Vixen and 5 cubs!

[rustbreeches]

My children and I were driving home a couple days ago around 6 in the evening and we passed a sight that made me stop, turn around and go back. There was a vixen out playing with her 5 cubs. It had been a gorgeous warm day and what I assume they were using as a den was a few feet from the gravel country road. We stopped and the vixen popped over a hill, but the cubs stayed out playing and were so precious. My 8 year old wanted one (of course) and my not quite 2 year old kept saying “kitty?” over and over. We must have watched for ten minutes or so before driving away. The weather has turned, but hopefully I will see them again when the weather breaks.

For those far more knowledgable than myself: Isn’t 5 an unusually large number? I don’t recall ever having seen more than 3

[araho]

Vixen and 3 Cubs in my backyard

Interesting post, it must be a good year for foxes! My DH saw a vixen and three very healthy looking cubs playing in our backyard over the weekend. We live in the virginia exurbs on a 1+ acre wooded lot but right off a major 4 lane road. Trying to keep our 1 indoor/outdoor cat inside so she does not become a meal and wishing I could do something for these beautiful animals.

[system]

Be merciful- let the pups grow up. They will most likely wander off at that point. Then you can call animal control about the Mum. be nice!

[Beverley]

Araho, I have a foxhunting friend who lived in Vienna for years, a gray fox had cubs under her porch every year for a number of years!

I lived in Oakton and had a neighborhood red- my cats were never in danger, they really won’t go for cats normally, though available cat food is quite another matter!

[rustbreeches]

Born and raised in the Old Dominion but these 6 were on the Front Range/Eastern Plains of CO! The pheasant are making a huge comeback out this way too

[wateryglen]

wooo hooo!

I’ve seen litters of 7 here at my place so I think 5 is more average…I think there’s a high mortality though so the more the better ay?!! I wish her luck!
Cubs are adorable for sure!

[2ndyrgal]

one of my fondest memories

of my son when he was little, about 3 or 4 years old. About this time of year on a narrow country road on the way to my old trainer’s barn. In the bend of the road, was a fallow field, that they had taken the wheat off and not replanted. Halfway up a shallow hill, a fox den with 3 kits, momma fox sat up the hill about 30 feet. I stopped the car, and watched while my son walked slowly up to the den. Momma didn’t move, the curious young ones, just waited until he got close. When he got within about 10 feet, my son just plopped down. The kits played around him for about 10 minutes while he sat and just watched them. Momma yipped sharply a couple of times, the kits ran back in the den, my son got up and I motioned him to come to me.

Momma fox watched until my son was safely back in the car, flicked her brush and went inside, turned around, poked her head out, and watched til we pulled away. We saw them several times that summer, and my son still remembers it.

It’s now a subdivision.

[Hinderella]

That story brings tears to my eyes…tears of sadness, for the loss of land to yet another subdivision, and tears of joy, at the thought that there is still a mother out there who would giver her son the gift of that experience instead of whisking him away in fear.