【British Daily】The Wandering Fox

08-06-2021

In the past few days, the sun has been shining brightly, the birds are singing and the flowers are fragrant, which is a rare good weather in the UK. The only downside is that the sleeping room is on the second floor with the windows facing west. Often in the late spring and summer, when the days are long and the nights are short, the room will become hot, and it will still feel stuffy at night.

It was unusually hot today. At eleven o'clock at night, I opened the window of my room to get some air and let the heat in the room dissipate a little. As soon as I opened the window, I found that there were two foxes outside, who seemed to be frightened by the sound of my opening the window, and quickly dispersed and ran away. One of them ran away a little and stayed there to look at me, as if curious, but also looking forward to something. It was the first time I saw a fox at such a close distance, and I was quite excited, so I quickly grabbed my mobile phone to capture this rare picture. And the fox didn't move, just looked at me quietly and let me shoot wildly.

There was a sudden sound of the door opening, and the neighbor from the left came out of the house, holding a bowl with something in his hand.

I stuck my head out the window and greeted her. She was frightened by my sudden voice, and after looking around for a while, she saw me lying on the edge of the second floor window to breathe. After the cold was warm, I told her that two foxes had just gathered in the field outside her door. She smiled, not surprised at all, and told me that she came out to feed the foxes.

What?

Feed the fox?

This is too cool! ! !

Before in Malaysia, I occasionally fed stray dogs and cats. When I arrived in the UK, I found out that there are no stray cats and dogs here, and all the cats and dogs I saw have owners. As for the foxes, I have not seen them before I came to the UK. I have seen them several times since I came here, but every time they are far away, they will run away or hide if they get a little closer. And my neighbor can feed foxes up close? !

The neighbor showed me the boiled chicken and boiled eggs she prepared and said that she would come out every night to feed the foxes. In the beginning, it was just to let the fox fill its stomach, so as not to be hungry enough to go to the rubbish in front of the door, but it gradually became a habit after a long time, and also established trust with the foxes.

After talking to her, I found out that there are four foxes near us, and she has been feeding these foxes for a year, but because Ye Shao and I hardly go out at night, we never found out. She said the foxes were scrawny and had lost their hair due to a skin disease. After a year of feeding her (and even buying dermatological medicine from the vet to feed them into the boiled chicken) it can now be seen that the foxes are much healthier. She spoke incessantly, and she could feel her full pity for the foxes and a small sense of accomplishment in her words.

She poured the prepared food onto the grass in front of the door, and called softly to the fox that didn't run away. The fox came a little closer, but when he looked up to see me, he took a few steps back hesitantly, and finally ran away. After more than ten seconds, he secretly stretched out his head to inquire, maybe seeing that I didn't do much, or maybe it was really unbearably hungry, and it cautiously walked to the pile of waiting food.

The fox eats the food cautiously. It stood on tiptoe, leaned back, looked around from time to time, and was ready to run at any time. After eating for a while, I saw that it took the other part away, ran to the back of the grass to dig a hole, and hid the food in it and buried it. It should be eaten when it is hungry. Should it be said to be smart, or is life forced?

Looking at it, I suddenly remembered a group of caravan homeless who were abused by various residents in our community's Facebook group today. The reason for being abused is that they once again reside on the park grass in our community. I learned from the message that these homeless people had stayed in this park before. During their stay, the entire public area was very bad, leaving not only a pile of garbage, but even untreated excrement. Others feel that their residency affects the appearance of the city. For various reasons, everyone was very angry and disgusted by the fact that homeless people were staying in the community, and in the end they reported it to the police to drive them away.

In fact, as a resident, I can understand everyone's anger, but if I were to change my identity as a homeless person, who would think of living a life of no fixed place, being disliked, driven out, and abused every day? It would be really frustrating if you were not accepted everywhere you went. I don't mind them staying in the community park temporarily, but only if the common areas are kept clean and not disturbing the lives of nearby residents . Maybe this problem is not as simple as I thought, and I believe there are various factors that make this problem difficult to solve peacefully, but I still hope that the community management can negotiate with the homeless people about the conditions of stay, so that they can temporarily live a place to stay.

Just like those foxes with kind neighbors, getting a little empathy and understanding can make a difficult life a little easier.