A very big cat?
Published: Thu, 11/22/18
I was in the Epsom Sainsburys car park, about to do some shopping for my mother. It was dark but the car park is well lit and my first reaction was, ‘that is a very big cat!’ . The way foxes trot like a cat and the big, bushy tail always suggests large feline rather than small canine to me. Just at my feet there was an empty plastic bag which a very sleek and healthy looking fox was planning on checking out. We looked at each other from about three feet away. Then the fox had a quick sniff in the bag, decided there was nothing of interest and went on his, or it might have been a vixen, so maybe, her way. The behaviour of this fox was pretty similar to what you would expect from a moderately cautious pet cat. Not quite prepared to let a stranger touch it but not at all bothered by the presence of a human being either.
I guess close encounters of the vulpine kind are so commonplace in urban areas these days it is hardly worth commenting on. For me such an encounter is still interesting because I am old enough to remember when foxes and humans did not politely greet each other in supermarket car parks. The incident I have just described would probably have made it into the local paper 50 years ago, especially if there had been a picture to go with it. I can’t quite remember when I saw my first live fox. My grandmother had a fox stole complete with head, feet and tail. There was a strong clip in the mouth so that the skin could be worn across the shoulders and then the muzzle clipped to the base of the tail to hold it in place. I think my grandmother must have obtained the ‘garment’ before the second world war, I don’t think complete animal stoles were still fashionable by the 1960s but as small child I was allowed to play with the accessory and I
found it quite fascinating. At least my plaything meant that I had a pretty good idea what a fox looked like. In the 1960s it was common to see foxes as the victims of road accidents but rarely alive. I spent quite a bit of time in the countryside as a teenager on family walking holidays and scout camps. I did get to see quite a lot of wildlife but I can’t recall ever seeing a fox. Perhaps, in those days foxes were just too shy and careful to be seen by most people unless you knew exactly what you were looking for. The people who looked the hardest were farmers and game keepers who waged a constant war on foxes as vermin. There was also fox hunting as a popular country sport, so no wonder the foxes kept such a low profile.
Then in the past 20 years, something in the relationship between foxes and human beings changed dramatically and foxes became urbanised. I expect there are various reasons. As farming has become progressively more industrialised the countryside has probably become a less hospitable place to live and hunt. When hunting live foxes was allowed foxes were often encouraged to flourish in rural areas. Now hunting them for sport is illegal they are probably just exterminated as pests. On the other hand almost no one wants to intentionally harm a fox in urban areas. Foxes are probably smart enough to learn road sense and I rarely see road kill with a bushy tail. There is plenty of food in the suburbs, if you like discarded kebabs and cold fish and chips that is. There were fears that urban foxes might attack small children but I am not aware of this ever happening. Foxes may not have much fear of human beings theses days but they have
retained a degree of respect.
The curious thing for me is how the relationship between human and fox has changed in a couple of decades. I am not quite sure what it signifies but perhaps it shows that relationships are never fixed. For centuries foxes and humans were bitter enemies. Now we can happily coexist in supermarket car parks. On summer evenings foxes lounge around in our garden and, so long as I don’t leave any shoes outside for them to chew on, our vulpine friends seem to cause no problems at all.
It is easy to assume that some conflicts are irreconcilable. We may believe that there are groups and individuals with whom we can never get along with. I am guilty of this myself on occasion. Maybe the reality is that we don’t have to live in hostility and, if we are open to a little forgiveness and letting go of the past reconciliation is always possible.
regards
Graham
PS Fear is the usual basis for hostility. If you know how to defend yourself then you need not be fearful and this makes it much easier to make friends with all kinds of people. So, CQC training on the 15th of December could help build your confidence. My friend Alex Fell-Bowers will teach some of the day which will bring in a second perspective. If you want a see some video of Alex in action check this out https://www.screencast.com/t/J0SY4W7X