With my
current fox sightings I asked my cousin about two kit foxes that she and I had
spotted many years ago while horseback riding (we were very young…), it has
stirred my memory bank so, last night I asked her about an old article written
around 1972. My cousin sent me the
article and two old pictures yesterday.
The old memory bank was stirred, we were riding back along the edge of
the woods on our family’s property in Gulfport, Mississippi and we spotted
these two young foxes. We told her older brother, my cousin, Carl Jr., about
our encounter. Being an avid young
hunter and familiar with the woods, he was excited to check these out. He found them and discovered over the course
of observing them for a while that they were alone. The mother was not returning to the den. A highway bordered the property so possibly
she had been injured or killed however; we do not know her fate. What I recall is that he safely trapped the
two and my cousins and I enjoyed playing and watching their development.
My family
was living in Tennessee and I only recall weeklong visits and brief time on the
gulf coast with the fox during the 1970’s. See the two foxes were allowed to remain free
and something unfortunate happened to the little female. The only survivor was “Chester”, as he was
promptly named and adored by all. He and
my kitten, an orange tabby, became best of buddies and enjoyed countless hours
romping and playing “King of the Sand Hill”, a vision that I will always enjoy!
As children, we thought that was the
funniest thing to watch them run, tackle and roll around. That caused lots of giggles and laughter
galore among all of us cousins; and there were a bunch of us! My kitten, “Captain” and the fox, “Chester”,
had what looked like the best time ever! I believe that everyone enjoyed having Chester
around, there was even an article written in the Sun Herald Times about him. He would greet visitors with a funny noise
while they were still in their car according to my aunt and then retreat back
into the woods.
Chester grew to adulthood, wore a little
bell around his neck to alert others of his arrival and one day a stray female
German shepherd, started coming around. Shortly
after that Chester ran off with her and was never seen on a routine bases or
with certainty of identification after that. However, the offspring of Chester may be the
current visitors that most recently come fairly routinely to visit and play
with my Aunt Mary Ann's dog, Cassey, who lives on the old home place now. We hope that Chester lived happily ever after
and we sure enjoyed him for a time.
