LETTER: We share our Port spaces with wildlife, including cute foxes

To Ozaukee Press:

     Foxes in downtown Port Washington? Absolutely. Folks here have homes snuggled into the wooded hillsides surrounding the downtown. We share these spaces with deer, raccoons, possums, rabbits, woodchucks, squirrels and a wide variety of birds as well. Even a skunk shows up from time to time.

     A story about our foxes: A few years ago in the springtime, we had noticed mama fox looking around for her spot on the hillside behind our house. A neighbor had also seen daddy fox circling around high on the hillside, coming down to visit mama near dusk. Weeks went by.

One night close to midnight, the back porch light came on, detecting movement. We looked out the bathroom window and were amazed to see foxes, six or seven kits, tumbling about on the porch as they played joyfully with each other. This went on for a bit, then mama hustled them off to bed. Each morning, mama fox would take her kits and march them off up into the wooded hillside. For a time, this would happen each spring evening and the scenario would repeat itself. We usually watched for a bit.

     One morning mama lined everybody up and marched up the hill. Something was different this time. Nobody came back. The kits had matured sufficiently so that mama could lead them out into the wide world on their own. We certainly liked seeing them and missed them. The porch light didn’t come on again.

Tony Katchever

Port Washington