Foxes Move In Beneath Shed—

Relocated ‘Family’ Draws Neighborhood Attention

By Kendra Bobowick

Appleblossom Lane resident Heather Thebodo never expected to see a fox in her yard, or two, or three…

All together, Heather and Dan Thebodo have eight “guests” living under a tool shed where the homeowners spotted them April 18, two days after severe rain flooded the region. Ms Thebodo speculates that the high water in a stream behind her house, or overall accumulation, may have forced a mother fox to relocate her seven pups. She remembers looking out the window and seeing something that did not quite make sense.

“Last week I was getting ready for work and I looked outside and saw them,” she said. Looking out at her backyard this week and waiting for another sight of her visitors, Ms Thebodo said, “At first I thought they looked like woodchucks.”

Finally she had believed her eyes. She said, “I never expected to see a fox in my backyard.” She remembers calling her husband to tell him they had foxes outside, which produced an unexpected reaction. Explaining they her sister’s married name is Fox, Ms Thebodo said, “I told my husband that foxes were in the yard, and he asked, ‘Why don’t you invite them in?’ and I said, ‘No, real foxes.’”

She and the neighbors have the animals’ schedule timed and after a few days had been able to anticipate them playing in the yard following breakfast at 8 am, lunch before noon, and often in the early evening.

 Noting the mother’s habits, Ms Thebodo described a watchful fox, who missed nothing, she said. “She seems to be taking care of them,” she said. The mother stands guard while they play — an activity heralded by “Louis the Lookout,” the first pup to come out. Ms Thebodo said the one pup would emerge from behind the shed, meet the mother, and the other pups would soon stroll out to play. Describing them as “kind of pudgy right now,” she said their frisky, funny behavior in the yard is, “Hysterical.”

As they play, the Thebodos’ dog, Pete, rests at the edge of his electric fence and watches them as the mother watches him, Ms Thebodo said. “He seems to think they are friends,” she said.