The Rural Voice, 1991-07, Page 40NOTEBOOK
FOXES ON THE FARM
By Deborah Kennish-McCoubrey
The discovery of a family of foxes on our pasture farm
last spring created a dilemma for me, as my husband and I
decided what to do with them. We spotted the foxes in early
May when we were inspecting fences on our pasture farm.
As my son ran toward the barn, a suddcn yell from my hus-
band, "Stop! Stay still," caused all of us to stop and look.
The cause of the concern was five foxes standing within 15
feet of my son.
For a fcw minutes, both the people and the foxes stood
still and stared. Then the young foxes quickly ran to the
base of thc nearest tree and disappeared into their den. But
not for long. One pair of large pointed cars appeared as the
first fox popped his head out of the hole. Then, one by one,
they all emerged from the den. We climbed into the pick-up
and drove to a spot where we had a good view of the dcn,
turned off the motor and quietly watched. By this time, the
five foxcs had begun to roll and play in the tall grass. Any
sudden noise would cause them to stand still, perk up thcir
cars and then retreat to the safety of the den. But they
seemed to quickly forget the noise, and in no time, they
would return to their play.
It was delightful to watch these curious and playful
foxes. But what were we to do now? Their mothcr had
picked what appeared to be a perfect spot for her dcn: it was
quiet and undisturbed by either animals or people. A Targe
pond provided water and the small forest had hiding places.
But everything was about to change. We had every inten-
tion of putting cauls on this farm, and even though all the
cattle had been vaccinated against rabies, those foxes were
still a concern. And the children would be over at the pas-
ture farm regularly. I didn't like the thought of destroying
healthy animals out of fear of rabies, but we had to be
practical about this too.
The next morning, I spoke to a neighbour who raises
foxes, who told me some interesting things about the ani-
mals. Sincc we had sighted these young foxcs in the early
evening and no mother was there, she had probably Icft at
dusk to hunt. From my description of the size of the foxcs,
he estimated they were about eight weeks old.
He suggested that we leave signs of our presence at the
den to let the mother know that the den had been discov-
ered. This in itself would probably cause her to move her
babies to another den, because he said foxes had more than
one den. He suggested that I place something with our
dog's scent outside the den, but he advised against taking
the dog to the den. If there was any concern about rabies,
then our dog could be quarantined for months. We knew
this was true: an incident with a rabid skunk had led to the
quarantine for months of our older dog.
If our plan was to encourage the mother fox to move her
babies to a more suitable spot in the wild, I didn't want to
make them someone else's problem. I went to the ministry
of natural resources in the hope of obtaining some rabies
vaccine bait. If the foxes could be convinced to eat this
vaccine before moving on, I .would feel less concerned. I
was told that this vaccine bait was unavailable as its effec-
tiveness was questionable.
That evening we returned to the den. We sat in the
truck and silently watched the playful antics of the young
foxes. When we did approach, they raced for the protection
of their den. Our dog's old sleeping mat was placed on the
ground beside the hole to the den. Next, we rubbed some
rags on our arms and scattered them around the den. We
hoped the scent of animals and people would make them
leave.
On the third night, we approached the den wondering if
we would even see the foxes. We had our answer. Two of
the foxes were stretched out sunning themselves as they lay
on thc dog's mat! Two others were playing nearby. The
rags were gone. So much for that approach.
But something was different. Over in the orchard sat
the mother fox. This was our first sighting of her. When
the young foxes retreated to the den, they didn't reappear.
The dilemma of what to do with the foxes remained.
Shooting them was one choice, but not an easy decision for
me to make. They were babies and they seemed harmless.
And yet, that was what another family had said when they
found a den of young foxes on their farm. That year, they
lost three cows to rabies. The barn cats also became infec-
ted and three family members underwent treatment for
rabies. Suspicion naturally turned to the foxes.
Later that evening, we returned to
the fox den. We poured oil around the
den and into the den opening. The
next night, no young foxes were play-
ing in the tall grass. The den had been
abandoned. Perhaps the move had al-
ready been started. We'd seen five
babies both nights until the last night.
Maybe the mother had started to move
them after the dog's mat had been
placed outside the den.
Did I do the right thing? One veter-
inarian advises farmers to shoot a fox
on sight, whether the fox looks healthy
or not. Perhaps he's the one who is
right. I really don't know.0
36 THE RURAL VOICE