Some of you may remember back in June and July I was really struggling with a night visitor to the garden. This guest was wrecking havoc on my poor garden. It was digging holes in my finished compost that was full of worms, unearthing newly transplanted seedlings, biting up our hose, destroying potted plants, and 
tearing my gardening shoes to pieces. Every morning I would go outside to the garden and be afraid of what I might find next.
I had two brief encounters late at night with this critter but it was always too dark for me to really identify what it was. One night my husband decided he was going to find out what was terrorizing our garden and deck once and for all. It was close to midnight when he thought he was hearing things outside. That was when he peeked out the curtains and spotted what he is convinced was a red tailed fox. The large pointed ears combined with the bushy tail that had a dark spot on the end made my husband sure that was what he saw. The animal looked very sleek and appeared to be the size of a large cat. It stopped and made eye contact with my husband and would not move until we attempted to throw something at it.
Armed with my husband’s description of his encounter I scoured the internet looking for information on red tailed foxes. I found the below YouTube video to be pretty interesting and it helps to explain a lot of the things that were going on in our garden at night. Be forewarned though, it shows some fox calls that are rather horrible sounding.
We continued to find signs of its visits for another week or so. Then one day about a week and a half ago I stopped finding signs of it. I really have no idea what might have happened to our night visitor. My animal loving side hopes it is okay but my gardening side is happy to have things somewhat back to normal around here.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow! I can’t believe your nightly visitor was a fox! That’s it I am staying in the city.
I think you might have the right idea PGL considering this fox on top of the wasp nest we ran into this week! Oh and don’t forget my little tree frog! (But he is cute at least) I’m afraid to find out what might be next! LOL -Cynthia
Wow, how wacky! I heard there might be a coyote in our neighborhood, in totally urban Seattle. Guess the critters come looking for food wherever they can find it. Hope you don’t get any more up close and personal with it than you want to!
- Karen
http://greenwalks.wordpress.com
Hi Karen, I am really hoping it has moved on and found more exciting places to visit at night. The whole thing was very weird and I personally found it unsettling. -Cynthia
Your poor garden and gardening shoes! Isn’t that the darnedst thing! I never would have suspected a fox. I would have just figured it was a raccoon. Amazing!
Cindy
Hi Cindy, I thought is was a raccoon at first too. The one time I actually made eye contact with it all I could see was its head as it peered over the deck at me and I thought it sort of looked like a small raccoon head but really couldn’t tell what I was looking at. Then one night I spotted something on the ledge of the deck pawing through a pot and I thought is was a cat because of the size and stealthness of it. I never saw it as well as my husband did. I was actually sort of afraid of it to be honest with you cause I am a big ole chicken! -Cynthia
I was thinking raccoon too. Interesting, but I would be glad it had moved on too.
It’s crazy isn’t it. I never would have thought fox but I read online that they do eat worms so that explains why it kept going after the worms in my compost which was the biggest mystery to me as a raccoon would be interested in the food scraps and this critter was obviously more interested in worms. I hope it stays away now to be honest with you as it cause too much damage! -Cynthia
Wow a fox did that damage. We used to have foxes around here, but a couple of years ago I quit seeing them. Not that you actually see them much when they are around, they are very shy. I never knew they could be destructive. I think they may have stayed out of my yard because of my dog. She may not be around at night like the foxes, but I’m sure they could smell her.
I’m still in disbelief that is was a fox! But my husband swears up and down that was what he saw that night and he did get a good view of it. It was wandering around the yard when he saw it and the fox froze when my husband came upon him. It makes more sense to me now because I couldn’t figure out why a raccoon would do those things. It was very obvious it seemed to be after the worms in the garden. I was wishing I could borrow a dog for awhile there! -Cynthia
Oh my goodness. That is so interesting and expensive.
Hi Anna,
-Cynthia
I still want to know why it had to attack my poor pink rosemary. It was so beautiful and healthy and now I can’t seem to find a replacement for it no matter how many nurseries I go to.