Not so wild life
We have an abundance of wildlife locally, unfortunately much of it never seen in ‘real time’, but when it is, there is a definite mix of opinion and emotions (Concern over increase in fox sightings, September 17).
Over the years the family, along with the usual cats, dogs, and other fluffy or furry creatures, have also kept goats and chickens. The trauma of finding the fox got in the hen house one night is not forgotten, but it was my fault for not protecting my animals.
I have for some time now been privileged to be able to feed a little vixen, a few bits of strip chicken by hand, then a bowl of biscuits and meat. She has brought her little boy to see us now, he, like her, is not frightened, but very wary.
Stay calm and quiet and they are fine, move a little too quickly and they are gone.
After somebody told me they had seen a badger run along the fence line, I got myself a motion operated camera.
I was amazed at what goes on just outside the garden at night, from early evening to sometimes six and past in the morning.
I now put down a couple of bowls, between them containing one tin of dog food and two handfuls of biscuits, and a big bowl of water which is invariably empty the following day.
This ‘feast’ it transpires is now not only shared by mum and her little boy, but during the night another three foxes, two badgers, up to four cats passing by.
To see a badger and a fox eating from the same bowl, while another fox curls up for a nap alongside a badger laid on it’s back scratching its belly is glorious, showing in some way theirs is a more harmonious life than ours.
My own experience in years past tends to suggest foxes are not the demons they are portrayed.
When remembering this and that lack of aggression I have seen in the three species, I get confused when seeing reports of foxes trying to kidnap babies, terrifying children in their bedroom and ‘biting’ someone’s feet.
Leave your footwear outside the door and a fox will run off with it, they like the smell. Food for thought, nipping is a friendly gesture, not aggression.
The pleasure we get from these short videos far outweighs the sight of predators and prey in Africa any day.
B Nevill Gosport