Fox family in Yellowknife delights woman and her dog

A new furry family has moved into the School Draw neighbourhood of Yellowknife.

They're loud, messy and have issues with personal space but their neighbours don't seem to mind.

Localresident Lana de Bastianiwas taking her dog for a walk last week when she discovered a fox and itsnewborn kits had taken up residence under her neighbour's deck.

"My dog Nick was just staring so vigorously at this one area of the fence, and [I] realized that there were little cute pups sticking out," she said. "Then I just kept seeing more and more coming, and realized there are five living underneath the deck right now."

It's not the first time the deck has turned into a den, and then into a nursery. De Bastiani said she believes the mother fox was born under the deck herself a few years back.

"I've been here for about four years and seen a couple different litters come through," she said. "We're pretty surethis mom is a pup from previous years."

Fox family plays on Yellowknife deck

2 years ago

Duration 2:10

A family of foxes has taken up residence in a Yellowknife neighbourhood, turning the space beneath a deck into a nursery.

De Bastiani, who has had some colourful run-ins with foxes in the past, spent the evening watching the little family go about its business around the deck. The baby foxes were so young that they could barelyjump from one step to the next instead, they bumbled over leftoversnow piles, using them as a ramp to try to crawl up onto the deck, where their mom was hanging out.

"When I saw them coming down yesterday, not as graceful, definitely just falling down some of the stairs, falling on top of each other, I could see that they'd crawl up to go run around," she said.

"Yesterday, one went to go run further down, trying to explore, and I could see the mom trying to corral it and picking it up by its neck to bring it back over near its siblings, making sure they didn't get too close to our side of the fence."

They also aren't too bothered about Nick, who weighs 100-plus pounds. In past years, de Bastiani noted fox kits have come into their yard to play with him.

"Sometimes even in our back sunrooms they push the door open and try to come in. Theycome underneath our house, as well," she said.

"We recognize this is their home, so we can't get rid of them."

And though they animals haven't caused any lasting damage, de Bastianiand her neighbours have lost a few broccoli stalks and a lot of carrots along the way thanks to nighttime heists that leave sections of their garden beds dug up.

"I've just been getting better at tenting my garden beds and trying to prevent them from stealing things," she said. "We're all trying to come up with creative ways to actually keep the foxes out and deter them."

While the foxes may be adorable, they're still wild animals. The N.W.T. Department of Environment and Climate Change (formerly Environment and Natural Resources) warns against feeding foxes or any wildlife intentionally one of the key pieces of advice around wildlife safety.

Other pieces of advice include to keep your distance and respect their space.