Foxes of Cape Cod

I fell in love with the foxes on the wind-swept shores of Cape Cod. Living alongside humans, they are always a welcome sight when I visit the beach. As beach communities have been built around their habitat, these foxes are impacted by humans, in both good ways and bad. They have adapted to live amongst us.

Although I’ve seen a few foxes here and there, I’ve never seen so many as in recent years. Some say that this means the Cape must be very healthy. The health of the animals on the Cape is tied to the health of the environment overall. They are worth preserving.

I grew especially attached to a family of foxes living in the sand dunes, crashing waves a backdrop to their daily, beautiful little lives. This little fox family is unusual in its composition. Locals claim that when a female fox with three kits died, the male fox brought the kits to this family to be adopted. Eight fox kits in total, surrounded by a fox mom, two fox dads, and other elders trying to feed and care for these babies in the dunes.

The foxes built their den underneath the steps of building. Park Rangers put up signs, roped off areas, and spread the word to beachgoers in order to keep the fox kits safe. Each day, photographers lined up, in awe of their playfulness and beauty. I met photographers from all around that gathered to capture their magic, even one who wore lucky fox socks.

I quietly envied the foxes’ lives, playing and frolicking with their siblings in the shady expanse of the dunes, waves crashing behind them, sun shining down in rays on their home. At the same time, I knew their journey was perilous, filled with risks of starvation, predators, and even the risks of human influence. Although many humans loved and protected this fox family, there were humans that would try to get too close, to feed them so that they came to depend on an inconsistent supply of unhealthy human food, and who left their trash to blow around on the beach. For the fox kits, these gloves and plastic water bottles became their playthings. They’d toss and bite them, and play keep away with their siblings. But if swallowed, these could be deadly.

While their mom left the den during the day to find food, these baby foxes were on their own, sharing the beach with people, both the good influences and the bad. I wished I could do more to help them. All I could do in that moment was send up a prayer for their protection, for their beautiful and lovely lives, frolicking and hopefully thriving, on this windswept beach.