While not as visible as the red phone booths or double-decker buses, the red fox is a fixture in London, a city not known for its wildlife. Living on the streets, alleys and back gardens of a dense urban environment can be rough, and when foxes need help, they have their own ambulance service. Trevor Williams started The Fox Project, which provides help for foxes in the city. The project has since grown from providing information on deterring foxes to rescuing 1,400 of them a year. For foxes, the main urban menaces are cars, getting snagged in soccer nets, or getting stuck in tight spaces. Nicki Townsend of The Fox Project pilots her van on city streets, responding to calls about injured or sick foxes or cubs that have lost their mothers. So far, she’s only been bitten once. Cubs that recover are socialized in packs of five until they mature, and then they’re released in a rural location. Adults are taken back to the neighborhood where they were picked up. Given a second chance, it’s not clear how well the foxes fare, because they are rarely tracked. For Townsend, fox deaths are offset by the joy of seeing little ones venture into the unknown, or an adult darting back into a neighborhood it instantly recognizes. “Sometimes they look back and people like to romanticize that they’re saying ‘thank you,’” she said. “They’re just making sure we’re not chasing after them.”
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| Trevor Williams |
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| Nicki Townsend |
