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Beginning in the mid 1990's, it was a particularly distressing time in my life - the doberman had just passed away, my faithful cat was buried two weeks later, and a number of other disconcerting things were occurring in my life. I would often sit on my back steps overlooking my garden, bordered by deeper woods. It was also a time, when large tracts of woodland were increasingly being converted for human use. It was then that the first fox appeared, soon to be followed by another and for a span of about five years, a total of 10 foxes would become almost daily and nightly visitors to my garden. That is how The Enchanted Garden period in my life began.
The first fox was initially only a "curiosity" at the edge of my garden, sitting in the shadows and watching. I assumed we were both 'watching' each other with mutual suspicion. "OK," I thought to myself (with all those negative descriptions of that other species floating through my head), "What now? Would it attack me? - Would it make mincemeat of my other cats?" My initial apprehension, however, soon gave way to curiosity and I decided I would find out more about this creature.
There were a number of interesting and informative web sites (see Links section below) about foxes and I found out that "my fox" was a grey fox with the scientific name Urocyon cinereoargenteus, and that fox diet did not include myself nor my cats, but consisted primarily of rodents (such as mice, which breed and multiply quite rapidly and can spread disease if left unchecked), snakes and other unwanted pests, insects, wild berries and other flora and small fauna in their natural habitat. Those foxes who suffer from too narrowing habitats or habitat displacement will seek food in their surrounding or neighboring environments, including dinner scraps, in more human populated areas.
Most of us are familiar with the 1990 movie, Dances with Wolves, in which the actor, Kevin Costner, befriends a wild wolf. It had been one of my favorite movies. Several weeks after the fox first appeared and slowly began to venture into the more open lawn areas of the garden, I began to wonder... Could the fox and I disspell our mutual suspicion and become "friends," or did that only happen in movies? It would certainly take a lot of trust on the fox's part I felt.
 Several months passed and each evening after sunset, my visitor, now no longer just a fox, but with a name... "Lady Fox" would appear. Soon afterwards, "Lady Fox" was followed by another fox, to be named "Pepperoni" (for the huge piece of leftover pizza that "Pepperoni" trotted off with one evening). "Lady Fox" was a very outgoing fox who ventured ever closer, while "Pepperoni" always kept his distance. Other foxes came... they too began to have names ... "Big Eyes" (a not yet fully mature fox), "Hunchie" (named after his hunched stance), "Scout" (the tree climber, who would sit on a tree in the far reaches of the garden and rarely venture out), "Sulky" (who normally appeared a bit 'sulky,' but who would also venture within several feet of me)... Each had their own very special personality and traits. And so my circle of fox friends grew. Sometimes, there would be 5-10 foxes sitting in a semicircle on the lawn during the late evening hours. At first I was afraid that my house cats, which were also numerous, and the foxes would not get along, but that turned out not to be the case. I discovered that foxes can hiss like cats and that they arch their backs when frigthened in a similar manner. One evening one of my cats started chasing a fox around the outside of the house... and I had to laugh when several minutes later, the same fox was chasing the cat around the house, but not in a threatening manner. The foxes and the cats never fought. But, to my great surprise, when two of my cats began to fight each other, one of the foxes came forward as if to break up the fight. The cats stopped fighting and the fox retreated. For over a year or more, the foxes came only in the evening, after the sun had already disappeared and the evening shadows had taken over the landscape - a time when they felt more secure around my own species. And although "my foxes" had begun to feel "at home" in my garden, sometimes snoozing next to the pond for several hours, or sitting a few feet away from me on the back steps, I had not yet seen a fox in full daylight.
"Pepperoni" began to visit me both during the day and in the evening and I hoped that perhaps he would also venture a bit closer. That, however, was not to be. "Pepperoni" stopped coming one day. I continued to sit on the back steps each evening hoping he would reappear along with the other foxes. But several weeks later, I learned that a fox had been shot in the neighborhood, and feared that it was my "Pepperoni." Someone had been missing a chicken and thought that a fox had been the perpetrator, only to learn later, that an opposum was venturing into his chicken coop. I felt guilty for a long time afterward... perhaps if I had not encouraged the visits of my fox friends, "Pepperoni" would still be here. Who can say. I only knew I missed "Pepperoni" greatly. Over the years, I learned that foxes are intelligent, rather shy, gentle and sharing creatures, which sometimes behave like a cat and sometimes like a dog. Creatures which can inhabit the same outside space with humans and their domestic animals without becoming aggressive, creatures which often share food with their own mates or take it back with them for their own cubs.
But during a two-week period in the spring of 2000, one by one the "regulars" stopped coming somehow, and the last fox I saw was "Big Eyes," who did not look his usual spunky self. And so - Once upon a time, my friends, foxes all - Once upon a time, my friends, the foxes came no more. The visits of my fox friends were one of the more remarkable and rewarding experiences of my entire life. It was a very great personal loss, my friends who had enriched my life so immeasurably, did not return. From a personal perspective, I am torn between those who feel that different species (such as our own) and wild species (such as foxes and other wild animals) can find "common ground" and can interact on a positive level, and those who discourage such interaction between or among species and feel that that is best for both species.
Limited Edition Art Prints (of some of the foxes from my 'Enchanted Garden'). Each print is issued in a limited edition of 500, numbered and artist signed.
F O X L I N K S
Informative, fun, or other fox art sites, and general conservation sites:
The Ecology of Urban Fox
The University of Michigan Museum of Zoology,
Animal Diversity Web
Fox Forest for Preservation and Education
North Carolina Coastal Federation (NCCF)
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Once upon a time, as most tales begin... Like most other people, I knew virtually nothing about those creatures called foxes. All that came to mind were perhaps dark flitting shadows crossing moonlit roads, or quips from Aesop's Fables and other descriptions which painted the fox as a sly, dark predatory marauder... an unwanted creature, a creature which one would certainly never wish to meet in person.
"Pepperoni" was my favorite fox. He was a bit more hyper and skittish than the rest and never ventured closer than 20 feet of me when he came in the evening. So, I was overwhelmingly surprised the afternoon I came back from the doctor after having just been told that I needed a cancer operation... I had come home quite depressed and looked out the back glass doors into the sunny garden, and there stood "Pepperoni" in front of my azalea bush looking at me intently in the house... He remained standing there in the sunlight for a few more minutes before he disappeared into the woods. It was the first time I had seen a fox in daylight in my "Enchanted Garden" and I had to smile.
I felt myself very fortunate in that members of a wild species had given me their trust... I could work in my garden in the afternoon sunlight and one or two of the foxes would sit there or lay down and watch me without fear while I worked only a few feet away... I began to hand feed several of the foxes...but only after several years, a great measure of trust on their part... and they were always very gentle creatures when it came to myself.