This past August, my husband and I had an encounter with a fox early one morning on the boardwalk in Summerside, Prince Edward Island. I omitted this fox from any posts so here he is today. Foxes live in the area and we’d seen one in July and I suspect it was the same one. Its colouring and markings were the same.
We came around the bend in the trail and there it was, stood near the culvert area he frequents.
We were the only ones on that section of trail and we stopped to watch. He thought we’d have food I imagine. Its soft fluffy coat was a beauty, with markings of grey, black and red. White triangles on either side of its face were in perfect symmetry!
Eventually it sat on the stones watching us, not missing a move, content with the distance between us.
By this time another walked approached, walking the family pet. He stopped too and watched for a few minutes as the fox licked out its tongue. I imagined Foxy jeering the dog as it did so.
Foxy felt safe enough to lie down and continued to watch every move.
When the dog walker started to move forward, the fox disappeared into the undergrowth. As we continued along that section of trail, I looked back to see Foxy at the bend in the trail, watching us.
He disappeared into the woods as another walker approached.
This past month, just before Fiona blew through, we saw another fox on the north shore of the island. We didn’t get a good photo of this one, however, it spent several minutes scratching as we watched. As it walked away, it looked like it might be mangy.
Mange has ravaged the Red Fox population on the island in recent years. We can only hope our fox of the boardwalk stays healthy.
