When Foxy met Waddles

A friend and I were watching the fox news last evening when suddenly it looked as if we might observe a Wild Kingdom moment: the fierce predator patiently stalks its prey, finally pouncing and engaging in a fierce battle offering close-ups of blood and gore, until the enemy animal is defeated and the voice-over offers platitudes about the circle of life.

But apparently our resident foxes have not read that script. We had been watching the foxes for about 30 minutes with nothing much happening: one yawned, another slipped into the den, the third slept, and the fourth was nowhere to be seen. The yawning fox ate a bird. Occasionally the two visible foxes changed places, one at the mouth of the den and the other on a rock higher on the cliff.

Then the groundhog waddled into view. The foxes' ears perked up and they began to monitor the progress of the groundhog. Would they stalk and spring or allow the intruder to waddle past unmolested? Do foxes even care about groundhogs?

Not much. The two foxes followed the progress of the groundhog and moved slowly closer, but then one of them lost interest and turned away. The remaining fox crept down the cliff until it came face-to-face with the groundhog on a narrow dirt path. When a fox and a groundhog meet on a one-way path, who backs up?

The fox. At least this fox did. The fox went back to its perch outside the den and the groundhog lived to waddle another day.

If I were filming a nature documentary, this little non-incident would no doubt end up on the cutting floor along with countless scenes of foxes yawning, scratching, and napping. But despite the lack of blood and gore, we found the encounter fascinating. Who needs television when the local wild kingdom offers this kind of drama?