POOR LITTLE FOXY - R.I.P.

My back garden is huge - to such an extent that another house could probably be built on it and still have a bit of garden left over.  Because of its size, foxes like to play in it and lounge about on hot days, having the occasional snooze.  I usually feed the foxes and some of them will actually take food from my hand, though others do a runner on sight of me.  I haven't fed many lately because I haven't seen much of them, and if I put food out when they're not around, the gulls, crows, and magpies scoff it in pretty short order.  I therefore started waiting until I spotted some foxes in my garden and then went out and put food in their dishes.  I always make sure their water bowls are filled so that they don't go thirsty, but maybe someone else is supplying them with a better quality of food than I do, so they've gone elsewhere.

A few years ago there was one fox in particular who'd take food from my hand and then lie down a couple of feet from me and take a kip when I was resting from filling the bird feeders.  I imagine that fox has gone to meet his maker, but the thought that he enjoyed my garden and saw it as a pleasant place to frequent gave me a quiet pride.  Last week when I went out to feed the birds (tuppence a bag), a dead fox was lying on the lawn, looking for all the world like he was sleeping.  He looked as though he may have been attacked, but it was hard to tell because it was raining and his fur was all matted and wet.  I hope he wasn't poisoned because that means other animals are also at risk if he was, but whatever caused his demise, I was touched by the fact that he seemingly sought out the sanctuary of my garden in which to breathe his last.

I considered burying him out there, but then thought better of it in case he was diseased, so I called the Environmental Health Department, who came and took him away to be disposed of.  It was sad to see his corpse, and I wondered if he may have been the baby fox (yes, I know they're called cubs) that I photographed in my garden last year.  I sincerely hope not, and that he (or she) is enjoying life to the full somewhere with other foxes.  As for the dead fox, I hope he enjoyed whatever span he had and that he didn't suffer before his end came.