A Fox? And Other Varmints

Wildlife is suddenly showing up.  I assume the dry weather has driven them to suburban yards.  Deer came and ate all my hosta leaves.  I have static charge repellent posts with an apple scent lure to attract them there before they go for the hostas.  It gives their "deer" little tongues a nasty shock and they flee.  But apparently the batteries were dead.  I've recharged them, added new apple scent, and replaced them.  It will be weeks before new leaves grow, though.  

A few days ago, I saw a groundhog run into the brush when I opened the deck door.  Big one too!  I'll set up a non-lethal Hav-A-Hart cage baited with melon rinds.  That has worked before.  But that is just to catch it (so the cats can't be harmed if they wander in).  The cage may not be lethal to varmints, but I am.  The cage fits into a large tub of water I keep out back.

Sorry if that is disturbing, but groundhogs are pure misery to have around garden veggies.  I walk away for 2 minutes and it is dead.  And it is less bad than it sounds.  I watched the 1st time.  It was simply confused at first, then exhaled and was dead in 10 seconds.  Most groundhogs probably don't have such quick deaths.  At night, I push it into the barred storm drain.  The vultures can't get at it, the water decays it quickly, and there is no smell.

A few years ago, the was a Cooper's hawk around the yard, and I was worried that little Ayla looked too much like a rabbit.  So I kept harassing the hawk and I never saw it after a couple weeks.

But this morning at dawn I saw something worse.  It seemed to be a fox.  Not a cute little red fox nor a cute little grey fox.  I wasn't sure what it was.  It was larger, longer-legged, about 30" long and 18" at the shoulder, and jet black.  Maybe 20-25 pounds.  It sure didn't look or move like any dog I've ever seen!  

I did some internet searching immediately and everything said foxes aren't normally a danger to cats.  But there are a few examples of one grabbing a kitten or very elderly cat.  But everything just mentioned the small red and gray foxes.  Well "almost everything".  I finally found a reference to a "silver fox" that does inhabit parts of my State.

While it is called a silver fox, it comes in light gray, dark gray, and black.  What I saw fits the size definition well enough.  It certainly seemed large enough to kill or injure an adult cat!  I tried to open a window quietly to get a picture, but it looked right at the window and ran off.  Well, not "ran" like a dog runs; more like a slight loping motion.  I noted the direction it ran.

I don't want to be indelicate here, but for the rest of the morning, I saved my pee in a bottle.  Later, I checked the fence line to see where it had burrowed under.  I found one.  The dirt was freshly dug.  I shoveled the dirt back under the fence and poured the pee all over it.  I'll check the spot (and other areas of the fence) every morning for a week.  If there is no further burrowing, I will trust it was scared away.

Foxes are shy and cautious.  They routinely run from other predators (even cats).  And they are nocturnal or crepuscular (dawn and dusk).  I only let the cats out at mid-day, usually when I am outside too.  So they would probably be safe from even a large silver fox.  

But maybe it won't leave.  It occurs to me that a few days ago, I stepped out front and saw a weird smaller critter in the neighbor's yard and it ran away with the same loping run.  I could only see it from behind.  My initial thought was "can a black bear cub be that small"?  Now I think it was a silver fox cub ("teen-age")+.  

Which means there is a den nearby.  Which means the adult won't leave and there will be more adults soon.  That could be bad!  I will call the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and ask them about silver foxes.  I expect they will doubt my observation, but maybe not.  I hope they will take me seriously.

I know the local wildlife pretty well.  It wasn't a badger, raccoon, groundhog, bear, deer, dog, etc.  

The slightly good news is that some vet in the UK did a study on fox/cat interactions.  Something there called "VetCompass" collects data on household pet injuries.  Cat injuries due to foxes accounted for something like 0.014% of all vet reports and cat deaths were much rarer.  Most cats that die untimely, die from cars.  After that, from dogs, and after that, from eagles.  And most cat injuries are "cat on cat" (which are rarely fatal).

But I'm still worried...