Update On Runty...

[Oscar Namechange]

Mr O last week finally got round to buying an all bows and whistles video recorder.

We have given It a thorough testing by zooming In on snails on the other side of the field and hope to be able to get our Fox family on film In night time darkness at last.... although I will be bagging It to zoom In on Denman In the Lexus Chase more like.

Anyway... some time ago, I posted a thread about one of my Fox cubs, I named Runty for obvious reasons.

Runty was not born right and I think I would be right In saying that the little fella would never had made It without human Intervention... ie... me.

He seems to have some sort of curvature of the spine and shuffles about like a Kangaroo.

Foxes like most critters tend to discard those born with any form of abnormality and they rarely survive In the wild. Well, I was having none of It.

My aim was to tame Runty enough to be able to get him Into a carrier and to a vet but this Is no mean feat when they are such wild, timid creatures. It has been a long drawn out painstaking exercise but I can say that I have managed to get Runty eating or should I say, snatching from my hand. Another few weeks, hopefully, at the right time, I will try to grab hold of him.

Alpha Foxes are extremely territorial and will oust new cubs at around 9 months old. My biggest fear was that as he came of age, he would be ousted before I could get him help.

Over the years when cubs get ousted from my family, they move on to form new territories or take up new one's but Runty has just cheated the system. Maybe he knew that If he took a new territory, there would not be some soppy human standing out there In all weathers at midnight making sure he got first pick at the food, so he cheated and just went round the corner by a few yards.

Other older cubs joined him and I now have this bizzarre situation of two families coming to the garden, one lot at one end, Runty's at the other, with none of them crossing the boundary line.

Runty has now got the Sarcoptic Mange and all his fur Is gone leaving him completely bald. This Is also strange because none of the others have It. The vet Is giving me a hard time Insisting that he wants to see the animal before giving me the drugs so I am using a herbal treatment that seems to be having no effect.

The new recorder will mean I can get him on film to show the vet.

Here's a pic of Runty before all his fur fell out this year. My husband had way too much time on his hands and got Into my pics one night.

Attached files