I like reading about foxes. This book is from the perspective of UK resident who observes foxes in her backyard garden and sets up trail cameras in nearby forests. Also some mention of foxes in Canada, the US, and a few other countries. There’s lots on how foxes and humans interact especially in the UK- why they are so easily habituated to living around people and how that sometimes changes their behavior; the heirarchy of fox society, the sounds they make, what prey they eat and how that has driven their body design. I didn’t know before why foxes carry whole pieces of food home rather than regurgitating from their stomachs like wolves do. I’ve heard foxes scream outside my window and now have more insight into that- threatening my cat, or fox rivals. Do badgers impact fox numbers? do foxes attack house cats? And why do some people see foxes as a threat- inexplicably, though many people are afraid of rabid foxes, the author states that rabies is now virtually nonexistant in the UK- foxes are far more likely to suffer from internal parasites or mange. There’s bits in here about how to deter foxes from coming onto your property- traps and poisoning of course are considered inhumane, fences rarely work, surprisingly it’s not putting out a scent that deters them, but erasing their own! (a fox whose territory markers keep disappearing will be discouraged from “owning” the area). Intriguing as the animals are, somehow I felt a bit disinterested reading this book. I had to mentally remind myself to pick it up again. Something about the writing tone? not sure.
I was surprised to find a few typos, as it otherwise appears to be a professionally produced book. Not just a misspelled word, or an instance of they instead of the– but also a page where one word in the sentence was oddly a different font size:
and a caption that didn’t appear to match the depicted image at all.
But overall, a good read. Borrowed from the public library.