The Fugitive Fox

It’s been a quiet couple of weeks at Casa de Fire Ant, at least from a trapping perspective. I haven’t bothered to bait the raccoon trap for a variety of reasons — laziness being at the top of the list — although the armadillo trap has been armed and routinely ignored. I assume that either (1) the armadillos have evolved intellectually to the point where they recognize and avoid the danger, or (b) the trap has lost its scent. I’m going with (b) because the alternative is too scary to contemplate.

Alert Gazette readers will recall that I recently expressed a bit of frustration at what I believed to be theft by fox. I didn’t have conclusive proof that I was being flimflammed by a fox, but the circumstantial evidence was powerful.

That changed last night.

I decided to risk another 88¢ can of sardines (the money is beginning to add up, folks; I’m thinking about starting a GoFundMe account to defray trapping expenses) as bait. I slid it into the trap around 10:00 last night and set the game camera on the ground a few feet away.

When I checked the trap this morning, the bait was gone and the trap was unsprung and empty. However, the game cam was finally able to record the canine caper, and here’s the proof.

It may not be obvious from the video, but the fox actually steps on the trip plate. However, it appears that its weight is on the other forefoot and so the plate doesn’t spring the trap door. That’s fine with me; I don’t really want to trap a fox. On the other hand, I also don’t want them grabbing all the bait intended for raccoons.

If you’re wondering what it appears to be eating just before entering the trap, I pour the juice from the sardine can onto the ground just outside the entrance as a way to entice animals to enter.

Gray foxes are pretty common around our neighborhood. On one occasion, as we drove into the neighborhood at night, we spotted three of them within fifty yards of each other. I don’t know if the group is a family unit, or if there’s just good hunting in the vicinity.

Some people incorrectly identify gray foxes as red foxes, presumably because the former do have some red fur on their chests and underbellies. But the two don’t really look that much alike, and aren’t even in the same genus. We may indeed have red fox in our area, but I’ve never seen one.

Another difference between the two species is that gray foxes are good climbers while the red species are not. Alert Gazette readers will recall this video of two (2!) gray foxes in our Midland back yard a couple of years ago. As you can see, they’re quite adept at climbing trees and fences. I actually have a photo of a gray fox reclining on top of our roof, watching the world go by.