Assisted by Derbyshire Fox rescue

Tuesday 30 October 2012

The blind fox

Our Night Patrol has become much more difficult with one of my foxes which is now completely blind. I noticed a marked dimming of one of its eyes a few months ago and then it failed shortly after.  To my great concern, the other eye followed suit until sight was lost about three weeks ago.  Fortunately,  it had the memory of me and had approached quite close to take food.   The problem now was with the other foxes.  As soon as I threw some food to the afflicted animal,  a fox would 'mug' it, snatching the food from its mouth.
One night, I lost patience (never happened in over 35 years) and chased the offending fox around the field.  This was mightily effective - up to a point.  Not only did all the other foxes retreat the following nights, but the blind fox also was scared by my antics and did not approach as close as before.
Nevertheless,  Mr Cruisedog and I have a workable plan.  I have two head torches, one giving a broad, diffused pool of light and the other a piercing long distance (180 lumen) beam for spotting animals far off. Usually, the broad beam will pick out all animals close or far by picking out their reflective eyes but that doesn't work with the blind fox for obvious reasons.  I use the long beam to pick out the location of the blind fox but have to immediately switch it off as the fox must still have some sense of light and retreats.  Then it's a case of how accurately I throw the food to the fox - if it doesn't land within about two metres, the fox cannot locate it.   So far, the fox has been fed every night for the past week, so fingers crossed.  It probably will not survive the winter, but I would hate for it to starve to death.

Sunday 7 October 2012

Set fair for the winter

Heavy rain Thursday and Friday night saw notable absentees from our nightly rounds.  The one-eyed vixen (lost sight in one eye after injury sustained in either a fight or trailing bramble), in fine condition, thought it prudent to stay under cover and the virtually sightless fox (unsure how - seems to have lost sight gradually) was discouraged from venturing out.
However, all was well when Mr Cruisedog and I went out tonight (early hours Sunday) with both of these animals appearing.  All foxes and badgers are in good condition to see out the winter - the main blessing being the absence of sarcoptic mange in the fox population this year.