A Fox Among Us

Have you ever seen our resident fox on the NUMC grounds? She has lived here for a few years and really makes herself at home. She doesn’t bother anything or anyone and in fact probably helps us out by hunting rodents on the grounds. She likes to lay in the grass along the trees on the north side of the property or snoop around the wooded area behind the parsonage. She’s so used to people, traffic and commotion around here that she really doesn’t pay any attention to us. I see her occasionally when I arrive for work early in the morning and many folks have reported that they see her in the early evening hours on the church grounds. I enjoy seeing her and she always brings a smile to my face. She isn’t frightened when she sees me in the mornings, she will trot a short distance away and watch while I get out of my car and walk into the church. I’m happy she finds the NUMC church campus a safe space, but I’m also a bit sad that society has encroached so much on wildlife habitat. Foxes can easily adapt to human-dominated environments and she definitely has. She is truly an “urban fox” living within the city limits. She has figured out how to co-exist with us and that’s what I love about the animal world. They are accepting and learn how to adapt to whatever the situation may be. Not always the case with humans.

A female fox has a territory that she will live in most of her life. NUMC is evidently this mother fox’s territory as she has been around for a few years now. She typically has a litter of pups, or kits as they are called, each year and we are sometimes lucky enough to see them out playing or sleeping on the grounds. The three photos to the right are from a couple of years ago when she had a litter of three and they spent an entire morning playing and napping right outside the church office window. Those pups did not have a care in the world that day. What a gift from nature it was to experience watching them. As you can imagine, I didn’t get much work done that day!

A female fox will give birth to her kits anytime from March-May so I thought it might be a good time to share some info about their habits during this time as you may see her on the grounds more frequently. Once she has her babies, she may look a bit haggard. (Most moms can probably relate to that). She will leave her babies during the day and hunt for food. If you see her out in the daytime hours just leave her alone as she is fine. There’s a myth that if you see a fox around during the daytime hours, they must be sick. That is not true. In fact, most “urban foxes” are mostly seen during daylight hours, especially if they have babies to feed. When the kits are old enough, she will show them around and help to disperse them to find their own territories. You may see the pups without mom during this time, but she is always nearby watching them, just out of sight, until they are dispersed.

The actions and habits of animals intrigue me, we can learn so much from them. While we may enjoy watching them, we need to remember that they are wild animals and should be left alone, not feared but respected, co-existing with us in this space at NUMC and enjoyed from a distance. Animals and nature are gifts from God, and we are responsible for being good stewards of the earth and all of its inhabitants. – Sandy Vesledahl, Office Administrator

NOTE: In the March issue of the Herald Newsletter, I asked folks to send in photos of your pets and a few sentences about your pet and how they improve your life. I only received a couple of photos so I am holding those until the next Herald Newsletter in hopes more of you will email photos of your pets to northfieldumc@gmail.com. Deadline for the next newsletter is May 20th.