Wildlife in the Suburbs

We live in a suburb of Milwaukee, just about ten miles from the shores of Lake Michigan, and have since 1990. In those 17 years a major change has occurred. Where sightings of animals such as deer and raccoons once were rare now such animals are here in abundance.

This summer, for example, to my astonishment, a family of foxes took up residence in a culvert pipe under the driveway of the neighbor across the street. Foxes are beautiful animals but this is not the place for them. The mother had at least three kits, but one has died and the remaining two are not pictures of health. Though I hate to, I make a racket when I see them because they need to fear humans and head for the woods.

This morning I had our Sheltie in the front yard and heard a commotion of barking out back. I hustled Comet in and ran to the back of the house where I found a different neighbor who quickly told me her dog had a fox cornered in one of our window wells.

She had been feeding the foxes when one of her dogs got out; it was an ugly site but fortunately neither fox nor dog was injured.

I told this lady pointedly: Please don't feed the foxes. That isn't doing them any favors. More later...