Photo/Joanne Formisano
It’s not every day that you find a fox literally having a ball in you back yard, or enjoying a little swing on the seesaw, for that matter. Sometimes it’s on a Friday — last Friday, in fact, in this case. TGIF?
Oh, there have been fox sightings in Fair Haven, but no one, that anyone knows of anyway, has ever caught a fox having its own little playtime — not until Fair Havenite Joanne Formisano happened upon the scene in her own back yard.
Formisano was quick enough to catch the “play ball” scene with a snapshot after just missing capturing another foxy playtime oddity. The fox, she said, was romping on the seesaw.
The wildlife in suburbia sightings have seemingly increased over the past decade with the hike in development and destruction of what most think is the habitat of, for one, fox.
Roughly 20 years ago, deer sightings in Fair Haven increased with a lot of frequency. What at one time in the 70s and earlier was Lovett’s Nursery and an open field is now The Gentry development, Fair Haven Fields and Fair Haven Fields Natural Area. Senior Fair Haven residents, especially, were reporting to police and news rooms deer visits to their streets.
In fact, the news room at what was Greater Media Newspapers in the early 2000s got so many reports that the weekly editorial cartoon featured a deer sitting on a porch sipping coffee with a Welcome to Fair Haven sign hanging over the entrance.
While experts say that, added development does tend to displace wildlife, there are some species, such as fox, that have always preferred to live a somewhat suburban life.
Red fox facts
Fox are known as synanthropic species. “These species live near humans and directly benefit from human-altered environments like gardens, garbage dumps, and farms,” a post on The Candid Project, a wildlife blog, said.
Red fox, in particular, are part of what is known as an edge species. That type of species thrives on life that borders two habitat types, or an ecotone. Fair Haven is just that, between preserved spots, such as Fair Haven Fields, water sources and landscaped back yards.
They are usually visible out and about hunting for for their food, which is, yes, human scraps, but they don’t tend to bother with vegetables, more fruit. They tend to prefer to “den” in more secluded areas away from human traffic. They won’t eat your cats and dogs. However, the good news for they also feast on rodents, which could eliminate a problem potential.
Red fox, despite rumor, do not tend to prey on full-grown cats or dogs, but, experts caution, small unattended kittens could be hunted, but unlikely. Fox tend to flee rather than fight, so they are not known to be dangerous to humans, and can and mostly do peacefully coexist. Chances for a domestic animal attack are very slim.
Rabid attack is extremely rare. If you want to shoo it away, just make noise, experts say. Do not chase or threaten it.
In addition to the seesaw/ball playtime, several in the borough chimed in on Formisano’s photo post, saying that they had seen red fox making brief appearances around the neighborhoods, running across driveways, roads and back yards.
You must be logged in to post a comment.