Wishes,
Lynda

[Roz]

That's great the foxes share the ranch with everyone. Nice shots!

[Alanna]

Lovely shots! The second one reminds me of my own dog (lab/Border mix) who welcomed the visit of a neighbor dog (it's the country ... no fences, no lines) and they almost silent, almost eerie dog dance as night fell. It's particularly interesting in video but there's a still here http://herdonlongview.blogspot.com/2005_06_01_herdonlongview_archive.html.