So the oldest chapter has a new story. There are two foxes, a male and a female, and three kits, and we found the den this morning – thanks to our good neighbor and friend Adam Matthews – and after lying quietly for awhile, the babies came out to play wrestle,and then eventually, stare at Maria and I. Adam is a seasoned and skilled hunter, but he called me yesterday to tell me he had found the den and that he could not bring himself to shoot the the foxes, who have been hunting his cats for days. Like all Bedlam Farm animals, the kits seemed to like the camera, although when we edged closer, they vanished into their den, which was littered with bones, feathers and the body parts of rabbits, dead deer, turkeys and probably our two lost chickens. The den is right at the top of the pasture, and looks right down on the farm (I’ll post some more photos in a bit, here and on a Facebook Album.)
Adam and I agreed. These foxes get a pardon. I couldn’t shoot them either, not now. We will just have to keep a careful eye on the cats and the chickens and wait for the foxes to move away, which they probably will in a few weeks. Sometimes you can beat nature or stave it off, sometimes you just have to live with it, respect it, surrender to it. I am reading up on foxes, and they are enchanting, mysterious, intelligent and very sexual creatures.
“Psychologically,” writes Elizabeth Caspari, author of “Animal Life In Nature, Myth and Dreams,” the fox is our very own trickster, which cleverly evades a difficult situation – much the same way the sexual impulse pops up, often making or camouflauging anxieties, aggressions and fears. In dreams, the fox, a master escapist, can be an apt symbol of the impulse to avoid potentially painful insights.” I have they say they have sure tricked me this time, and come up with the best possible escape. How clever a spot for their den.
They will live right under my nose – Adam or I could easily kill them – but I can no longer imagine doing such a thing. Maria smirked, and said, “well, I guess these tough farmer men are coming around to Maria’s way of thinking.” Guess so.