A Centre Wellington animal lover has had the pleasure of a personal but distanced view of a brooding fox family at her property.
A fox mother and her seven kits have made a bit of a den at BJ Blanchard’s farm north of Fergus.
Blanchard has been posting photos of the fox family to community Facebook pages to spread the same joy she gets from seeing them.
“I just thought with COVID and the doom and gloom as of late ... maybe other people would be as interested in seeing them as I am,” Blanchard said. “You know it just takes them out of the COVID headspace for five minutes then that’s it. Just bring a smile to someone’s face, it certainly brings a smile to mine.”
Blanchard said the mother fox appears to be very healthy and she has seen the kits growing well too over the weeks they’ve been spotted.
She has named the mother Foxy Lady and the kits: Curly, Larry, Mo, Sonny, Cher and Bonny and Clyde.
Blanchard said she didn’t expect them to stay as long as they have but acknowledged they will eventually leave.
“I don’t know how long this will go on for, I could wake-up one day and they’ve moved on,” Blanchard said. “I kind of look at it like every day is a gift and when it stops it stops.”
Although an animal lover, Blanchard stressed these are wild animals and captures photos from a distance.
“I think they should be left wild, we make no attempt in any way shape or form to befriend them,” Blanchard said. “I am using a very long-range lens and the photos are all cropped.”
Part of the reason the photos are cropped is because she doesn’t want to divulge the exact location which could put the foxes at risk as she said humans are likely their biggest predator.
“If you come across them, leave them be,” Blanchard said as advice on how to treat them. “Respect that they’re wild animals, their best chance of survival is to leave them wild.”
