Fox

Last night while doing my 'last call' barn chores, I saw a Fox in the pasture. At first I thought it was a Fox, then changed my mind to Possum, then back again to Fox. The way it was moving, ambling around like a Possum, I couldn't be sure.

I've seen Fox in the past, and they usually will slink away, quickly and quietly. Not this one. That's why I thought it was a Possum. Possums are bad news for horses; they carry EPM, which can be deadly.

Recently there have been lots of local reports of Rabid animals: Beavers, Racoons, Fox, Bats, but not in our county. This Fox didn't seem to mind me out in the field and the boys didn't mind either. This freaked me out.

I kept KC between me and the Fox as I was doling out the flakes, and got the hell out of there. He was only three feet from Skip, a foot from the run-in shed.

This morning, at dawn with a accumulating fog bank, Max and I saw the Fox in the pasture, same spot. Max barked, lunged, then got behind me. Brave soul, eh? I encouraged him to bark more. He did. The Fox ran down the hill. That is what they are supposed to do, looked too healthy to have Rabies. I'm hoping he is a healthy one, and help with the resident mouse population.

Another thing about Foxes: if there are Foxes there are no Coyotes. Coyotes don't want competition, will seek out Foxes and kill them. All of our animals have up-to-date Rabies vaccines. I highly recommend it.