Fox Kits Again

I’ve been seeing the little fox kits again. On Sunday, I took a walk around Roundtop—it was pretty muddy down in the forest, so I didn’t go too far there. As I was walking down a hill, I saw one of the kits step out to the edge of the road and sniff something along the edge. Then it saw me walking towards it, looked at me but didn’t run away. I kept walking, wondering how close I would get before it took off. Then I heard a car start to head up the mountain, and so did the fox kit. That’s when it left. So at least it has enough sense to be road wary.

Last evening I saw all three of them again. They were out bouncing around and having a good time. I’ve also figured out where their den is. It’s only 7-8 feet off the public road.

This weekend, when I told my dad about the fox kits, he told me that when he was a teenager he had a red fox as a pet. He got it when it was only about the size of these little ones. It lived in the house and “denned” underneath the family’s wood stove. When he went outside it would follow along. He said he had it for about two years, maybe a little longer. Then, he left for the army and gave it away to a neighboring farmer, but never asked, when he returned two years later, what had happened to the fox.