Maggie's Farm

During the past couple of months, I have noticed our bunny rabbit (Cottontail Rabbit) population taking a sharp decline.

Then we saw the fox. They must have moved in recently.

The diminutive Red Fox is the most widely distributed predator in the world, from Asia through Europe and North America. (Yes, he is a Fox and she is a Vixen.)

While our American Red Fox is likely a descendent of foxes imported from England for hunting, there was a pre-existing Red Fox here which inhabited boreal regions of North America.

In the US, they are hunted with horses and hounds, but I don't know anyone who shoots them for fun. In the UK, our cousin Mr. Free Market loves to blast them, but he is a deeply disturbed individual (like all Capitalist gun-lovers), and he also tries to protect his pheasants.

I tend to feel happy when I see one, which is not often, at dawn, trotting across a meadow. I think I have liked them since Roger and the Fox was a favorite of mine around age 6. They are increasingly semi-suburban, but are basically a rural animal.

These nocturnal handsome bushy-tailed guys are mainly mouse, fruit, and bug-eaters, but they have been known to steal a chicken or young pheasant. Both coyotes and wolves will kill foxes.

A bit about their range and natural history here.  More here.