Shorewood's Foxy Redhead

Shorewood has had its legendary wildlife, and this warm winter has brought on enough recent sightings of many wild animals to produce a children’s book.

Maybe Lois Ehlert’s next will reflect the fact that in our Shorewood mile, our evenings are not still, and we have a posse of pudgy possums, a surfeit of sizeable skunks near the Oak Leaf trail, and what appears to have grown to become a skulk of foxes. 

We are all familiar with squirrels, who don’t get a hierarchical taxonomy for a group but a fresh brood is called a dray. Plenty of squirrels –- no one ever posts a picture except when they successfully evict them and correct the damage to the roof or attic.

Many have witnessed the lone, swaggering (not in a rabid way, but in an “I’m going to just lay here on your lawn for a while” coyote, but the red fox (or foxes) of Shorewood have a breathtaking quality all their own.

Perhaps anxiety derives not from fear of being eaten, but from the unmitigated gaze of the large red fox as an uninvited evening visitor, greeting you with a stare on your walk, or just checking you out while you are inside your house, or watching from the bushes, then exiting after watching a whole game of catch on your front lawn.

It has been at least a year since the fox sightings started. And, though one was found dead on the beach this December, there are apparently still two that traverse the North Shore and seem to reside in Shorewood. Local photographer, John O’Hara, took the photo that anchors this article of a red fox as it sniffed the air from City Market and passed St. Robert’s Parish on East Capitol Drive in March of 2011.

A year later, just a week ago Sunday, one resident who lives at about Capitol and Lake Drive reported having an evening conversation on her sun porch, which was also attended by a “beautiful, full-size fox, just like in children’s books,” said the resident. 

“It came up the front steps, and just stared at us. It stood and just stared, sizing us up, like it was doing some kind of scan of our home and us. When it was finished, it went off, walking, not in a hurry I might add.”

Some have expressed anxiety when confronted by the fox in the evening, especially while walking a small pet or child. Experts report that this is not something to worry about.

Sightings were so prevalent at Lake Bluff Elementary School and the neighborhood that on Jan. 18, Principal Kirk Juffer put in a call to a state Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist and was told that indeed, foxes have become more prevalent in urban/suburban areas and that they post no threat to people. He said they generally move into an area, reduce the rodent population and then move to another area. He did mention that foxes can be a threat to small pets so if you have a cat it would be a good idea to keep it inside. Also, we should never feed the foxes or try to corner them.

In fact, another site that has fox trivia and details (and is a nice one for kids, by the way) -– also has an FAQ about pet worries. It let me know that yes, foxes are carnivorous and if your pet is a small mouse or bunny that is not kept on a leash, that you let out at night, you may have reason for concern. Shorewood has also got a parliament of owls, which also favor this kind of pet treat, so you may want to keep these types of pets inside at night.

So, keep your gingerbread men inside, and enjoy the night visitors in our village. Post your pictures to this article or send them to adam.mccoy@patch.com to include in our citizen journalist foxwatch!