Foxes personify elegant mystery, a touch of the alien in our familiar streets. That photo of the ‘ghost’ in the mist in my last post has become one of the most popular that I’ve ever shared on Facebook, but there is another side to Fox: whimsical, obsessive…shoe-loving.
“Why?” is the thought that comes to many minds. Science cannot interview foxes to ascertain their motives. It can, however, confirm that foxes adore shoes, all shoes, everywhere in the world it seems. Some, like the vixen jokingly called ‘Imelda’ in Germany, become specialists in it and collect hundreds. A couple of winters ago, one fox in my village took five wellington boots.
And even in remote corners of the world, in lands like India’s Thar Desert – where people blend with mirages over the salty flats – there are thefts.
Because there are foxes.
A captured shoe is typically chewed, tossed about, urinated on and abandoned. Adults are at least as prone to this behaviour as cubs. The leathery texture might be pleasant for their mouths, but in truth they readily snatch any ‘toy’ that we leave within their grasp. Gloves, dog toys, footballs – if they can lift it, they will play with it. The portrayal of Swiper in Dora the Explorer is not really unreasonable.
They retain their moments of frivolity, even as the breeding season peaks. Scent-marking continues in the woods, and their barks echo through the chill damp at night.
Our world has ground to a standstill again, but theirs keeps on turning.
A Walk with Wildlife 
While the fox turns a shoe you turn a nice phrase
Happy New Year to foxes and you!
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Thank you Tony! And happy new year to you too.
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Foxes can be very entertaining on a golf course. Sometimes, when my husband plays, one that lives on the course comes out to watch. I’ve seen clips on the internet of a fox playing with a golf ball just like a cat would.
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Hi Elizabeth, thanks for your comment. The foxes here sometimes steal golf balls from the local course and bury them in back gardens, as if they were eggs!
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They definitely have ‘personality!’ š
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Yes! And they’re all so different from each other, too.
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Cats love boxes, foxes love shoes. That is the order of the world, nothing unusual š
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Very true. I’m not sure what either species did before they found us.
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I wonder what made him chose one shoe over the other? When he returned, the leftover shoe was ignored. So interesting. š
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He took both on the previous night and left them under the magnolia tree! And yet yes, he definitely had a preference on this occasion.
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I had to laugh at this shoe theft. Our English cocker spaniel does the same thing. We rarely find both our shoes where we left them. Luckily she co-operates when we say, “Go get the other one.”
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Haha! Foxes are often called the ‘cat-like canid’ but this is their dog-like side. They really are incredibly playful – there’s various footage circulating on the internet of them bouncing on trampolines. I’ve lost a fair number of dog toys in the garden, too.
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They sound like a lot of fun, as long as you’re not trying to raise chickens.
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Beautiful writing as ever, Adele. Thank you.
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Thank you Paul. Happy new year.
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Adele, that’s just too funny!!
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Foxes make the world more interesting!
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It is good to bear in mind that for them their world keeps on turning while we hunker down.
I am trying to imagine foxes bouncing on a trampoline! How amazing!
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Here’s one of the videos that has appeared on the internet, from Colorado by the looks of things: https://www.youtube.com/watch/c8xJtH6UcQY
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Thanks so much for the link! How nice to see this – and to see two foxes playing together makes it even more special, although one of them was obviously more into jumping than the other. The are so pretty with such elegant long legs.
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Nice to see and hear of their antics. Iāve only caught a glimpse of one once as it ran away. Iād love to see one.
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