A Fox Tale

By CL Nemeth



She heard the three, querulous barks several louder whines, then a scream.  Then silence.



Her first response was to crawl out of the den and go to help her mate.  But the four whelps, born some twelve hours ago was her first responsibility.  Wo, she lay with the little ones, who cuddled to her as she whined in agony.  He was, no doube, in dire trouble, and she readily accepted that he was most likely dead.



They had been together for almost three years, and she found him to be a devoted mate, a dutiful father and he had just the past day supplied her with a rabbit, three voles and a young pheasant.  She would have enough food for the next few days.  After that she would have to be careful not to be too long from the pups and still be able to satisfy her hunger.  In several weeks she would e regurgitating food for the pups and would need a steady supple of sustenance.  The pups nurse every two to three hours.  She would leave them as soon as they were satisfied and look for food.  She remembered an old rotten log rife with grubs.  She would resort to the grubs if she was unsuccessful hunting.  Spring was now well along so she also found some early berries and tender grasses.



The pups, now with eyes open, were growing quickly and she soon took them out of the lair.  It was on lone of these excursions that she noticed a fox some 50 yards across the meadow, watching her and the pups intently.  It was a male Red Fox and her first instinct was t offend him off.  Males sometimes kill a litter of pups that they can mate with the mother.  But when she rushed at him he lay down instead of running.  He made no effort to protect himself.  This confused her so she herded the pups back into the lair, leaving with a threatening growl.



But the next time she brought the litter out she found him, again watching since he made no overtures toward her pups she soon ignored him.  This changed when the male pup began to explore and she had to round him up and bring him back to his sisters.  One day she failed to watch the male pup and he soon spied the male fox and the pup bounded to him thinking it was his mother.  Before she could react he was jumping on the male, growling and biting.  The male respond ed with growls but made no effort to stop or hurt the little pup.  She now approached; the male wagged his tail.  They sniffed each other while the male pup kept up the roughhousing.  She grasped the pup by his nape and carried him back to where his sisters were playing.  The male followed but stopped when she put the pup down. She herded them into the lair.



The next morning, she found a freshly killed rabbit lying at the entrance to the den.  He was sitting nearby.  He, with tail wagging, whined his happiness at seeing her.  Soon she was also whining as her tail beat a rhythm.  They began to frolic, then the mouth biting began.  The pups meanwhile, had come out of the den and soon all were playing and chasing each other.



He made no effort to enter the den.  Like most adult foxes he preferred to sleep in the open.



A few days later he took charge and was soon leading them on a hunt.  When the male pup charged ahead, he chastised him sharply.  The pup must have had some inner signal that this was no game.  He began to mimic his movements.  He proved to be an excellent hunter and soon they were all busy eating a den of rabbits that he had searched out.



And so, the summer went.  In early autumn the now fully grown pups, one by one, left their home and went out into the world.  She and he lived another ten years before she was killed by a stray dog.  Now well past his prime, he never attempted to mate again.



The Red Fox has successfully spread around d the world.  It’s found everywhere in the USA except for the southwest deserts.