Food Storage Ideas, Courtesy of Mrs. Fox

The Foxes in our backyard keep us at the edge of our seat.  And not just when they walk too close to my son while he is taking photos of the moon at night, or when they make a mess of our grill while looking for some charred leftovers.  A few weeks ago when the air was still kind of frigid, a very pregnant fox (as we have since learned) decided that she had better save some food for later.  No refrigerator?  No problem.  Why not bury surplus food in a hole to increase its shelf-life?

Mrs. Fox with a plump squirrel in her mouth came running from under the fence to a former playground area that we had not yet grassed over.  Unfortunately, this photo isn’t the clearest, but you can still tell that there is something dangling out of her mouth.

The fox dug a hole and then plopped the decapitated squirrel right in it.  Interestingly, she bit the squirrel in several places after it was settled in the ground.

With her muzzle, she proceeded to cover up the hole with dirt.  Here she is in motion doing just that.

It took her a few minutes to do the job.  She was very thorough.

Then it was time for her to make her way back home, which was on the other side of the yard.

What a look of accomplishment!

We caught this all on film, which we hope to post in the near future.  And now we’ve discovered that Mr. and Mrs. Fox are the proud parents of 6 pups.  Stay tuned!