A Visitor to the City

[W. Gray]

We live in Centennial, CO, 105,000 people in a wall-to-wall urbanization setting surrounded by other Denver suburban communities. Most Centennial homes have six-foot wood privacy fences surrounding back yards.

We do not have any pets.

However, from time to time I have seen evidence of what I thought was a dog having been in our back yard.

There are strict dog rules here and it is rare to see a dog roaming by itself. I wondered how it got in and out since I could never find a hole in the fence.

Early one morning this past week, I found out what I think the culprit might be.

In the kitchen and out of the corner of my eye, I saw something moving outside and looked out he window.

There was the biggest red fox I have ever seen. It appeared to be as big as a German Sheppard.

It was running around back and forth at the base of the fence and looked to me to be trying to find a way out.

Finally, it looked up as though it was going to jump. My immediate thought was it too big to jump six feet.

Nevertheless, it jumped. There was no running start, it just bounded from a standstill but did not go over. It landed on top of the fence with no trouble balancing itself and then began walking along the top as the squirrels do.

He eventually jumped down into a neighbor's back yard.

A few years ago, one of our citizens found a bear in their back yard, which made Fox news.

[frawin]

I'm not surprised.  The fox don't seem to be very afraid of people.  There was an area in NW Midland (TX) called Green Tree.  Had a nice country club and two 18-hold golf courses and lots of big homes.  They had fox out there all of the time.  One of the women I worked with said she saw them all of the time and another friend told us they played in his back yard.  A coyote is cowardly, but fox seem to have no fear of people.

Myrna

[Rudy Taylor]

So, if a bear makes Fox news,
would a fox make bear news?

[Jo McDonald]

Rudy, I do believe we have the same "warped" sense of humor.  I thought that exact same thing when I read Waldo's post. 
Personally I think the red fox is a beautiful animal....we saw many of them while we were in Minnesota over the past years.  Also saw many bears.