Originally posted at my site (www.emma-o.net), August 16 & 17, 2008:
Well I have been back in town for just over a week after going up North for 2. It was only supposed to be 1 week, but things happened and I decided to stay. I originally went up with a friend, but due to an emergency, he had to leave after only 3 days. We had planned on staying in town for 3 days and camping for 4. We were at camp for 1 night when he had to leave. We were at Cobre Lake, of course! I just love that place. God do I ever miss it. I wish I could camp there for more than a day or two though...
Anyway, so we were in Elliot Lake for 3 days. We hiked the usual trails, which are as beautiful as always. I was really wanting to explore some new territory, but since my friend had never been there before, I wanted to show him the local scenery and trails.
I don't need to describe the Horne Lake Trail, Spine Road Trail, Spruce Beach, etc., because I have already gone into detail about them in my previous years' blogs. So I will tell you about Cobre Lake and the little foxy friend who came to visit!
I was just about to climb into the tent to go to sleep, when I heard a noise to my left that caused me to look over. There is a short trail that leads to our camp site, and there standing at the end of the trail was a very beautiful and small red fox. S/he looked at me and I looked at it. I've seen foxes before, but not that up close and personal. It was maybe 10 feet from me. S/he had come looking for food, which told me someone who was there before us was feeding him/her. Dumb, dumb, dumb! When will people learn? So now this fox has learned to stop hunting because there are easy pickings when humans are around. >sigh< So anyway, the fox and I made direct eye contact, which was pretty exciting for me, to make a connection like that...but I knew he shouldn't be encouraged to stick around, so I tried to shoo him away. But he didn't want to go, so I just crawled in the tent and let him go do his thing. There was no food for it to get to, as we had packed it all away. Once inside the tent, I heard it run off to the left of us and that was that.
The next morning, we packed up our stuff and left. My friend dropped me off at my friend Blake's place (who I've been camping with before), because I decided I was going to stay in town. Even though I had a whole whack-load of camping equipment and food, I just couldn't leave. I just told myself I would figure out a way to get everything back...
| So my friend went back home and Blake and I headed back out to Cobre Lake (he was initially supposed to meet us out there). Yeah it was a pain in the ass having to set everything up the night before, tear down in the morning and a few hours later, set everything back up again. But that is the price I'm willing to pay, because spending time in Nature is one of the most important things to me. And it was a fun time. Mr. or Miss Fox came back at around 730PM. S/he was so beautiful! And bold too. He came down the same trail and stood at the head of it, waiting for us to give him food. She was like a little dog or something, the way she sat and looked at us, so tame. (BTW, I'm using "he" and "she" because I don't know if it was a male or female fox). She sat just like a little dog, waiting for a treat, showing no fear at all. At other times she looked like a cat. Like when she laid down, curled up in a ball and wrapped her tail around her, just like a big, fluffy cat. And that tail was beautiful. I got so many good pictures of her, I can't wait to get them developed! I was very, very close to him/her. S/he was not afraid at all. And though that might seem nice and everything, that he came right up to us and showed no fear, it is a bad sign because an animal that has learned to take food from humans won't survive for very long. A wild carnivorous animal must hunt. And if it stops hunting, well...you know what can happen. Also, it makes humans more prone to attacks because an animal who is used to getting free hand-outs will start to expect and demand it, and may get aggressive when not given food. When an animal is hungry it isn't exactly the most friendly creature you want to encounter. Though the fox wasn't aggressive, he was persistent. And I learned in a situation like this, you must become an animal yourself and defend your food and territory, just like any other animal in the wild would do. You must exert your dominance. It was trying to make off with our garbage bag (or whatever else it could steal) so I had to make a lot of noise, and tell it "No!" very firmly and loudly. It had to know that we were dominant. I banged sticks, clapped my hands, spoke to it firmly, rang my bear bells, all to no avail. He did manage to swipe our garbage bag and ran off with it for a few feet before dropping it. There was nothing in it anyway. He came back though and was quite persistent. Finally, I blew my whistle a few times and that worked. He turned around and left and we didn't see him again. When I saw him leave, I felt glad and relieved because it now knew that not all humans will give him food. He was forced to go hunt or forage. I think people tend to blur the line between wild animals and pets. Sure he was cute and beautiful and tame, and we could have easily hand-fed him, but this was no doggie. This was a wild animal, and I don't think many people even realize the consequences of feeding wild animals, and how it effects them after you have left and there is no one giving them free hand-outs anymore. Well I hope my next 2 stories will show a little bit about what could happen when you let foxes get too friendly... Blake and I stayed at camp overnight because the next day it started to pour like crazy. I would have stayed anyway, but he didn't want to camp in the rain, so we left. But a day or two later we went driving around, and went to check out the old Panel Mine site and Quirke Lake. It was really nice out there...hell, EVERYWHERE you go in the Elliot Lake area is nice. But as we were driving there, we encountered a pack of foxes in the road. They were small, and I thought that maybe they were pups from the same litter. They were beautiful! But again, it was obvious they were being fed by humans because they literally approached the car and demanded food. They were not scared of the car at all. We had to drive slowly so we didn't hit them. There had to be 5 or 6 of them all together in the road. Wow, it was like Canadian Fox Safari or something. I got a couple pictures, but none of the whole group of them together. I've got one more fox story, and another reason why they should never be given food. I was heading out for a solo hike over to the Mount Dufour Ski Hill Trail, and I had barely gotten anywhere on the trail when I encountered a fox. I think me and Blake had seen this same fox the day before, carrying a rabbit in its mouth. It might have been a different fox, but I have a feeling it was the same one. Anyway, it came out of the bush behind me, and proceeded to follow me down the trail. I turned around and made noises at it to scare it off, but it didn't leave. It kept its eyes on me and ran towards me with its ears back. I knew in my gut that someone had been feeding him, and here he was demanding food. This is what I was just talking about--they learn to associate humans with food and therefore expect all humans to feed them. And this is where it can get dangerous, because a hungry animal can be an aggressive animal. And this little one was determined to get food from me, I could see it in his face and in his gait. He was stalking me, pretty much. And yes, it was scary. I don't want to get attacked by any animal, and a fox has sharp teeth...I kept walking, hoping it would go away, but it kept following. Then 2 ATV's came motoring by, and the fox jumped back into the bushes. I saw my chance to leave and I turned around and headed back out the trail. So much for my hike! But it's better to be safe than sorry... So that is why, folks, you should NEVER feed ANY wild animal ANYTHING! I know they're cute and sometimes not very shy, but just leave them alone, period. | ||
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