June 24, 2010
Hi Hampton, one of FHL’s contributing photographers, snapped a series of excellent shots of a fox leaving its local supermarket. We have posted them in Photo Gallery—the Rosedale Fox, so named because of the Ontario golf course it calls home.
Further, our photographer has posed an interesting question: Are there clues in the appearance, color, or other visible characteristics of this fox that reveal its sex?
We asked Nigel Peel, a member of FHL’s Panel of Experts, for his opinion. Peel is MFH and huntsman of the North Cotswold hounds, kenneled in Broadway, UK. Master since 1988, Peel is a renowned breeder and judge of foxhounds. He has bred Peterborough champions, has drafted superior bloodlines to hunts in North America, and has judged all the major hound shows across the hunting world. Peel never fails to educate, inform, and amuse, and he doesn’t let us down in this instance.
“Looking at the photograph, it seems to me, although of course photographs sent by email can be deceptive, that the fox’s brush appears to be in poor order, indicative of a vixen who has had cubs. The photograph lends itself to being the image of a female fox, and I suspect she is carrying food to her cubs. However, no doubt someone will confirm that it was the largest dog fox they have seen for some time!”
Maybe so, but it won’t be Hugh Robards. “The fox’s coat looks pretty scruffy. I’d guess it’s a vixen bringing food to her cubs,” Robards said in full agreement.