Second Chance in life
The vixen and her litter of cubs lay curled up in their earth as the farmer approached intent on destroying a family. Armed with a shovel and a shotgun he began his heartless task.
Digging the clay away from the roof of the earth, he exposed the animals and upon seeing the mother fox, took aim and shot her in the head. The frightened cubs froze as he raised his gun again and shot all but two. We don't know why he decided to spare the pair of brother cubs but when he walked away from the scene of carnage, he was carrying the two-day-old animals in his hands.
Fortunately their time with the farmer was to be cut short when he bumped into a neighbour on a country road in Ballynacargy, County Westmeath. He beckoned her over to his car and eager to show off his cubs, reached into the glove compartment and pulled them out into the open.
Sensing that the pitiful pair weren't in the best of hands, she persuaded the farmer to hand them over for her to adopt. Over the next month, their home was to be in her rented accommodation near Mullingar but this too turned out to be a temporary arrangement.
When the building's landlord - a man who made it clear that he did not like foxes - found out about the cubs he demanded their eviction.
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| Rescued and released: Adorable fox cubs, Bill and Ben. |
Still less than two months old, the next stop for the pair of cubs was Roscommon at the then-home of Foxwatch Ireland's Peter Akokan. After such a harsh beginning to their lives, they were now on their way back to the wild again.
When the "dark grey balls of fluff" arrived, they were still young enough to regain their wildness so things were looking good for a successful rehabilitation effort.
"As cubs get older, they generally become much wilder," Peter says. "When Bill and Ben (as they were named) came here to this environment I saw them quickly becoming wild within two weeks."
Their new surroundings in the middle of the countryside proved to be the ideal stepping stone back to the wilderness. For the first few days, they settled in within a straw lined pen in which they spent most of their time sleeping, tunneling and playing with each other. Not long after that they were eagerly ready to explore the garden with its fox-friendly long grass and hedges.
In the bordering meadow, they were given the freedom to go further afield, following Peter's footsteps as he encouraged them to exercise. At 10 weeks old they had total freedom to come and go from the garden as they pleased. Using it as a base, they slowly ventured into new territory. Being predominantly dependent on food left out for them, however, they didn't stray too far.
Their diet initially consisted of tinned dog food but it soon evolved to also include chicken, honey and road kills (dead birds or rabbits which Peter would constantly be on the lookout for while out driving). Stressing that "if you want to rehabilitate them successfully, you can't pamper them," he explained that the offerings were gradually decreased in an effort to get them into the habit of securing their own food supply in the surrounding countryside.
The first cub to return to the wild was Ben who, at 12 weeks of age, had become extremely shy and afraid. It even became difficult to leave food out for him because when he saw it being put in place, he would dash away. This made it hard to keep an eye on his progress because he would only make an appearance when the garden was deserted.
Bill, who had always been the much tamer brother, was not so keen to leave. It took him a while longer to develop wildness but at nine months old, he too had departed.
The cubs' chances of survival are as good as can be expected. Since Ben was very independent and wild, the likelihood of him surviving is very high. Indeed, he was subsequently spotted along a hedgerow demonstrating impressive hunting techniques.
While Bill depended for a long time on a ready supply of food, he did eventually go off hunting on his own and learned the skills needed for survival.
As the months pass, sightings of the two become less frequent. In a land where danger for foxes is ever present, we can only hope that they continue to avoid the type of person who gave them such a violent start in life.
Philip Kiernan
